November 6th, 2015: Mariam
PLACE: Cornelius, North Carolina
TIME: Friday, 11/06/2015, 9:17 PM
KISSER: Mariam, aged 17
RECIPIENT: Matthew, aged 20
My fifth kiss occurred in a very similar fashion to my fourth. Only six weeks had passed since my clumsy kiss with Sophie Rae McHugh.
Once again, the occasion was a Theatre Department party: this time, a cast party to celebrate our recently concluded Fall production. Though there were rules about letting those in the cast have some time to themselves, both cast and non-cast members arrived at roughly the same time at Kaylin's place. She was a 25-year old alum, coming back to finish her degree after working on set design in Florida for a time.
Onto my kissing partner: Mariam had been in the fall show and had had one of the leading parts – a pretty nice feat, especially for an entering freshman. I remembered being quite taken with her performance. On this particular night, she was dressed in a provocative way: low cut dress, simple top. I thought she looked quite sexy.
Anyway, just before the party was to start, Collin, Jacob and I hitched a ride with Brooke to Kaylin's place. I was grateful for the lift and thought Brooke was a trooper for driving us there: especially since she had just arrived back from picking up her sister, Livvy, at her school – about two hours drive away. Livvy would be spending the weekend in town. We all piled in to Brooke's car and off we went to Cornelius.
The party was not nearly as raucous as the one Brooke and Clarisse had hosted in their apartment after the Semi-Formal. Probably because there were less people there, but also because we were in a pretty nice pad: Kaylin had made bank during her job stint in Florida. Desserts and drinks were served: as always, I laughed at myself for being an "old fogey" and opted for water instead.
After losing every hand at Cards Against Humanity and getting my ass kicked on Super Mario Smash Brothers on the Wii, I handed my controller off to Collin and went back downstairs. A small group of my friends were just sitting down around the coffee table.
"Who wants to play?" someone called out.
"What are we playing?" I asked.
"Spin the Bottle, Make a Rule."
Remembering this as the same game that had landed me my kiss with Sophie, I agreed and knelt around the coffee table. There were about eight of us: myself, Caroline, Hannah L., Jacob, Theo, Savannah, Anna Mei, and Mariam. I knelt at a corner of the table flanked by Hannah and Mariam.
The game began. The rounds were innocent enough: taking off one article of clothing, wearing your shoes on your hands, etc. I got a good laugh when we were ordered to rub our hands sensuously through each other's hair. Mariam did it for me, and it felt nice. I laughed even more when Theo ordered everyone to give me a shoulder massage for the rest of the game.
At last, the bottle fell to me. I thought long and hard for a rule before giving up and copping out for the tried and true: "Kiss the person you are sitting the closest to." It was ambiguous, but not as complicated as saying "to the left or right" or something like that – that would have meant everyone would have had to kiss at least two people and would have been very confusing. Also I knew that this way, I would get a kiss from Mariam, since she was sitting closer to me than Hannah. Nobody seemed to mind. It was easy for boyfriend and girlfriend Theo and Savannah, who gave each other a light peck. Then, there was me. For all intents and purposes, Mariam made the first move – making her the kisser and me the recipient – even though we turned to each other at approximately the same time. I didn't notice anyone else comply with my rule before Mariam took my face in her hands. I held her face also, as we leaned in and kissed each other on the lips chastely.
Mariam's lips were soft and warm. Nobody had gotten super drunk yet, so her kiss wasn't as clumsy as Sophie's had been, nor as brief. She was a good kisser - I would have probably ranked it up alongside my kiss with Josephine and the many kisses I had shared with Alyssa. We broke apart with a smile. Some of the others, meanwhile, were just finishing up. Hannah, to my right, abstained from having to kiss Jacob and asked Anna Mei to do it for her. The latter obliged, but only by giving Jacob a kiss on the cheek.
"Wait, none of you guys kissed on the mouth? You're such p***ies!" Mariam laughingly scolded – which wasn't really fair, since she had probably been too busy locking lips with me to realize Theo and Savannah had done the same as a couple.
Soon after that, though, the game dissipated, people moving on to other things. There had been few of us, anyhow. We moved on to Slap Drinking, where I only watched, and then roasted marshmallows at the fire pit outside. Brooke, Livvy, Collin and I were some of the last to leave, around 11 PM – just in time for the nightlife upon our return to campus.
Of my now three "party kisses," my one with Mariam was probably the best, with Josephine's a close second. I only hoped for more Spin the Bottle opportunities so I could no longer have to count my number of kisses on one hand.
