The Distance Between Us

Almost

It was dark, warm summer night. Nearly the entire town had gone lights out, except for one place—the Metropolis Boating Docks. The docks had been decked out in all sorts of string lights that basked it all in a warm golden glow. The piers were filled with noise as well, the sounds of people laughing and having fun with carnival games, delicious food, and street entertainment.

Megan walked down the wooden piers watching the activity with awe.  There were jugglers, ring tosses, cotton candy, funnel cakes, balloon popping games, fire trick artists, even a ferris wheel.  She beamed at Conner, her smile thanking him for bringing her here.  Her smile gave him a warm feeling in his gut—or maybe that churro he had earlier wasn't very fresh.

Visiting the carnival with them were Wally and Artemis.  He had one arm wrapped around her, and she had her head resting on his shoulder.  Meanwhile, Barbara walked right next to Dick, but was more interested in the constant texts she was receiving from other boys than her former best friend, who was kicking himself all the while for what he did that led them to this moment.

Kaldur and Raquel were there, too, only they weren't side by side.  Raquel's new boyfriend and prom date, Charlie, stood between them, flirting and chatting with her.  She hadn't given Kaldur so much of a glance since they'd all met up.  Kaldur watched them together with sadness in his heart.

And so, the nine friends all strolled diwn the boardwalk, until finally, Megan stopped and pointed to the side.  "Look!  The line for the ferris wheel!"  She grabbed Conner's hand.  "Let's all go on!"  She pulled him on line, and the rest followed suit.  It was pretty busy, so they had to wait for seventeen minutes before they came to the front of the line.

The ticket holder counted the people in their group.  "Five, six, seven, eight, nine...ooohh, sorry kids.  Cars can only carry two people at a time.  One of you will have to get in a car by yourself."  "I wanna go on with Conner!", Megan said at once.  "And I want to go with Megan.", he said in response.  "Hey!  I've waiting all day to get on the ferris wheel with Artemis!", Wally said.  "There's no way I'm flying solo on this one!"

"Dick, why don't you and Barbara go on together?", Megan suggested.  Barbara's head shot up.  "What?!  Why?!"  "Because you're best friends!", Conner said, his voice a little angry.  "And if you guys spend some time alone together, maybe you can talk things out and get over this stupid thing that's going on between you two!"  Babs pouted, but grumbled an, "Okay."

"Well, obviously Raquel and I are sharing a car.", Charlie reminded them, throwing an arm over the mentioned girl and pulling her closer to him.  Kaldur's heart and shoulders slumped.  "Well, than I suppose that I am the one who must go alone."  He watched all his friends enter the cars, two by two, before going to board a single lonely car.  Just as he was about to enter, he backed away.  "On second thought, the rest of you go ahead.", he called to them.  "I will be waiting at the snack bar."  And with that, he slunk away to drown his sorrows in ice cream and funnel cakes.

In their car, Conner and Megan could hear Wally and Artemis kissing from the car below theirs as they rode upwards towards the top. Finally they stopped, being given a marvelous view of the docks from where they were. Conner smiled at it all. "Doesn't it take your breath away?" Megan nodded her head slowly, her eye sparkling in wonder. "You bet it does."

Her eyes fell upon the number of their car. "Car number 16? What a coincidence!" Conner looked at her, a little confused. "What are you talking about?" "I had my very first kiss in this car.", she explained. His eyebrows shot up. "Really? With who?" "Xander." Conner sucked in his lips. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"It was the last day of freshman year.", Megan went on, bearing a dreamy look on her face. "We were here to celebrate with all our friends. Xander won me a big white stuffed bear at the ring toss, then treated me to a funnel cake and a soda, which we shared. Then, to end the night, he took me on the ferris wheel. It stopped us at the top just as the fireworks show was starting.

"We talked for a while, and agreed we had both had a great time. Just then, he leaned in towards me, and I did the same to him. We moved in closer and closer, until our lips met in a perfect first kiss underneath those beautiful fireworks. It was everything I'd dreamed of and more. I still remember every detail, like it only happened yesterday."

She noticed Conner was facing away from her, staring down the side of the car at the sights below them. "Conner?", she asked. "Conner, are you okay?" He didn't answer her. What if I said something wrong?, she thought. "Conner, please, talk to me." He sighed as he slowly turned his head back around. "Its just...I was kind of hoping you wouldn't bring up Xander on our outing. I wanted tonight to be about us."

Megan's heart sank. "Oh, Conner, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I promise, I won't talk about Xander for the rest of the night." She smirked a bit. "So...who was your first kiss?" His eyebrows shot up again. "Huh?" "I told you mine.", she said. "Its only fair you tell me yours. So, who was it? Where were you? When did it happen?" Conner hung his head, staring at the floor of the ferris wheel car. "No one."

Megan tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow. "What do you mean 'no one'?" He sighed. "I mean, I've never kissed anyone before." She let out a tiny gasp. "Never? But you were such a ladies man in middle school! And your mom said you had tons of girlfriends back in Smallville!" "Yeah, but I never kissed any of them.", he explained. Megan scooted closer to him. "Why not?"

He shrugged his shoulders.  "I don't know.  Maybe its because I'm scared...maybe its because I don't want to get too attached to them...maybe its because I'm just a wimp."  Megan picked at the white polish coating her fingernails.  "Do you remember that pact we made when we were kids?"  He looked at her perplexed.  "No.  What pact?"

"It was the last day of summer vacation before we started sixth grade.", she went on.  "I was nervous because on TV that most girls got their first kisses in junior high, and I was worried that my lips would go through the rest of my school years untouched.  So, to patch things up, you had us make a pact.  If one of us hadn't been kissed by the time we both turned sixteen..."

"...than we'd kiss each other.", Conner finished, the memory coming back to him.  "I remember.  Its been so long."  She chuckled as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  "Well, we were pretty young...it actually seems kinda silly now."  Conner leaned back in his seat.  "Yeah...pretty silly."

All of the sudden, they realized that their gazes were locked together, his to hers, ice-blue to golden-brown.  Before they realized what was going on, they found themselves moving closer and closer towards one another.  Conner leaned in, steadying his breath, and Megan closed her eyes as she pursed her lips.  Leaning in, they reached for each other...

...when the ride came back to life, the car shaking as it moved around the wheel, snapping Conner and Megan back to reality.  Megan scooted to the very end of her side of the car, while Conner directed his gaze out to the view from his side.  Neither of them uttered another word for the rest of the ride.