Kissing Part Two: Safe

On my fifteenth birthday I had my then boyfriend over to my house. At present we will call him "Safe". Indeed, I only ever remember him referring to a girl's looks once, and it sounded quite strange coming out of his mouth. This boy had had some severe medical problems in the past which affected his immune system and caused him to become very Christian. It had also inspired in him a liking for the musical Rent, a taste that seemed oftentimes to be in direct violation of his conservativeness. On our first date we only hugged. I met his dogs and his dad. I figured that kissing was out of the question for a while, at least until his immune system was completely in order again.

We spent two hours on my birthday playing board games and talking in my basement. A pleasant lull in the conversation occurred. Safe was the first to break the silence.

"Do you want to kiss?" he asked sweetly.

"I. . .yes, of course." I was a little put off. I hadn't expected someone to ask, and suddenly I couldn't even remember if I knew how to kiss. "I've never kissed anyone before."

"Me neither. Should we try?"

"Yeah," I said with a nervous smile. We were both sitting Indian style on my floor, and we had to move closer. Our knees were touching each other and we leaned in. I closed my eyes. . .and missed. My mouth had grazed the very right corner of his, but other than that it was a definite mouth miss. I opened my eyes.
"I think we missed. Should we try again?"

Safe just smiled. This time, our unpuckered lips met, in what was only a kiss in the broadest scientific definition. Nevertheless, I had received my first kiss, and I was walking on air through to the next morning.

It's funny the things people will say as a joke. Earlier that week I had been discussing first kisses with a friend of mine, Harley. He had proclaimed that his first kiss had gone very smoothly. I responded that I guessed that it had been awkward, whether he had wanted to admit it or not. His response?

"Oh yeah? I bet you anything you miss the first time."