He wasn't going to do it. My dad was picking me up any minutes, the darkened windows of Barnes and Nobles leered from behind us, we'd been out here alone for two hours, and he wasn't going to do it. From beyond the windows I imagined the protagonists from all my favorite books rolling their black-and-white eyes. Right. Before my brain got in the way, I spoke up.
"Mike. Look up." I commanded, in a tone I hoped wasn't as aggressive as it probably was. His head was bent, looking down at the sliver of concrete between us, the bookstore looking on impassively.
He did look up, but turned his face away from me, curiously gazing across the street, away from the impatient audience beyond the glass panes.
"No, Mike." I breathed, trying not to let my exasperation- hardly a romantic emotion- show. "Look at me."
Slowly, as if he knew what was coming, my fifteen-year-old boyfriend rotated his whole body back in my direction. As soon as the path to his face was clear, I initiated what I've since named the "kiss attack" strategy. I scrunched my eyes closed comically, mentally calculated the direction I needed to move, and shoved my face forward, hoping to God he didn't move his mug.
I don't remember how long it was, just that the panic slowly ebbed away to relief. The first kiss. It was over.
What I do remember was that it was soft, unlike the spines of the books lined up neatly past where our faces were mashed together awkwardly. I had braces and he looked like Sid the Sloth, and his mouth was soft. The taste, if there was one, didn't make an impression, and all I could smell was cold cement and Mike's own dissipating fear, but the one thing that I know without a shadow of a doubt was that it
was
soft.
And that Alanna the Lioness, cackling from the pages of her many volumes inside the store, would have been so damn proud.
...I'm not sure I succeeded; there weren't a lot of concrete options to choose from for this particular scene.
This is humorous. I like that you went with something everyone can relate to. I think you could really do a lot with this idea of the books representing something with the kiss. I think choosing one particular novel or character (maybe like Alanna the Lioness) and expanding that could really add a particular mood you were trying to convey. Thanks for sharing! It was a good comical read.
ReplyDelete