Summer of '95

Candid Carrie has just written a three part series about how she avoided what was supposed to be her first kiss. If you haven't read it yet you really should it's hysterical. Of course this made me think about my first kiss and I thought I would share it with you.

It was the summer of 1995 and I turned 14 that summer. It was also the summer before my Freshman year in High School. At that point in my life I was considered a late bloomer because most of the kids in my class had already experienced their first kiss and allot more than that. If I had to guess I would say about half the kids in my class had already had sex. I know that may be a bit shocking for some of you and let me tell you it was for me to. See back then I was a very shy innocent girl and I had only had one boyfriend who I never kissed.

My best friend Beth was the complete opposite of me except for the virgin part. She had kissed allot of boys by this time and it killed her that I hadn't even kissed one. At the beginning of that summer Beth started dating this guy and he was good friends with another guy that lived in our neighborhood who I had always thought was cute. His name was Justin, he was a year ahead of us in school and I thought he was so cool. Well lucky for me Beth's boyfriend Jake and Justin hung out with Beth and I allot that summer.

Now remember how I said I was shy and Innocent? Well that lead to a conversation one evening between Beth and I as we were getting ready to go bowling with the guys. She informed me that for the past couple of days she had noticed that Justin was flirting with me, I had no clue. She also told me that he had told Jake he thought I was cute and sweet. Beth proceeds to tell me that he is probably going to kiss me that night which of course sets me into complete panic mode because I didn't know what to do. That leads to a quick lesson from Beth and some practicing on my hand, and of course a very long thorough tooth brushing session.

Bowling that night was pretty awesome and I was able to pick up on the flirting from Justin which made me even more nervous. It didn't help that both Beth and Jake kept giving both of us these looks all night long. I was already feeling enough pressure from the thought of this really cool older boy kissing me and I really didn't need them watching ever single move I made.

Around 10 that night Beth's mom came to pick us up and Justin still hadn't kissed me so I started to think that maybe he didn't like me after all and I was just imagining everything. A little sad and allot disappointed I climbed into the van and sat in the very back. Justin ended up sitting beside me which just confused the crap out of me even more. During the ride home he put his arm around me and then he pulled my chin towards him and kissed me. As instructed by Beth early that evening I followed his lead and did whatever he did to me. It was an amazing kiss that lead to a few more. You could say I was on cloud nine for the next few days from that kiss.

Unfortunately for me (back then) that kiss did not lead to me becoming his girlfriend because his ex came back. It did however work out in my favor because as we went through high school he turned into one of those grunge druggie types and I met my Dave. I should also tell you guys that a few years ago Dave was in a band with Jake (who set Dave and I up) and Justin, it was very awkward for all of us involved and I was glad when Dave left that band.