“Okay Paige who’s it going to be?” Chris Rodriguez asked as he sent the bottle spinning.
It zipped around like a merry-go-round. I imagined it stopping in front that boy from pre-algebra who was always pulling at his nose hairs. There were 10 possible candidates, but I planned for the worst—then anyone else would be an improvement.
My heart raced. I felt nauseous. I pictured kissing nose-hair-guy, with his crusty chapped lips and greasy hair. I could do it. It’d just be a quick peck. If I could kiss my grandma, who had more facial hair than my dad and smelled like Bengay, I could kiss anyone, right?
When was that bottle going to stop?
It lazed around a few more times, slowing as it passed each person. It inched past nose-hair-guy and crawled past the next guy too, and pointed to Alex.
It felt like a brick hit my stomach. Alex Henson. The Alex Henson. That same Alex Henson that I’d had a crush on since third grade. He looked up at me and smiled, pushing his messy blond hair out of his eyes. I tried to smile back as the tsunami in my stomach inched up my esophagus.
I’d picked the wrong worst-case scenario. Kissing Alex would be a thousand times worse than kissing nose-hair-guy. What happened to Chris’s parents? They were only going out to get pizza. Shouldn’t they be back by now?
Alex stepped up to me and winked as he whispered, “You ready Paige?”
I felt my knees buckle as he wrapped his arm around me and led me out to the back porch.
I think I was hyperventilating by this point, though I’m not exactly sure, since I don’t really know what hyperventilating feels like. I felt strange and lightheaded, like I was breathing, but no air was getting into my lungs.
Alex walked me over to the porch swing and we both sat down, so close I could smell his mom’s fabric softener. He reached up and put his hand in my hair and smiled again, his blue eyes glistening and sincere.
How was this happening to me?
I watched as his eyelids covered his eyes, and his soft lips, turned up just a bit at the corners, came towards me.
Then, the chaos in my stomach erupted. I backed away and yelled, “STOP!”
He jumped back, his expression changing from charming to confused.
“I just had a throw up burp.” I blurted.
His pained look got worse. His eyes fell to ground as he stood. “It’s totally fine if you don’t want to. I’m sorry. I just. It’s no big deal. Lets go back in. We can pretend it’s done.”
I nodded, speechless.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and I stood up to walk beside him back into the room full of hopeful pre-teens.
He gave them a half smile and they cheered. Then he sunk into the beanbag in the corner, and I went to hide in the bathroom.
Sorry about the grossness and lack of romance. I tried--I really did. Sherrinda is hosting the day, and putting together a massive list of participants, so go read their (probably much more romantic) kissing scenes and link to your own. And if you've posted a kissing scene let me know in the comments so I can check it out! I'm going to try to read all of them.
