He narrated his story, as they walked.

“It was after 7th grade and she was my neighbour.”

“Ooh! Girl next door!” she interrupted. He smiled and continued, “Yes, girl next door. She was always very sweet and nice to me. I kind of always knew that she liked me too.” 

He saw her giving him a look. He continued, “Yes. I liked her a lot. One day, during ‘summer vacay’, we were just sitting in the park playing in the swings. She asked me if I had a crush on someone. I confessed to her on the spot and we kissed.”

“Aww. So cute!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah! We went out for a whole month before she moved away. She was my first girlfriend.”

He smiled at her and she smiled back. She found it very sweet that he, still, cherished her memory.

“What about your first kiss?” he asked her.

“Mine? Oh. I was nine. It was a valentine’s day thing. Nothing big,” she brushed it off.

“What? I expected a huge story with all dramatic details from you!” he said, genuinely surprised.

“Well…” 

The way she trailed off, he could see she was hiding something and wanted to say it. She just needed a little push.

“What is it? Just say.”

“Okay,” she readily accepted.

“I do not consider that as my first kiss because, obviously, we were just nine. And it was a peck.”

He nodded in support as she continued.

“My first real kiss was in my 7th grade and it was with this boy in my class.” She looked at him and he nodded in support, “Go on.”

She said, “But it was a dare.” He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and she continued.

“A few girls dared me to lose my first kiss on the very same day, by lunch. So, during the lunch hour, I just walked up to him and kissed him. In the cafeteria. In front of all the kids.”

Listening to her, he didn’t know how to react. He just said, “Oh.”

And she replied, “Yeah. It wasn’t pleasant, obviously. But I just had to shut them up.”

He thought for a while as they walked. He cleared his throat and said, “If you could rewrite that moment, what would you change?”

“I’d not kiss him at all. It was a sloppy meaningless kiss. I obviously didn’t feel anything. Plus, he had food in his mouth.”

“What!?” 

“Yeah.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Yeah.”

After a while, she spoke again, “If only his mouth was clean. If only he was a good kisser and had put a little effort into the kiss, I wouldn’t have felt so bad.” He thought for a second and said in a low volume, “Well, my mouth is clean. And over two women have told me that I’m a good kisser.”

He felt her being left behind. He turned around and saw her stand with folded arms, watching him intently. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. He just shrugged his shoulders. She walked to him as she asked again, “Are you saying that you want to kiss me?”

He thought for a second and said, “I’m not saying that I won’t.”

Clutching his collar, she immediately pulled him closer and pecked his lips. They looked into each other’s eyes, as soon as she moved back. before their attention fell to other’s lips. He licked his lips and so did she. They closed in again and their lips zeroed the distance between them. Eyes closed, they moved slowly in sync as they kissed a little more. After the very short kiss, they let go of the hold they had on one another.

“Huh,” She said.

“Yeah.” 

“Not bad.” She nodded, approving his kiss.

“I thought so too,” he agreed with her.