6. A Kiss 

A kiss is always something intimate and magical, and there’s no other kiss like your first. The feeling of your heart racing in your chest, and the soft feeling of their lips against yours.

I can’t help but recall mine with hint of bitterness, although the years have since dulled the pain, like a phantom scar that no longer hurts.

You see, my first kiss was with a boy I first met in grade school, and had the hugest crush on. I think it was puppy love, but it was also a deep kind of love, one I cannot begin to describe and have not felt so intensely ever since. An innocent kind of love, before life socks you some serious bullshit. I liked him for many years, and we started dating when we were 15.

Now I can’t hold it against him since we were both young and stupid, but he broke my heart when he cheated on me with someone else. I had always felt inferior and inadequate because of it, but that wasn’t the worst part. I still had feelings for him, even during the years when I was dating other people – for about 10 years (we still kept in touch sporadically). But as they say, time heals everything, and a couple of years ago, he messaged me. “Hey,” it said. And I knew I had finally moved on when I did not feel that little clench around my chest like I used to.

“Hey.”