What a Life This Is - A Collection of Short Stories

First Time for Everything

Reki experiences his first kiss, but it's nothing like he expected it to be.
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"Did you see that epic razor flip the guy in the back did?!" Reki exclaimed as he and Langa sat in his room after school, watching skateboarding videos on YouTube instead of finishing their science homework.

"Huh? Oh, Uh- Yea, i-it was really cool." Langa replied half-heartedly after a few seconds, and Reki glanced over at his best friend curiously, "Are you okay, dude?"

Langa seemed to snap out of a daze, and Reki paused the video as both boys sat up on Reki's bed, "I-.. Uhm-.." Langa stammered, "I-I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?" Reki asked, tilting his head in confusion as Langa seemed to re-consider, before taking a deep breath and saying, "Have-.. Have you ever kissed someone before?"

There was silence for a few seconds, then the gears in Reki's head clunked into place and what the bluenette had asked really sank in, "Wh-.. What?!"

"I- Uh- n-never mind." Langa hurried to say, and Reki felt his face warm up, mirroring the faint red blush that had appeared on Langa's pale cheeks.

Then, Reki realized that they shouldn't be reacting like this, it was a simple question! Nothing to freak out over, so he took a deep breath and shook his head a bit to clear it, "N-No, it's fine." he said, and Langa's eyes widened, "Really?"

"Yeah! It's just a simple question!" Reki replied as he rubbed the back of his neck, "The answer is no, by the way."

"No?" Langa echoed, and Reki shook his head.

"Oh.." the bluenette mused, turning away from Reki and staring into space for a bit, before he turned back and asked another question, "Would you ever want to? Kiss someone, that is."

Reki tilted his head as he thought about it, "I mean.. yeah? If it ever came up, when the time is right and with the right person, I guess."

"Ah.." Langa replied, then Reki asked, "Have you ever kissed someone?"

Langa immediately shook his head, "No."

"What made ya ask? Just curious."

"Well, I heard some kids at school today talking about kissing people, and I was just wondering if you'd ever done it before."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that too," Reki mused, "I also remember a girl in my math class saying that it's better to get your first kiss over with," he said, "so you know what you're doing when someone you really like comes along, ya know?"

"I-.. I guess that makes some sense," Langa said slowly, and Reki shrugged, "Kinda? I dunno."

The two boys sat in silence, each of them trying to figure out what to say next..

"Would you wanna get it over with?"

...

Reki blinked, turning to look at Langa, who was gazing back at him with a somewhat determined look on his face.

"O-Oh!" Reki exclaimed, stammering, "I- Uhm-.. W-Well.. I guess? It does sound better to be prepared than going into something with no knowledge- So I-I dunno, maybe?.."