That Was Then

28-Then

Kya leaned into the mirror and carefully applied my brand new lip gloss to her thin lips. I hadn't even opened it yet and was a little annoyed but didn't say so. "I've finally decided who my first kiss should be!" She turned to me excitedly, lips and eyes glittering. We had a month left of fifth grade and Kya was obsessed with the idea of being kissed before middle school. She was pretty disappointed that I had no interest in sharing her goal.

"Who?" I asked because I knew she wanted me to. I didn't really care all that much.

"Well," she had a way of dragging things out, thinking she was building suspense but mostly it was just annoying. "I was thinking it should be an older boy, someone a little more sophisticated."

"Uh-huh?" I was sprawled across my bed flipping through a magazine. She was quiet and when I finally looked up she was staring at me expectantly. She wanted my full and undivided attention. "Just tell me who already!" I demanded impatiently.

She threw herself on my bed next to me and grinned. "Caleb!"

This got my attention. "Caleb? Why Caleb?" She looked pleased, she wanted a reaction and she got one.

"Why not Caleb?" She challenged. She had accused me of liking Caleb on more than one occasion but that was not the case. Aside from a few celebrity crushes, I hadn't  really been interested in anyone.

"I don't know. Since when do you like Caleb?" I shared everything with Kya, we had all of the same friends, we weren't the same size so we couldn't share clothes but any accessory I had that she liked she borrowed or even sometimes just took it. I shared my home with her every weekend, she even had her own dresser in my room full of her things, she had claimed the left side of my huge bed as her spot even though that is the side I preferred. There were very few things in my life that remained mine alone. Kya had a way of taking everything, and everyone, and making them hers. Caleb and Abuela were mine.

"I don't like him but he is cute. Definitely kissable." She rolled over and looked at the ceiling. "But if you don't want me to, I won't."

"I don't care," I lied. "You can kiss whoever you want to." It hadn't even occurred to me at the time that he might not want to kiss her.

She got her chance two weeks later. Mama had a big fashion show in New York and Dad went with her so Abuela was staying with us. Friday night Kya came to stay like usual and Caleb had one of his friends stay over too. We hung out all evening, playing video games and eating pizza and then at ten Abuela sent us up to bed, more so she could go to bed than because we had a bedtime.

"You don't have to go to sleep but it's late. Girls upstairs, boys downstairs," she ordered. We didn't have a pool house exactly, but at the back of our house past the kitchen was a long hallway with a glass walled gym that led to the pool and beyond that, three guest bedrooms and bathroom. Those are the rooms Abuela and Caleb used when they stayed at our house. When I was younger and scared to stay upstairs by myself while my parents were gone I would stay in the third bedroom.

Abuela went off down the hall to bed as we went up the stairs, while the boys had begged to play just a few more rounds on the Xbox. We waited about a half an hour before creeping back down the stairs. Kya positioned herself between Caleb and his friend, Will, on the floor. I had no idea how she was going to draw Caleb's attention away from his game long enough to kiss him, let alone how she was going to pull it off with Will right there. Eventually I got sick of waiting and fell asleep on the couch. I don't know how long I slept but at some point Kya woke me up and dragged me, giggling up the stairs and back to my room.

"Did you get your kiss?" I asked groggily.

"Yep!" She grinned triumphantly. Even in my sleep stupor, disappointment flooded through me. I had hoped Caleb wouldn't do it. I rolled over and pretended to go back to sleep, leaving Kya in her own disappointment that I wasn't falling all over her for every little detail.