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| 2014: A Year In Stories A twelve-volume anthology published by Pure Slush Books |
(Maybe it was a Monday. Or a Wednesday. What? It was a long time ago.)
It was soft, and intense, and long. And I was in love with the guy even before he kissed me. He was my first love, and we were together for seven years.
But, apparently, I'm a minority. At least as far as the characters of the 2014 project are concerned.
Nadia refuses to count her first kiss as the time Robbie Hill tried to shove his tongue down her throat during a spin the bottle game at school camp. So she jumps forward to when Tom McKinnon kissed her at her thirteenth birthday party, back when he still treated her like his best mate's kid sister, back long before they started going out together. That brief, unexpected, innocent brush of lips across her left cheek, that's the first kiss she wants to remember. (MANDY NICOL)
(Keep in mind that this is not (entirely) autobiographical.) Stephen first kissed Anne standing on the doorstep of an apartment house where their writing group had just met. They had been meeting in the group for more than a year, but Stephen remained oblivious to her interest. Intensely introverted, he had given up on love by this point (he was in his late twenties) and immersed himself in his work and a few hobbies, one of which was fiction writing. He saw Anne as a pleasant fellow writer with a talent for story structure. (STEPHEN V. RAMEY)
Mark Hamilton's first kiss was at 15. He was helping to unload the assistant coach's minivan at an amateur baseball tournament. He was not unaware of girls, but his concentration on athletics did not leave a lot of room for socializing. The assistant coach's stepdaughter stopped him as he was removing a long canvas bag of bats from the back of the van. She stood unusually close to him, her dusty painted toes inches from his baseball spikes, and wrapped her arms around him when he straightened up. Smelling like Pepsi, she leaned in close and pressed herself against him. They kissed, and she whispered, "Good luck today, Marky." Whether coincidence or not, he struck out 12 in 7 innings and hit a home run that day. (MICHAEL WEBB)
Luis Villalobos was ten. There was a girl he sort-of liked, sort-of hated--you know how at that age inter-gender relationships are weird like that--and one day in the school yard he cornered her in the alley between two buildings. He was after her Hershey's chocolate bar, the kind that back then wasn't available in Mexico and had to be imported from the US. But when the girl gave up the bar, he changed his mind and lunged in for a kiss instead. Well, "kiss"... The girl screamed and ran away with a bloody lip, and Luis bore a tooth-shaped bruise on his chin for the two weeks he was grounded. But the nickname Vampiro stuck for much longer than that. (GUILIE CASTILLO)
What was your first kiss like? Did it live up to your expectations, or did it happen before you had any expectations? What is a first kiss, anyway? Do we agree with Nadia that a spin-the-bottle mashing of lips doesn't count? And is a first kiss all that important to begin with?
(Keep in mind that this is not (entirely) autobiographical.) Stephen first kissed Anne standing on the doorstep of an apartment house where their writing group had just met. They had been meeting in the group for more than a year, but Stephen remained oblivious to her interest. Intensely introverted, he had given up on love by this point (he was in his late twenties) and immersed himself in his work and a few hobbies, one of which was fiction writing. He saw Anne as a pleasant fellow writer with a talent for story structure. (STEPHEN V. RAMEY)
Mark Hamilton's first kiss was at 15. He was helping to unload the assistant coach's minivan at an amateur baseball tournament. He was not unaware of girls, but his concentration on athletics did not leave a lot of room for socializing. The assistant coach's stepdaughter stopped him as he was removing a long canvas bag of bats from the back of the van. She stood unusually close to him, her dusty painted toes inches from his baseball spikes, and wrapped her arms around him when he straightened up. Smelling like Pepsi, she leaned in close and pressed herself against him. They kissed, and she whispered, "Good luck today, Marky." Whether coincidence or not, he struck out 12 in 7 innings and hit a home run that day. (MICHAEL WEBB)
Luis Villalobos was ten. There was a girl he sort-of liked, sort-of hated--you know how at that age inter-gender relationships are weird like that--and one day in the school yard he cornered her in the alley between two buildings. He was after her Hershey's chocolate bar, the kind that back then wasn't available in Mexico and had to be imported from the US. But when the girl gave up the bar, he changed his mind and lunged in for a kiss instead. Well, "kiss"... The girl screamed and ran away with a bloody lip, and Luis bore a tooth-shaped bruise on his chin for the two weeks he was grounded. But the nickname Vampiro stuck for much longer than that. (GUILIE CASTILLO)
~ * ~
What was your first kiss like? Did it live up to your expectations, or did it happen before you had any expectations? What is a first kiss, anyway? Do we agree with Nadia that a spin-the-bottle mashing of lips doesn't count? And is a first kiss all that important to begin with?
Thanks for the visit, and happy A-to-Z-ing!
[You guys, I owe you an apology. I'm behind on posting, on replying to comments, on visits... I will catch up this weekend. I will be all over the internet, returning the love you've shared so generously. You're wonderful, all of you, and I'm honored every time you visit. Thank you!]
Oh first kiss.. brings back so many memories. I was so nervous that I was shaking the whole time. And I was in love too :)
ReplyDeleteThe first-kiss jitters! I think it's a shame we lose that after a while. It's such a great feeling--or does it only seem great in retrospect? Hmmm... Thanks for sharing, Nisha!
DeleteI wrote about the first kiss in my novel for K. My first kiss was memorable. On a balcony. Very Romeo and Juliet like. We lasted about three months. Summer romance. There was quite an amazing kiss in Some Kind of Wonderful, so it fits.
ReplyDeleteOoooohhh, summer loves are the BEST! There's that built-in ending that makes them all the sweeter, all the more poignant and memorable. Thanks for sharing! Off to read your K post--how can I not, with this teaser you've left here? ;)
Deletenope it was one of those creepy kisses by an older guy; I had no clue what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteSome kisses are hard to forget!
Moondustwriter
I agree, Moonie. I have a few of those creepy kisses, too, and one memorable one that I really wish I could forget :D No choice: exorcise it through fiction!
DeleteThanks for the visit and for sharing :)
I remember playing spin the bottle and a girl saying "ugh" and refusing to kiss me. No doubt good judgment on her part.
ReplyDeleteMy first kiss was on my girlfriend's back porch one beautiful summer day. I wasn't sure if I dared, but she was ready. Then we dated for five years and then married, which we still are nearly a half century later.
Bob, that "ugh" girl did you a favor: if it hadn't been for her rudeness (or shyness; being a girl, I can tell you I did that a couple of times because I had a thing for the guy I was supposed to kiss--not nice, I know) you'd have *her* as the memory of your first kiss--and what a tragedy that would've been. The memory you have now is priceless, and an example of how beautiful life can be when we let it. Thanks for sharing it!
DeleteMy actual first kiss was walking home from grade school next to a girl I kind of liked in an aliens-are-okay way, and she just leaned over and kissed me and kept walking. Man was I confused. I found a Kennedy half-dollar on another walk home later that spring.
ReplyDelete"Aliens-are-okay way"... Perfect description :D I think a lot of those grade-school kisses happen at the girl's initiative, and I'm also pretty sure it's hugely confusing for the recipient. But a Kennedy half-dollar... Sounds like maybe that summer you should've bought a lottery ticket ;) Thanks for joining in, Stephen!
DeleteI'm not sure which to count as my first kiss there was a few embarrassing moments before I started to enjoy them :) I'll never forget my first kiss with The Captain he waited 11 years for it. Poor Vampiro, I mean Luis!
ReplyDeleteIda
Reflex Reactions
Wow--11 years! Patient man--or perhaps just very, very smart. He knew you were worth waiting for :) Thanks for the visit!
Deletenever mind my first kiss - when I was doing the first draft of the Soul collector's Second Chance I merrily went along and realised - oh shit - they need a first kiss - I couldn't believe I forgot - the story is now many drafts later
ReplyDeleteHaha! How *could* you forget the first kiss, indeed? ;)
DeleteMy first kiss was playing truth or dare with my cousins and 2 of the neighbour boys. My cousin Sharon was going in 9th grade, Me and one of the boys were going into 8th and Diane and the other boy were going into 7th. LOL We are kinda horrified now that we did that...Sharon recently said, 'what were we thinking?!'
ReplyDeleteTruth or Dare--I'm going to have to use that one in a story someday :) Thanks for visiting, JoJo!
DeleteO my goodness, such lovely stories of the first Kiss! I wish I could remember. It was probably pass the bottle, you know when the music is playing and you're passing the bottle (with nothing in it!) along, and it's suddenly stopped and you have to kiss the boy next to you .. I've no doubt repressed that memory ..
ReplyDeleteGarden of Eden Blog
Pass the bottle--nope, we didn't have that game in Mexico. But if we had, you can bet it would've had "something" in it :D Maybe just as well... liquid courage and all. So the strategy is who you're sitting next to, then? Hmmm... Interesting.
DeleteI remember mine...it was at the very end of the very last song of a ninth-grade dance and my boyfriend leaned in and barely brushed my lips with his, but I couldn't stop smiling for hours and I swear my lips were tingling. He ended up being a dud overall, but I still remember that kiss.
ReplyDelete