Summer of 1998 - 12
I remember the first time I "tongue kissed" a boy. I was a little prude and I had been holding out. My friends made fun of me for it, but I didn't care. I was only twelve. Besides, it seemed a little unsanitary to me.
Don't get me wrong – he was hot. Er, cute. Well, other girls liked him. I could care less.
My friend, Jessica, was a little younger but was far more experienced than me. Boys had touched her boobs. Probably because she had some to touch. She had been pressuring me to go out with Mike. Then she pressured me to kiss Mike. He wasn't the first guy that I kissed, but he was the first popular boy who showed interest in me.
Sometime in the summer in the late 90s, Jessica, Mike, and I were hanging in a shaded corner of water at the local pool. It started simple enough. We were having fun and joking around. Mike kept snapping his gum and it began to irritate Jessica.
Unfortunate for me, when Jessica was annoyed, it was usually I who suffered most.
"Mike, I dare you to kiss Bella in public. Right now," He scoffed, of course. For one thing, she dared him and if she had learned anything that summer, it was that he never refused a dare. Ever. Second, he was all about the kissing… he was just waiting on me to slip the tongue. He smiled at me and I returned it. Kissing was no big deal. I wasn't big on the PDA, but eh, I'd live. After a quick peck, he turned back to Jess, triumphant that he had completed her challenge. She just smirked.
"I dare you to French her." My face grew hot. "I want that stupid piece of gum that's in your mouth to be in hers."
Mike gave me a quick glance, his smile gone. Instead of doing what I thought he would do, what I hoped he would do, he did what I should have known he would do. He cornered me and blocked my way out. His face descended slowly and his lips met mine.
It wasn't so bad at first. After all, a little tongue never hurt anyone. It was when he tried to give me his gum that it got incredibly awkward and disgusting.
Mike eventually succeeded in shoving a piece of flavorless gum into my mouth. He was able to continue his reign of never passing on a dare. Jess lost her irritation and suddenly left, looking a little flushed.
A couple weeks after my awkward kiss with Mike, I met Garrett Denali at a party. He was alright. He was always nice to me. We talked on AIM a lot but we never hung out. We didn't have whole lot in common. He talked about bowls often and I wasn't quite sure what that meant. He would just laugh and say, "Forget it, Bella". While I never understood, he never made me feel stupid – he would always change the subject quickly.
I would later find out exactly what type of bowls he was referring, too. I'd also find out that my first impression of him wasn't as spot-on as I had thought.