OBX Writing Prompt: First Kiss
“Okay, I got one.” John B crushes his can and belches loudly, Sarah’s arm shooting out instinctively to swat at him in reprimand.
“First kiss,” he says, waggling his eyebrows. “Go.”
They’d sat around the fire after another hard day of physical labour, with every intention of putting their throbbing feet up and relaxing for the evening. But the night had devolved into chaos, as it usually did when the beers were cracked open and the joint was lit.
In a very earnest attempt to get to know Cleo a little better, the night had started with a game of two truths and a lie, even though they all felt, by the end of it, that they knew even less about her. It had quickly turned into truth or dare, with JJ choosing increasingly difficult and absurd dares and everyone else preferring to hunker down in front of the fire and reveal their secrets. And now they were just yelling things, reliving childhood memories and egging each other on.
“Sixth grade,” Cleo announces, much to everyone’s surprise. “His name was Ezekiel and he was stiff as a board, which checks out because his father was a Baptist pastor.”
“And you upgraded to… Pope?” JJ shoots her a sarcastic thumbs up while Pope glares. “Score!”
Cleo rolls her eyes but laughs, shooting Pope a shy look. Their relationship is still new, and the others still like to give them shit.
“Mine was Maddie Heckler,” John B says wistfully. “She’d been eyeing me all year, sitting next to me during circle time, sharing her orange slices with me, helping me tie my shoes…”
“How old were you?” Sarah asks, amused but slightly concerned.
“It was kindergarten. She cornered me behind the slide and planted one right on me. I was that irresistible.”
“Heartbreaker,” she says, pushing his hair back. “You’re not gonna like this, but mine was actually Topper. I was fourteen.”
“Topper-Motherfucking-Thornton,” John B mutters, tilting his head back and downing his beer. Sarah looks worried for less than a second before he picks up her hand and places a kiss on her knuckles, smiling big and reassuring. No one is surprised when she melts, least of all JJ and Kiara, who share a wall with the couple.
“Kie? What about you?” John B asks.
“Nothing crazy. Evan Wong’s fourteenth birthday. Basement game of spin the bottle,” she explains. John B’s eyebrows jump.
“I was at that party,” he says, furrowing his brow as if trying to remember that night.
“You were at the party, you weren’t in the basement.”
John B rushes into a story about how Evan Wong once sold them weed that was actually just oregano, and Kiara expects JJ to chime in, knowing the way the story ends.
“You two are awfully quiet,” Kiara says, eyeing JJ and Pope.
“Well—” JJ starts, but Pope is quick to cut him off.
Pope’s eyes are so wide, they might just bug out of his head. The girls have no idea what’s going on, eyes bouncing between all three boys just as John B leaps up and says, “Oh my God.”
“What?” Kiara asks, alarmed and impatient.
“Oh my GOD!” John B repeats, now pointing at Pope and laughing. “That was your first kiss?” he asks Pope.
“Technically, it was both of our first kiss.”
John B is laughing so hard he can hardly stand, feeling for the chair behind him with his hand and collapsing onto the seat, giggles loud and obnoxious.
“It’s not a big deal!” JJ says, just as Pope lets his head fall into his hands, resigned to his fate. “Fifth grade, some guys were giving Pope shit, calling him all kinds of names and teasing him because they thought he was gay. I wanted to punch them in the face but this guy,” he jerks his thumb in John B’s direction, “was all, ‘use your words, JJ. Be a lover not a fighter, JJ.’”
JJ huffs in annoyance, scowling like if he could go back in time just to pummel a bunch of eleven-year-olds, he would.
“So I said, ‘so what if he’s gay? What if I’m gay, too?’ and then I grabbed Pope and I kissed him. It shut them up real quick.”
For a moment, it’s quiet. No one says a word. Kiara’s lips are pursed, her eyes soft with affection. Sarah might actually be crying, though that probably has more to do with how much she’s had to drink than anything else. John B looks entirely unbothered, like this outcome was always inevitable, like he’s known all along that JJ would kiss any one of them, for any reason, without a second thought. Even Pope, flushed and embarrassed, looks at JJ with something like gratitude.
“Well?” Cleo asks, suddenly. “How was it?”
JJ grins. “Surprisingly tender.”
