A love story, part 3…Finally, a kiss

I make it sound like months have gone by with no call from Lee when in reality it was actually only about a week. But when you’re young a week is a really long time. A lot can change in just one day so you need to act fast.

The first weekend in June Andre had a party at his folks house. My friend, Necole, and I joined Joy at the party. Of course Lee was there too. But he barely spoke to me. What was the deal with this kid? Did he like me or not? He was driving me mad.

Eventually the party was starting to go dry…at least as far as alcohol was concerned. It was time for a beer run. For some reason Necole, Joy and I decided to make the trip to the store. We were all underage so we had to take somebody with us. That somebody was Andre and Lee’s friend James who was 21.

I have no idea how James was able to buy so much booze when he was with three obviously-not-21 giggly girls. But he did it. And we stormed out of the grocery store with a cart full of beer and wine coolers. We were trying to be funny and started running with the cart. As we approached the car we came to a screeching halt. Only some of the alcohol didn’t stop. It went flying over the side and crashed on to the pavement below. It was a party foul and we hadn’t even started drinking it yet.

We gathered what we could and tried to get in the car. But, alas, the car was locked. And the keys were inside. Could this beer run go anymore wrong?

James had to go back in to the store to use the payphone (again, no cell phones back in the day). I was getting ready to break my window (as if my little wimpy self could break anything other than a beer bottle) to get in to the car. But luckily the guys knew somebody who knew how to break in to cars (he’s a mechanic). He had one of those slim jim things (not the kind you eat). So he met us in the parking lot and unlocked my door. Problem solved.

After our hour long beer run we finally made our way back to the party which was still going strong. In fact I’m not sure anybody really missed us that much. Bunch of drunks.

Later that night I was talking to James and he asked, “Can I call you sometime?”

I hesitated because I sort of had something going with Lee. Or did I? I’d given him my number twice and he had yet to call me other than one time from the pizza joint. And Joy was probably behind that call. So did I have any obligation to him? I think not.

So I told James, “Sure.” Although I never did actually give him my number.

A while later I was upstairs waiting in line to use the bathroom when I ran in to Lee. It was about the only time I’d seen him all night. I was starting to wonder if he even remembered my name.

He pulled me in the bathroom and closed the door behind him. There was some awkward silence as we tried to decide on our next move. I’m not one to pee in front of complete strangers. Especially ones who have asked for my number twice and have yet to call me. So I just stood there.

Finally Lee started the conversation. At first it was just small talk.

“How have you been?”

“Good.”

Eventually we got past the weather and Lee said, “Can I kiss you?”

And that was our first kiss.

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