Their Playground

Chapter 11

Kim still felt giddy fifteen minutes later. After all, it wasn't every day a girl received her first kiss, was it? True, it was on the cheek, but surely it still counted for something. And she would have considered it much too forward if he had tried to kiss her lips already. She was a hopeless romantic, perhaps, but she was saving that kiss for someone she really liked. Not that she didn't like Cole, but she just wasn't sure if he was The One yet.

To be honest, she had sort of freaked out in the split second between realizing what was going to happen and the kiss itself. Was she ready to be kissed by a boy? Her heart had been pounding, racing at a million beats per second. She had known then that her cheeks must be bright red, almost as red as his had been earlier.

But Cole didn't notice. And anyways, after the kiss, his own cheeks were redder than they'd been before. Kim hadn't thought it possible.

Now Kim was living in a sort of dream-like state. For the first time, she was developing feelings for someone who actually reciprocated them. No more unrequited love for her!

Cole had sent an army of butterflies into Kim's stomach, and she realized they'd always be there whenever she saw him now. He had made her feel so special, so wanted, something she rarely experienced since Thomas had moved. Thomas was the type who made everyone feel special, Kim most of all. Gosh, she missed him. But for the first time in weeks, she didn't dwell on it. Her mind was on Cole tonight.

She was bursting to tell someone about the kiss, but who? Certainly not her parents. They were great, of course, but they wouldn't understand. She wasn't even sure if they would approve.

Sarah. Of course, her best friend. Though she was often inclined to overreact and to be a drama queen, Sarah had been Kim's number one confidante since the day they'd met. Kim sort of dreaded the overenthusiastic reaction she knew Sarah would produce, but it would be worth it.

But with Sarah's eagerness to discuss Thomas, she might be too reluctant to talk about other things. Was it worth giving her a call now? She knew Sarah would have a fit if she knew Kim had already been home a good quarter of an hour and hadn't called yet.

In the end, Sarah made the decision for her by calling again.

"Don't tell me you're still on your date. I've been waiting such a long time already!" Sarah complained as soon as Kim answered the phone.

"No, I, uh, just got home now, actually," Kim fibbed. She usually didn't like to tell lies, not even white ones, but in this case, what Sarah didn't know wouldn't kill her. "Sarah, I have big news."

She was going to continue, but Sarah broke in. "That's great, honey, and I want to hear all about it later, and about your date too, but right now we've seriously gotta talk about Thomas. I mean, it's - "

"Cole kissed me," Kim interrupted, knowing this exciting news would grab her friend's attention instantly.

"On second thought, Thomas can wait. I'm about to go all crazy gal on you," Sarah warned before shrieking, "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, I cannot believe it! My little Kim has had her first kiss, she's all grown up now! Where has the time gone? I feel so old now!" she added dramatically after pausing for air.

Kim laughed. "I kinda guessed you'd react that way. But it wasn't that big of a deal. I mean he only kissed my cheek, it wasn't a real kiss."

"It still counts! I want every single little detail, girl!"

Kim relayed the story to her, trying to make it sound as exciting as possible. And it was exciting. She was the first of the two of them to be kissed, something neither of them had predicted since Sarah was much more outgoing.

"He likes you, he likes you, he - " Sarah sang until Kim cut her off, laughing.

"Well, it's possible, I suppose - "

"What do you mean, possible? Of course he likes you! You don't kiss someone if you don't like them! Well, maybe a douchebag would," Sarah amended. "But Cole is not a douchebag, trust me."

Kim agreed. "No, he is not." Her voice came out a tad bit more dreamy than she'd intended.

"Oh, you've got it bad." Kim could envision Sarah's knowing smile. "But at least he likes you back! I approve, Kim, don't worry. Gosh, I still can't believe you've been kissed now!"

"I know. But enough about me. I've gotten it out of my system now. What did you want to talk about?"

"I haven't gotten it out of my system yet!" Kim waited patiently. After a moment, Sarah gave in. "Fine, fine. Listen, about Thomas. It's been weeks since you wrote to him. Weeks. He's had plenty of time to receive your letter, read it, and write back to you. So why hasn't he? Something's up."

Kim had been considering this, but she didn't want to accept it. To accept it would be synonymous with accepting defeat, as well as the loss of her childhood best friend. "What are you saying?" she asked, even though she didn't really want to know the answer.

"Kim," Sarah said gently. "There's a chance, well, he might be ignoring your letter."

Kim forced a laugh. "Yeah, right. Why would he do that? It probably got lost in the mail or something. I should write another letter." She kept her voice light, falsely optimistic.

"I think you should go see for yourself what's up."

"What do you mean?" Kim had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what Sarah meant, but at this point, playing dumb seemed the safest option.

"Go down to South Carolina. See him in person. If you just show up, he can't, like, ignore you then, can he? You should have a chance to talk to him one last time, even if, well, even if he isn't interested in pursuing the friendship." Sarah spoke carefully, trying not to hurt Kim with what she was suggesting. "He owes you that at least."

Kim sighed, looking down at the ground. "You think he's mad that I stopped writing to him?" That had to be it.

Sarah didn't answer for a moment. "I really don't know. But we can't rule it out as a possibility."

"Sarah," Kim began, "I would love to go there, meet up with him, and get some closure in our friendship. But quite frankly, I don't think we can afford it. And if he doesn't want to see me, who am I to just show up on his doorstep out of the blue?"

Sarah was quiet. "Think about it Kim. I'll go with you, you can even invite Cole if you want. We'll have a good time even if Thomas refuses to see us. It's senior year; we deserve a fun little trip, especially since you couldn't go on the class trip. And I know you've been saving up money from that job you have at The Tar Heel Cafe. Couldn't you take a little out for one tiny little road trip?"

Gosh, Sarah certainly was persistent. Though that was nothing new. "That money's for college," Kim argued weakly.

"But you're going to community college; it's not like you're going to some big expensive Ivy!" Kim winced, and from the long pause, she could tell Sarah had too. "Sorry, that was harsh."

Kim sighed. "But true." She paused. "You really care about this, don't you?"

"Of course. Because I care about you. I don't want to see you moping around because of Thomas for the rest of your life."

"Listen, I - I'll think about it, alright? But I make no promises at this time."

"Okay. I'll take what I can get. Thanks for listening, Kim. See you."

Kim hung up the phone, deep in thought.