My Stolen First Kiss

Prologue

It's a well-known fact that every girl dreams about their first kiss.

    It's practically programmed into us, sleepovers would consist of sitting around in a circle, sleeping bags bunched around our knees as everyone would question the act - what would it taste like? How would it feel? And of course, most importantly, who would it be with?

    I always used to imagine that it would happen on one of our annual family holidays Robin Hoods Bay. My parents took me and my sister, Adrianna, down there every summer, it was a small fishing village located near Scarborough. My sister would sulk the whole drive down there, claiming it always rained and there was nothing to do. I couldn't disagree more, I loved going down and seeing the cute little beaches and playing rounders around the caravan park.

    Every year I would make friends with the local kids, we would spend the days playing various sports or going down to the beach to buy ice cream. I had been in love with a boy named Toby. He had been a midget of a boy with freckles scattered all over his nose and forehead - to me he had been perfect. I spent most of the holiday shadowing him and attempting to hold his hand whenever we would play cards in our caravan while our parents would have a drink in the other room.

    I imagined that it would be Toby who would have my first kiss. It would happen when we were on the beach one day, the sun setting behind us like it did in all those romance films I spent far too much time watching. Don't judge me - I was naive back then.

    No, my first kiss wasn't anything like how I imagined it. There was no sunset, no romantic soundtrack to accompany the scene and no small, freckled Toby Johnson who I had spent my entire childhood dreaming about. No, my perfect little scenario was shattered by a ten-year-old boy who crushed my dream-like Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball.

    His name was Jared Felton.

It had happened on June 5th, the day of my cousin Ashley's wedding. Ashley had begrudgingly chosen me to be a bridesmaid after my Mum had practically threatened to disown her if she didn't. Ashley had never been fond of my birds' nest of blonde curls, she had claimed that it would ruin her wedding photos if I looked like some sort of mad scientist in a nice dress.

As usual, my Mum got her own way, I remember feeling like a princess in my blue dress which had darker blue sequins circling my waist. I had been pampered all morning by Jan, Ashley's overpaid stylist. After two hours Jan had even managed to tame my hair with her various hair tools and brushes until it fell down my back in perfect ringlets. I had loved being the centre of attention; of course, now I knew that most of the guests had in fact been staring at the beautiful bride walking behind me, but I loved walking down the aisle, teetering slightly in my glittery three-inch heels and grinning madly at every camera in my way.

    After the ceremony, the photographer had called us over to take pictures. Ashley faffed around for about twenty minutes, manoeuvring us all around and waving her arms around like a madwoman whenever anyone would slouch or mess up their hair.

That was how I had met Jared Felton, I had been tiny when I had been ten; I had even been denied from going on the merry-go-round at Blackpool Park I was that much of a short arse, which was why I had been so surprised when I had been ordered to stand beside a boy who was only a few inches taller than me.

    He had looked down at me, his blonde hair almost white and blinding under the sweltering sun. His lips shifted upwards; a cheeky smile taking over his features as his green eyes took in my puffy blue bridesmaid dress and glittery heels.

"Why are you wearing those?" He had asked, his nose scrunching slightly.

I looked down at my heels, tilting them so that the sequins hit the sun so they would sparkle, "They're pretty!" I snapped defensively.

"If you say so." He shrugged causing me to frown. He glanced at me once again, his eyes lingering on my hair, "Your hair looks like noodles," He grinned and reached out to pull a strand gently, he chuckled when it sprang back immediately, "I like it."

Ashley still fumes about her wedding photos to this day. She pulls out the family album every year when we go and visit her and Cole every new year's eve. She always shoves the group photo in my face, rolling her eyes and huffing about the fact that I wasn't looking at the camera. I wasn't looking at the camera, I was looking at Jared Felton, a mixture of curiosity and confusion on my ten-year-old face.

After the pictures, everyone had gathered into a large dining hall for the wedding meal. I remembered how I had been so bored as the speeches commenced, I didn't care how Ashley and Cole had met or how cute their babies would be, all I could think about was when I could finally sink my teeth into the monstrously large wedding cake.

A hand had wrapped around my own, tugging impatiently as I turned around. Jared wasn't looking at me, he was watching my parents who were to busy paying attention to Cole's speech to notice the boy who was harassing their daughter.

"What do you want?" I had hissed, my eyes flickering to my Mum in worry. She had warned you that the speeches were a very important part of the wedding, a lot more important than cake - as if that were possible.

"I want to have fun!" Jared whispered excitedly, "And you look just as bored as I do."

I had never been the most adventurous kid; my parents hated mess so the one time they had found me trying to climb trees, the only really rebellious thing I did as a child, they had scolded me so much after I had scraped my knees and knotted my hair with leaves and twigs so much that they had to cut my hair that I never tried to do anything remotely rebellious ever again.

I knew that going with Jared would make my parents angry, they had warned me to be well behaved and listen to the speeches and talk to rest of the family while we waited for the food to be served, but there was something about the sliver of mischief in Jared's eyes that made me spring out of my chair and allow him to pull me away from my parents table.

He tugged me back into the main hall, looking over his shoulder with that same cheeky smile on his lips. I still remember exactly how the hall had looked, the staff had just begun decorating for the next wedding that would take place in a few hours. Fairy lights hung around the perimeter of the room, emitting a soft glow and making the room appear magical under the golden hue of the lights. White clothed tables had been positioned around, beautiful flower displays positioned in crystal vases.

"Come on, we can hide under here so no one will kick us out." Jared grinned as he lifted the white cloth of the table so that we could crawl underneath.

That was where we remained for the next hour. We talked about stupid things, bickered over what our favourite shows were and what was the best flavour ice cream. We had played slaps, crying out whenever one of us managed to hit the others hand, I remembered glaring at his blurry outline whenever he laughed when I pouted and how sometimes he would move his hand slowly just so I could hit him back.

"We should go back now," I had sighed; I was getting bored of losing all the games, "They're probably cutting the cake by now."

I had started to crawl back under the table when Jared placed a hand on my wrist, causing me to halt in my exit. His gaze had been fixed on my lips and I had stared up at him in confusion, my ten-year-old self unable to read the signs of the situation. Before I could say anything Jared had leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. I had squealed, blanching and pushing him away from me immediately. I didn't like the foreign feeling of his warm lips on mine.

"What are you doing?" I had shrieked.

"I dunno," Jared shrugged, "The other page boy Tommy told me I couldn't kiss you." He smiled that cheeky smile once again, "Had to prove him wrong didn't I?"

    "Well, you and Tommy are idiots!" I scowled.

    I remember scrambling out from under the table, my eyes burning with tears as my whole romantic scenario of kissing Toby in a few weeks when we travelled down to Robin Hoods Bay shattering in a single second.

Jared Felton had robbed me of my perfect first kiss; a pinnacle moment in any girl's life and unfortunately, I was never going to forget it.