#salemclyde

Bonnie and Clyde had certainly found themselves in quite the situation. Since meeting each other as kids—and instantly becoming best friends—the two had been practically inseparable and shared everything. This, apparently, extended to getting a real boyfriend and girlfriend at the same time. They both had a laugh about the coincidence—reminiscing old times, and swearing up and down that their relationships wouldn’t get in the way of their long-standing friendship—before moving on from the situation. That was until a little over a week later when they both started to get worried about the same thing—their first kiss. Neither Bonnie nor Clyde had ever kissed anyone before and, like everyone in their situation, they were a bit nervous. Maybe a lot nervous. Probably a lot nervous. Okay, fine. Defiantly a lot nervous. Being best friends and all, of course, the two came to each other about what to do.

“I really like her, Bonnie…” Clyde was saying now, pacing the length of his bed where Bonnie was sitting, cross-legged.

“And I really like him, Clyde,” she threw back and sighed, “But really liking someone doesn’t really help either situation. We need to think.”

“You want me to think? Here’s what I think: what if I’m a horrible kisser and she breaks-up with me for it?”

“No one would break-up with someone just because they can’t kiss,” she told him, then paused, worrying herself, “Would they?”

“I don’t know…but I’d rather not find out…”

“It’s our first time, Clyde…I mean…it’s not like anyone knows what to do their first time…it takes experience and practice and…” she trailed off, thinking.

“I doubt Lindsey needs practice…and I doubt it’s her first kiss,” he grumbled, mostly to himself, before sighing. Bonnie, her gaze focused on the floor, deep in thought, just gave a noncommittal hum as a response. Clyde looked up at her with a small frown, “What?” he waited, but she didn’t appear to be listening to him at all. Clyde sighed and walked over to her and waved his hand in front of her face, “Clyde to Bonnie. Come in Bonnie,” he said and Bonnie blinked, looking up at him now, “What is it?”

“I was just thinking…” she started.

“Thinking what?”

Bonnie bit on her lip, “Nothing…its stupid…if I say it out loud you’re just going to think I’m stupid…”

“I wouldn’t think that,” he told her seriously, sitting down next to her, “Just tell me.”

“Well…” she started, “What if me and you…?”

“What? Kissed?”

“Not like…just for practice. I mean…like I said…no one knows what they’re doing the first time they kiss and they’re kind of overrated because of that. You get all this hype for a first kiss and it’ll suck because no one know what they’re doing. I think I’d prefer to knowwhat I’m doing before my first real kiss.”

“Me too,” Clyde agreed after a moment of thinking. Feeling a strange twinge in his stomach as he turned towards his best friend with the intention of kissing her. Weird. Even though Clyde knew it was just for practice it was still just soweird. She was his best friend. There was none of those nonsensical more-than-friends feelings between the two of them and they’d known each other for so long. Clyde just shook away the weird feeling, “Okay…I’m…I’m going to do it,” he announced to her, which earned a teasing eye roll from said best friend. Clyde started leaning in, his eyes closing on their own, but just before their lips touched he heard a laugh come from Bonnie. Clyde pulled away again, eyes opening to look at Bonnie, who was still laughing a little.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, “It’s just so…”

“Weird?” Clyde supplied.

“Yes! So weird!” she replied, making Clyde laugh as well to show his agreement, “We’re just…friends and friends don’t usually do this,” she said and Clyde nodded with a smile, “And that weird nervous feeling in your stomach? Are you getting that too?” she asked and once again he nodded. Bonnie shook her head with one last laugh, “Okay, okay. Let’s do this for real,” she told him, wiggling out her giggles.

Clyde leaned back in, eyes closed, and finally their lips met. But only for a brief second—a peck—before they both pulled away. The two looked at each, “That wasn’t so hard,” he said, feeling that “weird nervous” feeling intensify, “But I doubt Johnny and Lindsey are looking for just a peck,” he told her without even thinking about it. Why did he do that? Clyde had figured that just one peck would be good enough for their purposes so why did he want to go at it again? It felt like his whole body was being pulled back into his best friend.

Just as he was starting to think of these things, Bonnie nodded, “You’re right. I know that it’s…weird, but…pecks are for, like…your grandmother.”

Clyde nodded once again, not wanting to speak again without knowing what he was going to say. The two leaned back towards each other, their lips meeting once again and lingering. As if it was the most natural thing for them to be kissing, Bonnie and Clyde simultaneously moved closer to one another, acting without thinking. Bonnie raised her hand and cupped Clyde’s face, deepening the kiss while Clyde grabbed Bonnie’s hips and pulled her closer and closer and closer until—

“Wow,” Bonnie said after finally pulling away, but not enough that Clyde couldn’t feel her shallow breathing on his lips, “You’re a really good kisser,” she told him, then smiled as if this was just an observation. Which, Clyde supposed, it was supposed to be. Except, to him, they weren’t just observing anymore. He started to feel something change between the two of them. He’d felt something in that kiss that he couldn’t explain.

“You too,” he whispered to her, breathless from the kiss, before leaning in to kiss her again, craving her lips. Bonnie didn’t seem to notice as a second later instead of feeling her against him once again, he just felt air. He opened his eyes and sometime between then and when he started to lean in Bonnie had moved off the bed and to his bedroom window, her back to him, talking away as if nothing was different. She was oblivious to what he seemed to be feeling in those moments. It was such an amazing kiss, she said so herself. She had to have felt it. How could she not be feeling what he did? Later on that night, as he was thinking about That Kiss, Clyde just decided that it had to have been kissing in general he liked. Not kissing Bonnie.

The following day, however, he found out this wasn’t true. At lunch Bonnie and Clyde had gone separate ways for their “real first kiss” as Bonnie had put it. Except, Clyde found out, Lindsey wasn’t his real first kiss. He’d taken the girl aside and they’d kissed. And that was just it. They just kissed. There was no weird, nervous feeling in his stomach. There was no wanting for more. It was a kiss and it was over, Clyde thinking about Bonnie the whole time. Lucky for him, Lindsey wasn’t feeling it either. The two broke-up, mutually, on the spot. Immediately after Clyde went looking for Bonnie.

Bonnie, meanwhile, had gotten her kiss from Johnny and was having a similar predicament as Clyde—her reasoning was just a little different. Like Clyde, Bonnie failed to feel anything leading up to or actually kissing Johnny. Her first thought as she pulled away was wondering why kissing Clyde felt so much better than kissing her actual boyfriend. Unlike Clyde, who recognized this situation as an attraction between two friends, Bonnie had chalked it up to Johnny simply being a bad kisser. Not wanting to embarrass him Bonnie told everyone who asked that her first kiss was “completely amazing”.  This was true. Her first kiss, the one with Clyde, was amazing. She just didn’t mention who the kiss was with. Everyone knew she and Johnny were an item and since no one knew what had gone down the night before…everyone would all just assume and start to gush about how lucky she was to be with Johnny. Everyone except Clyde, of course, who was on his way to tell Bonnie what he was starting to feel when he’d overheard what she was saying about her first kiss. Clyde, too, assumed she meant Johnny and left, hurting inside.