were cool against my own, and then I started kissing him back. I’ve only kissed two other guys before—one was at camp the summer after eighth grade and it only happened a couple times. Then in ninth grade I made out a lot with this guy named Evan who moved in with his family next door and only lived there for a year before his dad was transferred back to Chicago. Evan was a really wet kisser. Sometimes, I felt like I needed a towel after we were done making out. He was really cute, but I have to say, Pete was a better kisser. I didn’t feel like I was going to drown or anything.
I got totally lost in those kisses with Pete, but it wasn’t sexy at all. I mean, I guess it was sexy, but I wasn’t afraid that he wanted to have sex. He wasn’t doing that thing Evan used to do when he would rub himself up against my leg, and it wasn’t like we were way turned on. Also, Pete kept his hands to himself. This kissing was more about how amazing it felt to touch our mouths together. His tongue was slow and sure, and I kissed him back and started giggling after a while when our peppermint gum got all mixed up. He started laughing too, and when we looked up we realized we were the only ones in the room.
I said, Where is everybody? And Pete stood up and pulled me up, then looked out the slider and said, Wow. I looked outside on the patio and saw that Brandon was in the hot tub watching Kelly and Jess, who were also in the hot tub, kissing each other like Pete and I had been. I ran out to the patio, pulling Pete behind me, and whispered, Kissing is fun! (I don’t know why we were all whispering while we were outside, but we all were.) When I said it, Kelly heard me and cracked up, pulling away from Jess, who had this big grin on her face, and said, Yeah, right?
We all wound up in the hot tub in our underwear, our feet rubbing against each other under the swirling water. I didn’t realize how stiff my neck and shoulders had gotten until I leaned back against the side with my head on Jess’s arm and felt all the tension draining into the steam. After a while, Kelly said she was getting pruny and we should probably not stay in too long because we needed to stay hydrated, so Jess ran in and got us all towels, and after we dried off, we all cuddled up in a heap on the sectional.
Kelly pulled the DVD of Walt Disney’s Fantasia out of her bag and put it on. I remembered watching this movie as a little girl, but I hadn’t seen it in at least ten years, and watching it on ecstasy was INCREDIBLE. The music and animation worked together in ways my brain could barely comprehend. A group of elephants or ostriches would bloom across the screen, and suddenly we’d all be laughing, and other times, tears would stream down my cheeks from the sheer beauty of it all.
After the movie, we all just lay on the couches talking about stuff. Jess brought up again how nuts it was that Reid Boston had asked my sister to prom, and Brandon burped really loudly when I said Reid’s name, which totally cracked Pete up, and we all laughed really hard. Brandon said that Reid’s really full of himself, and I said that meant he’d get along great with Ashley. Thinking about that now makes me feel a little guilty. Ashley did get really excited when I told her about the Thanksgiving Day Parade, so I could’ve done the same for her.
After a while, I realized that I wasn’t feeling the ecstasy as much any more, and looked over and saw that it was already getting light outside. I was like, Oh my god. We’ve been up all night. Brandon said he was getting sort of hungry, and Pete packed a bowl and passed it around. He said it would help everybody feel better as we came down, and Kelly agreed. They’ve all done this before. Obviously Kelly had. She came prepared with that backpack full of goodies and activities. The weed did help a little, but when we all piled into Brandon’s SUV and went to IHOP I started to feel