9: Kissing

Age: 13-17


When asked what their first kiss was like, it's inevitable that Zack and Riley would look at each other for a moment before simultaneously asking 'which one?'

Not only is a kiss not just a kiss, as many people tried to play it off, it was something that had any emotions in different forms attached.

In terms of the first kiss there were many more factors that came into play; was it the person's legitimate first kiss? If so there were bound to be messy feelings attached; sweaty hand-shaking, anxiety inducing emotions that melted away as soon as it happened. Maybe a first kiss at the end of a date between a new couple that had mutually agreed they wanted to see each other again that brought on the wobbly knees and clumsy meeting of their lips. Or was it the first kiss between a couple that had been friends first? Those feelings were bright and happy; giggle inducing, rosy cheeks of exhilaration, warm butterflies in the stomach of a relationship growing stronger.

For Zack and Riley, their history of kissing wasn't as normal as other couples that ended up so in love with each other. As a matter of fact, Zack found himself slapped, beaten, or glared at in some faction after most of them, though not all of them were so bad.

Their first kiss had been Zack's overzealous attraction to her and misreading of signals. This was before they were even friends. Not that it was romantic anyway; being kissed in the dingy basement of the Tipton Hotel isn't something many people would want to remember. And not that he knew it at the time, but Riley had reacted so badly to it—earning him a hard shove against the chest and a slap to the face, or was it a punch? All he remembered was his eye was swollen for days—simply due to the fact that she knew her foster father at the time wouldn't allow her to have friends let alone a boyfriend. Her knee-jerk reaction to the idea of anyone coming too close to her and potentially getting hurt because of it.

The first time he kissed her that resulted in him getting slapped—that he actually did remember—was on their mad chase around the Tipton Hotel for "Hot Peppers" DeLeo's treasure. In his madness for the money, he daydreamed about her falling for him after having found all of the money that was supposedly stashed within the hotel. She had immediately pushed him off her with words of disgust falling from her lips. Another knee-jerk reaction fueled by fear, but also because she had been caught so off-guard.

Then there was a kiss that didn't actually happen but technically did when they shared Mr. Moseby's drinking hat at the Red Sox-Yankees game he took them, Cody, and Rhuben too. It didn't really count but for all the 'rules' teenagers had about kissing it may as well have been a real thing; they did technically swap spit.

Zack thought it counted; he bragged about it enough.

The first one when they were friends had been because of a kissing game during a party in middle school; spin the bottle to be exact. That was the one the two of them remembered the most and would probably be the one quickly thought of in response to the question of a 'first kiss'. It was the one that had Riley realize that she truly did feel more for him than she had before, that their friendship had grown. The realization alone made her a distant, there were still things she had been dealing with that kept her from expressing her feelings. Zack always had hope and was glad they were at least friends. Frustrated, but glad.

Growing closer still had strengthened their friendship with each other, with little kisses here and there. The first time she kissed him had been under the mistletoe during Christmas through his strategic placing of it in the Tipton hotel. That was one present he got and he didn't have to ask Santa for it.

The first time she kissed his cheek was when he graduated from summer school—of course after having given him a hard time about his plan to hide his lack of graduating in the first place.

The first time he kissed her hand had been at the homecoming dance freshmen year. They hadn't gone as dates; they and their friends had gone in a big group, he was dating Max at the time, and yeah he had done it to all of the other girls (Max, Rhuben, Crystal, Bailey), but there was something special about the way he looked at her afterwards that made her feel flustered and a little guilty. The last thing she wanted to be was someone who broke up someone else's relationship.

The first time she kissed his forehead had been when he expressed his doubts about being a good enough student to graduate from high school which was clearly something that had worried him longer than he allowed his friends and family to know. And she had listened to everything he had to say; every bad word against himself, every worry, every self-deprecating jab, every hate filled word of whether or not he was going to amount to much. Then she had taken his face in her hands, to be sure he would listen to what she had to say, and told him he was much more than he thought of himself. That while school may not be his strong point there were plenty of other things he was good at and he shouldn't think school was the end-all be-all showcase of success. Then she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and said she was proud of him for getting that far despite his worries. A move that was usually reserved for her brothers; it said a lot that she bestowed it upon him.

The first time he kissed her head had been when she and her siblings received the news their grandfather back in Australia had suffered from a heart attack. She had stayed stoic about it for as long as she could, before finally breaking down in the middle of study hall. She had quickly gotten a hall pass and left the room and Zack immediately followed her, catching up to her in the hallway and giving her a wordless hug. She wrapped her arms around him and cried while Zack rubbed her back. He kissed the side of her head to let her know he was there to talk if she needed to.

Nothing else had to be said.

The first time they kissed, the first real kiss had been after going to a Red Sox game together. Mr. Moseby had gotten the tickets for a guest who ended up not being able to make it to the hotel and had given it to Zack to keep him out of trouble for at least one night. She was the first one he had thought to ask to go with him as, in his words, "Cody can find a way to make everything boring". And they had a great time at the game where the Red Sox managed to narrowly avoid a sound defeat by the Mariners with a series of comeback homers within the last few innings, while eating nothing but hot dogs, cotton candy, and ice cream.

Zack dropped her off at the Manning house and had walked her up to the door when she had said something about, "getting it out of the way."

"Getting what out of the way?" Zack asked her. He was confused on two fronts; one being that he wasn't too sure what she had said as she sort of mumbled it to her feet, and two if he had heard her correctly he didn't understand what she meant.

But he got the message loud and clear when she placed a hand on the back of his neck and swooped in to plant a long kiss on his lips. He had been surprised at first, thinking it would have to be him to make the first move, before returning the kiss, the two grinning at each other when they broke apart, mutually understanding the upgrade to their relationship.

And since then their relationship had been filled with different kisses: kisses of greeting, kisses to say goodbye, just because kisses, kisses on the cheek—or in Riley's case, due to their height difference, under his jaw-pecks between classes, kisses on the hand, kisses on the head, kisses to show they cared. Passionate, tender, gentle, romantic, butterfly inducing, kisses to mess with their friends, and kisses just for themselves.

With all of those tender moments within their relationship it made sense for them to have different ideas of what their first kiss was, though none was more important than the other.