The Perfect Kiss
A Shockley

 

It was the first day of Katilyn’s senior year in high school. In a way she was extremely excited. After all, when the year was over, she would be free to make whatever choices she wanted. But, something was always on her mind: Love. She had been in many relationships, but none seemed to really be like what she wanted. They all weren’t “perfect.” She had began to wonder if there was such thing as a perfect relationship; a perfect date, a perfect kiss, a perfect man.
As she headed towards her first class, she ran into many of her old classmates and friends from the past years and stopped to talk to them, gradually making her way to the classroom, and dreading the tests and term papers that she would have to write.
Finally, she arrived at her class. First class of the day, homeroom. She saw many familiar faces, and a few new faces that she had never seen before. Katilyn was kind of shy, and always tried to keep her thoughts to herself, except of course for her best friend, Jessica. Jessica had been Katilyn’s best friend since elementary school. They had done everything together when they were little, but as the years grew on, and they moved through school, Jessica seemed to drift farther and farther away, becoming more of the social group, and leaving Katilyn by herself at school most of the time.
In homeroom, she sat in the back corner of the classroom, so she could be out of the door as soon as possible. She listened to the teacher ramble on about the rules and about getting papers signed. Finally, the bell rang.
So far this school year is pretty boring, and I have only been to one class, thought Katilyn.
In her second class, which was Economics, she scanned the room for people she knew, then spotted a good friend of hers, Dustin. She made her way to him and sat beside him.
“Heya, Katilyn! How was your summer?” Dustin asked.
“Well, I guess it was okay, same boring summer with a job attached, and yours?” replied Katilyn.
“Well, I worked most of the summer also. I didn’t have time to do much else. I’m glad you are in my class this year. We are going to have a good time you know.”
Katilyn nodded and turned to face forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dustin turn his head away from her and to the teacher. Katilyn had had a crush on Dustin since 9th grade. He was the average type, with dark brown hair that looked messy in a sexy sort of way, green eyes, and fairly tanned. It was the guy she knew was right for her, just by instinct. Nobody knew about her love for Dustin though, not even Jessica. Katilyn was too scared to tell Jessica, thinking she would laugh or something, or go and tell the whole school, which was the last thing she wanted.
The rest of the school day passed by slowly, and finally the bell rang to go home. As she walked through the schools commons area to get to the parking lot, she felt a warm, tingly feeling in her body when she saw Dustin walking towards her. She smiled and waved to him as he walked up.
“Heya, Dustin. What’s up?” said Katilyn.
“Nothing much, just wondering what you were doing this Friday night,” Dustin said.
“Uh, uh…Friday night? T-t-this Friday night?” She felt a smile on her face at the thought of them together.
“Yeah, this Friday night. I was wondering if you would like to go to that new night club, Millennium with me.”
“ Sure!” she said, trying not to let him notice her excitement. “What time shall I meet you there?”
“I’ll come pick you up around 7. Is that okay with you?”
“That is perfect!”
“Great! Well, I will see you tomorrow at school. Have a good day. Later!”
As Katilyn walked to her car after saying goodbye to Dustin, she felt what had just happened was a dream. Could it be that just maybe Dustin liked her also? She hoped so.
* * *
The rest of the week seemed to be years, as she waited for Friday night to arrive. Finally, it came. All week she had been deciding what to wear, how much makeup she should put on, and how her hair should be fixed. She finally decided to be halfway casual and chose to wear her baggy khaki pants, a little t-shirt, and a pair of sandals. She put her makeup on and made sure it was all on perfect. She wore her hair down, letting her long dark brown hair flow straight down her back. As she heard the doorbell ring downstairs, she took one last glance in the mirror and smiled, and ran downstairs to answer the door.
When she opened the door, she was shocked to see Jessica standing in front of her. Jessica whistled at the sight of her and bounced into the house. She sat on the couch and prepared to ask questions. Katilyn sat beside her.
“Hey chica! Whatcha all dressed up for?” asked Jessica.
“Oh, nothing big. Just going to Millennium with Dustin,” Katilyn said, trying not to beam too much.
“Really? Wow girl! That is pretty cool. I was just gonna hang out with some friends tonight. Wanted to ask you, but I see you already have plans.” Jessica snickered.
“Oh, sorry Jess. Maybe tomorrow night you can come over and we will do something. How does that sound?”
“Sure chica. Well, I better move on out of here, I am sure Dustin will be here soon!”
They both stood up and walked to the door, as the doorbell rang again. Katilyn felt that warm, tingly feeling inside her body again, and smiled. She opened the door and standing in front of her was Dustin. Dustin Valspar. It seemed too good to be true. She was going someplace with Dustin? Wow!
Katilyn waved to Jessica as she left and led Dustin in the house. She motioned for him to sit on the couch and she sat in the chair by the couch. She looked down at her hands and began fidgeting with her fingers, not knowing what to say. Dustin was the first to speak.
“Hey Katilyn, how are you?”
“Oh, I am good. And you?” she hadn’t realized she would be this nervous for anything.
“I am great, “ he said with a smile. “Are you excited about going to the new club? I think it will be really cool!”
“Yeah, I am excited. Want to go now?”
Dustin continued to smile, his perfect white teeth seemed to sparkle under the light of the room. “Sure, let’s go! I hope I can dance as well as you!” he exclaimed, laughing.
* * *
When they reached the club, it was already packed. They made their way through the crowd to a table in the corner. The music was blasting out a fast dance song. At first they just sat there, staring at the dance floor and the people dancing on it, until finally Dustin stood up and held his hand out to Katilyn and grinned. She took it and he led her out to the dance floor. They began dancing, moving to the beat of the music. Katilyn was surprised at how good of a dancer Dustin was. He seemed to flow perfectly with the music. The song ended and both of them had already began to break a sweat. It was hot out there, especially when you move around a lot.
“Wow! You are a great dancer Kate!” Dustin beamed a smile at her.
Katilyn blushed at what he said and smiled. “You aren’t so bad yourself!”
They giggled together and went to the bar to get a soda. Dustin was quite a gentleman and even paid for the drinks. He handed her the soda and she drank it pretty quickly. Dustin looked at her in amazement and snickered.
“Wow, you must have been thirsty! You want some more?” he smiled.
“No, that is okay. I am fine now.” She smiled.
He nodded and chugged his drink and led her back to the table. After a few songs ended, a slow song came on. It was the song by Garth Brooks: To Make You Feel My Love. She loved that song.
As she looked out the corner of her eye at Dustin, she saw him looking at her…staring actually. She felt herself blush. She decided to get the courage up and ask him to dance.
She looked over at him and asked if he would like to dance, and he nodded. He reached his hand over to hers, taking it in his warm, soft hand. They stood up and slowly walked to the dance floor. He put his arms around her waist, and her arms went around his neck. They began to sway with the beat of the music. As the chorus of the song came on, she felt him move closer into her. She could smell his cologne…wow, he smelled great. He continued to move closer, until she could feel his breath on her neck. Her body seemed to go limp, and she felt him move closer and closer to her mouth. She closed her eyes slowly, letting him take over. She felt his lips brush against hers, and then the lips returned on hers, and stayed there. Slowly they opened their mouths slightly, and began to kiss…REALLY kiss. That is when it happened. It all came together. She knew it was the perfect kiss. She didn’t see sparks. She didn’t see fireworks. She didn’t lose consciousness of everything else in the world. She could still hear the music. She could still hear the people chatting in the background. But what did she feel and see? She felt that same warm, tingly feeling in her body again, but it wasn’t for just a few seconds, it stayed throughout the kiss. She felt lightheaded and a little dizzy. She saw in her mind, Dustin and Katilyn, kissing for the very first time, a replay in her mind of what had happened just a few moments ago…up until the kiss ended. When they pulled away from each other, she smiled, feeling her cheeks become hot. He was staring into her blue eyes, with a smile she had never seen before. A smile that stayed in her mind the rest of the night. To her, it seemed that it was the smile of love. His love for her. All she had wanted since she was in 9th grade had just happened. She could hardly believe it. She knew this relationship would last forever. She had faith.
* * *
They danced and talked for the remaining hour, and then he took her home. Once they reached home, he turned to her in his car and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“I had a great time tonight, Kate. We will have to do it again sometime. Hopefully, sometime soon,” he said, smiling at her warmly.
“I had a great time too. Thank you for taking me tonight. I would love to do it again sometime.”
He kissed her one last time before walking her up to the house and saying goodbye.
“I will call you tomorrow, Kate. Maybe we can get together.”
“That sounds great to me. I will be waiting!”
With that, he waved to her and drove off in his car, leaving her standing there, beaming and jumping around inside. Now she understood love. In fact, she understood everything at that moment.

 

 

Copyright © 2000 A Shockley
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"