Our First Kiss
My eyes can’t move from their reflection in the mirror, lest they land on the girl sitting on the toilet seat beside me. I'm not strong enough to turn towards her and maintain any amount of distance. I've been staying away for days now, although it feels like an eternity. Seductive red fabric barely covers her body, and I fight the urge to reach out and touch her. Instead, I channel my focus into opening my lipgloss, then meticulously apply it to my lips. A picturesque girlhood, but the air between us is thick, magnetic. Her stare burns a hole in the side of my head. My gaze never meets hers. My head is spinning. From the alcohol or my need for her, I can't tell. It’s too quiet, like the music blaring in the living room has forgotten it can slip through the cracks of a closed door. The room gets smaller and hotter as I put the lipgloss away. I don't have time to decide what happens next; the door bangs open and the tension seeps out of the room, lost in the others’ oblivion. Jokes and cocktails and platonic kisses get passed around. We’re drunk and messy. But no one can tell how real it is when she kisses me slightly too long and our mouths part, slightly too wide for it to be friendly. When people talked about tension and chemistry, I believed them, sure. But ‘fireworks' isn’t a strong enough word. We were stars colliding, and a universe was born from our synchronized mouths. We’re alone again in a sea of people and flashing lights. Her hands slide against my waist to the beat of whatever song pulsates through the speakers. Our fingertips zap with energy and a more euphoric version of lust. When our eyes finally lock, nothing exists but us. She kisses me properly this time, letting me taste her hunger. God, does it taste good. We are suspended in time; our lungs share air, our hearts share blood, our separate existences become one. She interlaces her fingers with mine and pulls me through the crowd until we’re locked in a bathroom stall. She baptizes me with her tongue, and there I am: renewed, born again, all sins forgotten.
