The First Kiss Tag

So this one is for Lalit who tagged me a couple of weeks ago to write about my first kiss.

First kisses are so special aren't they? Mine was as perfect as first kisses go. I was at the ripe old age of 19 and my best friend P and I were both losers having never kissed in our whole lives...It didn't make life any better that P was a year and a half older than me and a guy to boot. Pressure was mounting on us both. The idea that someday our kids would ask us at what age we had our first kiss, and that we'd have to admit to the truth was humiliating! What would they think of us?

More than the anticipated reactions of our progeny it was the peer pressure that was bugging us. Things really hit home when we met up this guy we went to high school with - a complete loser - u know the type who brings lunch in a pink plastic tiffin box with a spoon even in class 12. So anyway, we met loser...lets call him G...at McDonald. After flunking class 12 physics practical exam, he had joined the Merchant Navy...While I wish I could say G had become cooler, if possible, he became even more of a loser. During bites of his Fillet of fish burger, he casually asked P and me if we'd done it yet. Being innocents, we actually asked him what he meant. He says, "You know, it. Have you fucked anyone yet?" Now...I've heard a lot of things...but this was a little too direct for P and me, not to mention crude...Being somewhat smarter than him, we knew G would never bring something like this up unless he had gone and done it first. So we asked him. And he had. Said it was on some port in Spain...He woke up one morning on shore leave and he wasn't in his bed. But with some prostitute. Again being smarter than him, P and I discredited his night of passion, by asking him details, none of which he remembered ofcourse, seeing as how he was drunk as only sailors could be. We surmised, if he didn't remember it, he didn't do it. And besides, paying to get it, doesn't count. Being ever the loser, G fell for our line of reasoning, agreeing that he was as much a virgin as us.

After we took leave however, P and I had a serious heart to heart, deciding that it was very uncool that G had actually gone and done it, and we hadn't even bloody kissed. We made a pact, that if another 2-3 months we hadn't kissed anyone else, we'd just kiss each other and get it done with. Ofcourse, neither of us mentioned that the thought of locking lips with each other made us want to gag!

6 months passed and P and I did nothing about it.

Then this other friend I had, A, lets call him, got closer to me...and we became boy friend and girl friend. One fine August day, we were at my college. It had been raining and all the trees were this amazing shade of new green. A had driven down from his college to see me and spend the day with me. We had till then, in our 2-3 month dating, only held hands. That day we walked around my college campus, getting drenched in the rain, enjoying the solitude of the area after 4 PM. We went back and sat in A's car where he had kept flowers for me. Overcome by the romance of the moment, the scent of the beautiful flowers, and ofcourse helped along by the now totally misted up car windows, I smiled and said "I love you". A leaned in and pecked my cheek. A first for me. It was sweet and fumbly. I didn't say anything. So A leaned in and kissed my cheek again. That was followed by some more kissing...the kind you read about in Mills and Boons. The ones where the heroine feels her heart beat in her head and her toes curl up. It was amazing. Perhaps the technique was new and untested. Perhaps we weren't experts at what we did. But its amazing the effect atmosphere can have on a moment such as this. When we finally stopped kissing, and looked at the watch, we realized we had been at it for about 30 minutes. Kissing and whispering sweet nothings. It was perfect. To date I remember it fondly, even after A and I parted ways a few years later...I think it was the sweetest moment we had together. I silently patted myself on my back and waited to drive home and tell P all about it.

The same night, across town, P was with a junior from his college. A gutsy little girl, she asked him to drive her out to Jumbo Point near the airport. Innocent as ever, P did just that. Unknown to him, our young Jezebel was aiming for a make out session with P, and was far more experienced. When P returned from his evening, I was sitting by the phone trying to call him. P called me first. Said he was sitting at Haldirams eating Gulab Jamuns. When I asked him why, he said, "To celebrate things that happened." I asked him what had happened and he said, "Things that happen when you're 21 happened." I curled up on my couch and told him I was eating a Cadbury Rum and Raisin big chocolate bar. P asked me why. So I told him, "To celebrate things that happened." He asked me what had happened and I said, "Things that happen when you're 19 happened."