Tell Me a Story

First Date

Several years ago in a more rural part of the country, Two 14 year olds were spending a Saturday afternoon together for the first time. There were certain sparks between them but as you may know, a 14 year old girl is more like a 16 year old, whereas a 14 year old boy is more like a 12 year old.

The boy – Adam – was not the most popular or confident lad and now, as he sat opposite the girl he had fantasied about for some time, he felt his palms begin to sweat, and his breath start to grow heavy. He had no idea why one of the most beautiful girls in school would be interested in a loser like him. Was it a bet? Was it sympathy? Could she possibly actually like him for him?

He sat on her bed, absentmindedly running his hands over her plain pink covers and thinking how mature a plain cover looked. His was multi-coloured and covered in crazy patterns and he suddenly started to feel very embarrassed about them, as if they were in the corner of the room, ready to show him up at any moment.

Waves off her perfect smell seemed to rise off the covers as he sat and he tried to discreetly lean down, desperate to take in as much of the scent as he could before Mary could realise what a loser he was and send him away, and, as he leant his head towards the bed Mary – who had been choosing a CD, spun around, flashing that beautiful smile in his direction.

He sprung up so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash and a spasm of pain shot down his neck. He cried out and clapped it with his hand, as if he could knock the pain out of him onto the floor, where it would scuttle off and hopefully bother someone else.

Mary giggled at his shriek and he felt his face flush with colour. A more stupid thing he could not have done and now he had surely ruined the date. He tried to calm himself down but his embarrassment only grew. The blood continued to rush to his cheeks and they burnt so hot he was sure an egg would have fried nicely on either side. He wanted to crawl into a ball and disappear into the ground.

She stood slowly from her desk chair and moved over to the bed. She sat down softly and the bed stayed perfectly still, as if it had not even noticed her arrival. She put her hands on her bare knees and his eyes were unintentionally drawn down to her skirt. It was a nice skirt.

He pulled his eyes away from Mary’s legs and forced them to her face. He tried to keep eye contact with her but his eyes refused to cooperate, instead leaping wildly across her face and the rest of the room. He probably looked like he had two uncontrollably lazy eyes and again he felt the urge to sink into the ground overtake him. For a moment he considered running.

Then her hand was on his leg and she was leaning forward, planting her red lips on his cheek. A kiss that lasted a second but would live forever in Adam’s mind. He felt sick and ecstatic at the same time and all he could do was stare forward, not even looking at his date. His mind whirred and he searched desperately for anything he could say, anything to break the paralysis.

“Was that okay?” Mary said, “I mean, if you’re not interested in me you only have to say.”

Now Adam turned to Mary, forcing his neck around to face her. Her head was tilted down and she was looking towards her bed. There was sadness in her eyes that she couldn’t conceal. He was completely taken aback.

She liked him.

That realisation took a huge burden off his shoulders and he began to relax. His face began to cool as the blood seemed to rush away from his cheeks, called back to its normal course; his breathing became more normal; and his palms stopped sweating and began to dry. He was even able to look her in the eyes and weren’t they just the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen?

“Of course I like you,” he found himself saying. “I really really like you.”

Her face lifted to become level with his and a smile spread across her face that seemed to light up the whole room. His heart started to race again, pounding against his chest as if demanding to be let out, as she leant towards him, pouting her lips and closing her eyes. His head swam and for a second he felt as though he was drowning within himself. He was about to have his first kiss with a girl. Was he really ready for that?