The First Kiss

Rachel had planned it for a long time. Or she'd had an idea of how it would be, at least. And now everything had come together in perfect union to set the scene for her first kiss with a boy. When her friends heard that she'd never been kissed a few months ago at a party she was suddenly attacked by three of them who all wanted to be her first kiss. Catherine ended up succeeding by putting her red lips on Rachel's. Rachel didn't care that it'd had happened like that, she had planned to be a bit spontaneous that night anyway. But today the conditions were perfect. The summer breeze was warm, she was going out with a friend to indulge in some liquid courage and she felt good about herself these days. She'd chatted to him a little bit at the only bar on the island. He was bartending there for the summer and he seemed interesting. He had a small tattoo behind his left ear. He was a few years older than her and acted confident. She knew she hadn't been hard to get at all and basically threw her phone number in his face after a few minutes. Maybe he knew somewhere cool on the island she didn't know about? she'd asked although she had been going on holiday to that island every day for 15 years with her family. She knew it like the back of her hand, but she dumbed herself down to make him feel more important. She was still too young to know that she didn't have to do that, that she actually shouldn't do it. But telling a teenager to be genuinely confident is like pushing a newly hatched chick over the edge of the nest - it needs a bit more time. She had left the bar to go drink wine with her friend on the beach. They danced and sang next to the sea while she waited anxiously for a text from the blonde bartender. Finally, an hour past midnight she couldn't wait anymore, so she texted him. Her heart jumped when she immediately received an answer. "I probably won't be off until 4am :(" the text said. She was getting pretty tired. She sighed as she looked at the moon shining on the still ocean water. They would've walked here, hand in hand. They would've laughed and talked about life. Tumbled around in the sand. He would've put her hair gently behind her ear and looked into her eyes before gently kissing her. But he wasn't off until 4am and her body demanded rest and she was going home tomorrow. It just wasn't going to happen and Rachel wondered if you could in fact plan these things as she climbed the steps up to her family's summer house on the hill. Maybe it was time throw her calendar to the wind or join a monastery. Who knew. Right now she just needed to sleep.