The Boy Next Door And The Years Leading Up To My First Kiss
My next door neighbor's name was Josh. He was a year older than me and he was my absolute bestest friend in all the world back in the day. We went around frying ants with magnifying glasses (sorry to the ants now, I was evil and I hang my head in a moment of silence to all of you), we made sun tea and little sandwiches and would trek off into the woods for hours at a time. Basically, we lived like we were the kids from Lord of the Flies except no one tried to kill Piggy or anything!
As we grew up we kind of separated a bit, because I had a vagina (the horror), he could no longer be seen in public with me at school starting around when he was in fourth grade. So we became after school friends only. It stung a bit, but since I had a touch of hero worship of my dearest friend at the time, I accepted this arrangement. It was around this time that our clandestine friendship began to stir feeling of scandal and my burgeoning hormones were beginning to take a target--Josh.
Over the years, Josh and I had a flirtation but we never seemed to like each other at the same time. On top of that, we went to different schools. I hung out with art geeks/crazy hippy children of the second generation and he got to hang out with the "faster public school girls" (I only say that because when my class in high school graduated, we were ALL virgins except for one)! So just about anyone would've been "faster" than we were. So Josh was in and out of relationships and regaling me with his exploits (or 'working on his night moves' as he'd joke around) and I, well...I had really good friends, that were really good artists. But then things changed, a little. Finally, we both liked each other at the same time! And we both were single (umm well not really, but since I didn't go to his high school, I didn't know that he had a girlfriend, but that's a completely different story).
One night, I'm hanging out on his porch and we're listening to Primus, and he's trying to play along with the bass line. I'm munching on pretzels and washing it down with my favorite drink of all time--Strawberry YooHoo, when he just leans over and gives me my first "real" kiss. For the rest of my life I will remember picking bits of pretzel out of my teeth after that kiss, and I will remember that we banged teeth. I wasn't quite the Queen of Seduction at the time that I am now. But it was ok, because we both laughed (even as he picked bits of pretzel out of his mouth). That was the beginning of the end for me. For months I'd sneak over to his house to make out in his room (because I wasn't allowed to date remember...so I was sure as hell not allowed to make out). We made out for hours! I can hardly hold out for 24 hours now, but back then, I didn't even realize what else I wanted to do. Anytime I listen to Tool's first album or some of the older Primus I always have to stop and smile--the soundtracks to our sessions.
As we grew up we kind of separated a bit, because I had a vagina (the horror), he could no longer be seen in public with me at school starting around when he was in fourth grade. So we became after school friends only. It stung a bit, but since I had a touch of hero worship of my dearest friend at the time, I accepted this arrangement. It was around this time that our clandestine friendship began to stir feeling of scandal and my burgeoning hormones were beginning to take a target--Josh.
Over the years, Josh and I had a flirtation but we never seemed to like each other at the same time. On top of that, we went to different schools. I hung out with art geeks/crazy hippy children of the second generation and he got to hang out with the "faster public school girls" (I only say that because when my class in high school graduated, we were ALL virgins except for one)! So just about anyone would've been "faster" than we were. So Josh was in and out of relationships and regaling me with his exploits (or 'working on his night moves' as he'd joke around) and I, well...I had really good friends, that were really good artists. But then things changed, a little. Finally, we both liked each other at the same time! And we both were single (umm well not really, but since I didn't go to his high school, I didn't know that he had a girlfriend, but that's a completely different story).
One night, I'm hanging out on his porch and we're listening to Primus, and he's trying to play along with the bass line. I'm munching on pretzels and washing it down with my favorite drink of all time--Strawberry YooHoo, when he just leans over and gives me my first "real" kiss. For the rest of my life I will remember picking bits of pretzel out of my teeth after that kiss, and I will remember that we banged teeth. I wasn't quite the Queen of Seduction at the time that I am now. But it was ok, because we both laughed (even as he picked bits of pretzel out of his mouth). That was the beginning of the end for me. For months I'd sneak over to his house to make out in his room (because I wasn't allowed to date remember...so I was sure as hell not allowed to make out). We made out for hours! I can hardly hold out for 24 hours now, but back then, I didn't even realize what else I wanted to do. Anytime I listen to Tool's first album or some of the older Primus I always have to stop and smile--the soundtracks to our sessions.
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