The Kiss

A Significant Event in My Life

            My older friends and my parents say that high school was a blast for them, but my experience was completely different. I absolutely hated high school because it was an awkward time growing out of my adolescence and becoming an adult. I also didn’t have many friends, especially girlfriends. I did have a best friend though and we were inseparable. Looking back on it, I feel that she was my first real relationship.

            Her name is Ramie and she is 22 years old, my age. She has a wonderful personality which is hard to believe because she had such a hard life growing up. Her mom was a drug addict and she never saw her biological father because he wanted nothing to do with her. Ramie was raised by another man, who is currently a meth addict and an abuser. When Ramie was a little girl, she was molested by him and her own mother knew about it, but ignored it. For years Ramie had to live under the same roof as that man until he finally moved out. Her mother finally stopped using drugs, but became an alcoholic. Despite everything, Ramie had a terrific attitude about life and was a responsible teenager. It was surprising how different she was from her own brothers and mother.

            I moved around so much, so I went to three different high schools and finally graduated at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard. I met her in my junior year at Rio Mesa and we immediately clicked; we spent all of our free time together. We did party a lot, but it was always fun because we got along so well. There was one significant time when we were hanging out that changed our relationship and my life.

            We were in our senior year of high school and it was close to graduation. My older brother had an apartment in Camarillo and we would party there quite often because it was convenient. His apartment had no furniture in the living room except for some stools, dishes, and a dartboard. The typical bachelor pad. My brother had a messy roommate who would leave bottles of alcohol on the counter and dirty dishes piled in the sink.

            So this one particular night we were hanging out there, just talking about random topics and drinking a little bit of alcohol. It was always interesting being there because my brother would have his music blasting and his roommate always had his computer games’ volume up way too loud; the noise was certainly distracting. She was sitting on one of the wooden stools and I was standing, leaning against the cold tile counter. There was a silent minute in our conversation. I said “Have you ever thought what it would be like to kiss each other?” and she casually replied “Yeah.” My thoughts were going all over the place because I didn’t know what to do after that. I wanted to kiss her because I was curious and at that moment I knew she was curious too.

            Ramie is a very tall beautiful blonde girl, so when she was sitting in that stool she was effortlessly my height when I was standing. We set our drinks on the counter and were awkwardly positioning ourselves. From an outsider’s view it probably looked like we were so nervous and gawky. Our fingers met and her legs were touching mine; we stayed face to face not moving. Then I leaned in and met her lips with mine. The moment was tensed, but quickly became comfortable as our kiss gradually opened and our bodies relaxed. It felt strangely nice to have the back of her neck and hairline intertwined in my fingers. It was a moment of innocence, passion, and curiosity. I was slowly breaking away from the kiss, concealing one small kiss upon her soft lips. We looked at each other and didn’t say anything. Our hands weren’t in lock anymore. We reached for our drinks, and as we were sipping I said “Well, um,” trying not to stumble over my words and control my nervousness “I liked it.” She looks at me and smiles. “I liked it too; it was actually really comfortable.”

            That incident changed our relationship. We became closer because we were still best friends but we were now allowed to be curious with each other. The year passed and we slowly were going in opposite directions. She ended up moving to Arizona with her sister because she didn’t want to deal with her mom anymore. I had the chance to meet up with her a couple of times when she came back to visit, but that was the last time I saw her. It’s been four years and we have had no communication. Still, I know she’s a strong person and she will make her life into anything she wants. I have always wished the best for her.

            Our relationship definitely impacted my life for the better. It opened up my view on people and relationships. I can enjoy the feeling of being with a strong handsome man, but I love the feeling of being with a smooth skin, soft hair, sexy woman. I think it’s perfectly natural to have a desire for males and females because everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way and I don’t want gender to stop me from meeting someone.