That Night

Chapter 2: The First Kiss

"What. The. Fuck! Who is that from? Who did you meet at that party?" Riley yells.

"You guys know I don't really remember a lot from that night. I mean, I remember drinking a lot and then waking up at your house, Jane. Sometimes, I remember this guy and we're dancing and it's really nice. Skin tingling nice."

"Well who was he?" Jane asks.

"That's the thing I don't know. I don't remember his face."

Riley answers, "That's gotta be him. Just write him back and be your charming self. Soon he won't be able to resist talking to you in person and BOOM mystery solved."

"I don't know...what if it's a cruel joke or something?"

Jane sighs knowing I would see this pessimistically, "So what if it is? Some asshole will have a good laugh and you'll be off to college. Big deal. But if it isn't you'll get to experience something real and meaningful. If that doesn't convince you just remember our love lives are shot, so we have to live vicariously through you now," Jane pouts and continues, "Pwease, for the well-being of your bestest friends ever?"

Riley follows suit, jutting out her bottom lip and widening her eyes. Both start to bat their eyelashes simultaneously.

"Ugh fine."

My best friends both jump and hoot not caring about the other students around us. We make our way to French and I mumble under my breath, "Those faces get me every time." From behind, one strong arm wraps around my shoulder and the other around Jane's.

"Hey sis. Hey sweet cheeks. Ready for le français?"

That would be Hunter, Jane's brother. Even though they are twins, Hunter and Jane are total opposites. While Jane hangs out with us, you know the socially conscious, period film geeks, sophomore year, when Hunter grew five inches and got contacts he was immediately embraced and worshipped by the popular group. The cool thing about Hunter is that, while he's obviously popular, he's pretty much friends with everyone, including us.

When we go to Jane's house to watch BBC's version of Pride and Prejudice he lurks in the doorway pretending to not be interested at all. Jane always invites him join us and he always says that he might as well because he has nothing better to do. But when Lizzie and Mr. Darcy finally kiss in the carriage after their wedding, Hunter and I always look at each other with the biggest smile on our faces, knowing that the those 5 hours and 45 minutes were worth every second because their love is one of Austen's greatest creations. It is epic.

They also look completely opposite. Jane has bright blue eyes and blonde locks, while Hunter has brooding dark eyes and messing brown curls. If I'm being honest Hunter is pretty hot, but I'll never feed Hunter's ego by telling him that. Sometimes Riley and I talk about his delicious physique he acquired from years of soccer, but never in front of Jane. A lot of girls try to be her friend or super nice to her just to get to Hunter. We never want her to feel like we're one of those girls.

Jane replies, "Fuck no. Madame Gerard is fucking crazy. It's almost the end of the year and she's making us do a shit ton of work."

Riley agrees and says, "Whatever you know what I'll be doing in class." Riley and Jane look at each other, a secret signal passing between them.

They both yell, "Reading Wattpad!" and fist pump because that's just the kind of girls they are. Hunter rolls his eyes not understanding our obsession with reading online stories about angsty teenagers who finally find love.

We walk into class and see Wesley sitting in the far corner of the room staring intently at something on his computer screen. He looks up and immediately clicks out of a window as we fill in the desks around him.

"Hey Wes. What's going on man?" Hunter sticks out a hand to do that bro shake that bros do. Wesley isn't really a bro so he just mimics a salute and says,

"Sup," and quickly adds, "and it's Wesley not Wes."

"Sorry my bad." Wesley has been my friend almost as long as Riley and Jane. He's also my next door neighbor, which is how we became so close in the first place. Kindergarten wouldn't have been the same without his mad Lego skills. Wesley's very creative and emotional. He says he tries to feel emotions to their fullest so when he's performing with his band he can convey agony and elation. He says nobody wants to hear a song about an ok day. Humans want extremes. I like that about him. He's the friend I can go to when I'm devastated or euphoric because he's not afraid of those emotions.

Riley, Jane and I all ignore this awkward exchange between Hunter and Wesley and open our laptops to begin our marathon reading session.

Just as I am about log into my account and enter the magical realm of Wattpad, Madame Gerard walks in and says, "Bonjour classe! Comment ça va ?" Of course we all mumble back that we're doing just fine.

Then Hunter utters the magic word, "Un film?" like an echo throughout the room we all start to chant, "Un film? Un film?" Madame Gerard gets this look on her face, like she can't really handle this kind of pressure.

She responds, "You guys. We have so much work to do."

Riley counters, "Madame it's Friday and the last block. Se il vous plait?" Just like she did to me earlier, the whole class looks at her with pouts and puppy eyes. Her cheeks start to turn pink and her eyes flit around the room.

With a heavy sigh she mumbles, "Fine you win. Let me go get a movie." When she's out of hearing rage the whole class cheers and Hunter leans over and whispers to me, "It's almost getting too easy." His breath hits my cheek and suddenly I'm thrown back into that night.

Warm breath creeps from my cheek to my ear and he whispers, "Anna, it's too easy to love you. To want you. I feel like I'm losing control and I can't stay away from you anymore, but I have to. I don't want to ruin our friendship because you mean everything to me. Let's just stay in this moment a little longer. Eyes closed, hearts touching, dreaming for just one moment that this is reality."

I don't understand what he's saying. What's keeping us from being together, but there's a broken sadness in his voice, like when we let go of each other it'll be our last goodbye. I feel him lean down. I feel him hover over my parted lips. I feel the electricity pass between us when they finally touch. It's a sad kiss. A goodbye kiss. A first kiss. When it's over, I finally open my eyes and the boy is gone.

There's no way I can believe this is goodbye because you can't run away from something like that. Those type of feelings haunt you, follow you, until you're so wrapped in them that nothing can release you. My fingers slowly drift to my lips and I smile because I know that this is just the beginning.

As the memory floods back I run my fingers across my lips trying to draw these feelings out again. I turn away from River and look up, only to find Wesley watching me. Watching my fingers. His gaze travels up to my eyes and we both stand stone still for a moment. A sadness washes over his features and his gaze quickly returns to his computer screen.

"Ok class Le Guerre de Boutons ou Cyrano de Bergerac ?"