суббота, 16 февраля 2013 г.

Awkward Me

By Erika LaPlante

A kiss is only a moment, but that moment forever lasts in your heart.
~Author Unknown

When ninth grade came around and I still hadn't had my first real kiss, I was embarrassed. Although my personality was loud, I was shy when it came to boys. I stealthily avoided the topic of boys at sleepovers and when I had to, I flirted like I knew what I was doing. Yeah, I had had boyfriends before, but that was in eighth grade, when holding hands and being extremely awkward around each other qualified as dating. I was that innocent little girl who thought that there was this special secret method to kissing that everyone knew but me. There was something wrong with me, no question about it.

September arrived and I began the boring and annoying daily routine called school. After seven periods of torture I would head to the library for my forty minutes of freedom. I became very close with a small group of guys who shared the same free eighth period as me. Lounging on the sofas, not doing homework, and talking too loud was our specialty. Eighth period was no doubt the highlight of my school day. I had been friends with these guys for years, but one of the guys, let's call him Jordan, I had just met that year. Our personalities meshed well and we became friends very quickly.

Before I knew it, Jordan was working his magic on me. Every eighth period Jordan would subtly flirt with me and I soon found myself blushing at nearly every word. Jordan was older than me and I still hadn't had my first real kiss, which worried me because I was pretty sure he was interested in me. I could only guess how many girls he had kissed already. This anxiety made me even more awkward than normal.

One cold February Saturday morning I woke up to a power outage at my house. A huge snowstorm had hit while I slept, cutting off the power in the town. As I dragged myself out of bed, I looked out my window to see a wintry mess of blinding white. "Great," I thought. "My parents are not going to drive me anywhere. There goes my Saturday." I cursed the snow as I stumbled downstairs. As I ate my breakfast with my family, my mind drifted to Jordan, wondering what he'd be doing on such a snow burdened Saturday.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the thunderous sound of my cell phone vibrating on the counter. I jumped up from the kitchen table to check who was calling me, only to see Jordan's name lighting up the screen. My heart skipped a beat. He had never called me before! What could he want? What would I say? My mind flooded with so many thoughts that I almost let the call go to voicemail. Just catching the call on the last ring, I said hello in the least nervous voice I could conjure up (from what I recall I wasn't too successful).

"Hey Erika," I heard his smooth voice say through the phone. "I have practice down the road from your house and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out after."

My heart skipped another beat.

"Yeah I'd love to!" I responded, almost too eagerly.

"Great, I'll pick you up at five. See you later, Erika." As he hung up, his voice saying my name was still ringing in my head.

Jordan was older than me and he had his license. When he picked me up, I felt so cool sitting in his car. As he pulled out of the driveway, he asked me if I wanted to hang out at his house. Of course I said yes, so we headed to the opposite side of the lake. On the way there, the thought occurred to me that Jordan might not have power too, so I suggested he call his mom to check. He thought it was a good idea so he pulled into the parking lot by the steamboats. As he talked to his mom I took a look around outside. It was such a miserable day; no one was out, the street was empty. Suddenly it hit me like a fist to the face that we were alone! My heart started to pound — surprisingly, it was not visible though my chest. I could feel my hands becoming moist. When I heard him say "bye" to his mom I panicked.

"We're still out of power so I think we should go to Queensbury and get something to eat," Jordan suggested.

"Good idea!" I yelped.

"Hah, alright." He laughed. He stopped and smiled at me.

The kiss was coming! I had no clue what to do! While I tried to look calm and well... normal on the outside, I was panicking on the inside! But after a few seconds he broke his gaze, shifted to drive, and pulled away from the curb. I breathed a huge sigh, half of relief, half of disappointment. All I knew was that I had successfully been really awkward (that seemed to be happening a lot). Most likely, the last thing on his mind now was kissing me.

We drove down to Panera to grab a bite to eat. After ordering food, we sat down at a booth across from each other. Joking around and flirting, I finally felt comfortable around him, like we were in eighth period again. And, surprise surprise, I was blushing. Making me blush was clearly not a hard feat to accomplish. As we finished our meals I was bummed because that meant it was unfortunately time to go. Walking out of Panera, I felt something gently brush against my hand and then interlock between my fingers. Before I knew it, Jordan and I were walking to his car holding hands. At that moment, all awkwardness had emptied from my body. When we stepped outside, the sky was dark but full of stars. The only light outside was from the streetlamps lighting up the sidewalk. "This dreary Saturday couldn't have turned out more perfectly," I thought as we stumbled slowly and dreamily to his car. As we passed under the last streetlamp, I felt Jordan's hand stop me from walking any further. Standing under the streetlight, under the starry sky, he pulled me close to him. Finally, my first kiss.
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