I'm Right Here

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

I ran the straightener through my dark brown tangles and ran a brush through the bangs to part them off to the right side of my face when my little blue phone vibrated on the bathroom counter that next morning. Setting the sizzing styling too down on the opposite end of the counter and glancing at the message, I could feel a shy smile creep across my face.

Devin wanted to pick me up for a walk before the bus came for school. Replying quickly and hastily finishing making my hair look somewhat presentable, I raced downstairs and glanced out the window to see him standing at the end of the driveway, hands clasped together as he eyed the cracked concrete.

Gently pushing my little black and brown cocker spaniel, Reese, away from the door, I cracked it open and shuffled clumsily down the driveway.

"Hey," he greeted with a flirtacious tone to his voice.

"Hi," I stammered, fidgeting with the sleeve of my blue, long-sleeved shirt (Yes, I remember what I was wearing). He flashed his teeth a bit as we continued up the street and strolled through the moonlight, the six AM breeze brushing over my covered arms and nipping at my hands. I stuffed them in my pockets and caught a glimpse of Devin's face.

The breeze blew his hair slightly as it did mine, and his eyes were illuminated in the half moon that shone in the pitch-black sky. He walked swiftly and confidently while my path turned crroked every once in a while, causing me to almost collide with his right shoulder.

Close to the entrance of the subdivision is a bridge running over a creek that stretches to the next neighborhood over and is surrounded by rocks and growing folliage. He led me over to a patch of grass opposite someone's lawn near a drop into the creek, right under the morning moonlight. We talked about the craziness of the situation and how we couldn't believe where we were standing. After a few moments and joking and chuckling, he stepped a bit closer.

"What would you do if I kissed you right now?" He whispered, leaning in to try locking his eyes on mine.

I grew silent and my breath caught in my throat at his words He knew I had never been with anyone at thirteen, almost fourteen, years old, and that I didn't know the first thing about relationships except that they turned girls into foolish nuts (Exhibit A). Clearing my throat and failing to look into his eyes, I choked out, "I-I don't really know."

He gave as sly upward curl of his lips that would become one of his famous expressions of pleasure and took another step forward. "Well, let's find out."

He dipped his head slightly to the side and delicately placed one hand on my shoulder, his lips only centimeters from where mine were slightly parted and dry. "I'm coming in," his voice was even lower and calmer, sprinkled with a hint of tenderness that made my heart melt.

The only movement I was able to make was to close my eyes is lips closeed against mine tenderly. A spark of electricity traveled through my nerves as the moistness of his lips made it feel as if I were floating on air. We remained that way for a few seconds before he pulled back and softly chuckled at my bewildered expression.

"You just had your first kiss," he said softly as my gaze traveled to his honey eyes that sparkled with delight.

I felt my cheeks burning with slight embarrassment at my fear. "Yeah," I chuckled softly.

We made our way back to my house in silence at first, walking side by side on the walkway, me fiddling with my moist palms and trying not to run into my now boyfriend as I dreamed of his lips.

"Uh, you wanna hold my hand?" Devin asked awkwardly, holding out his right palm and breaking my daydreaming.

I nodded. "Sure." I took my slender hand in his manly one and we intertwined our fingers together while continuing the uphill trudge up the walkway. I thought about the way my fingers were touching the creases on his palm and rubbing against the smoothness of his skin. I tried to catch my breath as he said something else.

"You're hand is sweaty," he laughed slightly, nudging me softly.

"Oh, God!" I jerked the hand away and wiped it hastily on my jeans.

 He laughed harder and snatched my hand back in his grasp. "It's fine, a little sweat never hurt anyone."

Embarrassed, I averted my eyes to the cracks in the sidewalk and held on tightly to his hand.

~~~

Within a couple of minutes, we were at the end of the subdivision and standing at my doorstep like in any cheesy romance movie.

"I'll see you soon, Emily," Devin said with a smile to add, gazing into my dark brown eyes and letting them linger there until I couldn't hold the gaze anymore.

"See ya," I giggled slightly, crossing my ankles in place. He took my hand in his and kissed it softly before descending the driveway and heading back home to get his things together for school.

I stepped back in the door and was immediately interrogated by my cocker spaniels, who erupted in a barking episode and jumped all over me. I literally leaned back against the door and clasped my hands over my mouth to scream like in the movies since no one else was home.

~~~

Only a few minutes passed before I had to regain my composure and head off to catch the bus for school. I walked quickly up the hill as if there was purpose in it, and I found myself grinning at the other passengers as they greeted me.

The majority of passengers had seemed to drift back to sleep, leaving everything fairly quiet and giving Devin and I hardly any moment to say anything about what had just happened. I daydreamed about him sitting behind me, half asleep himself, and those lips. It only seemed like a matter of seconds before he had to get up and gather his things.

"Bye," he said softly, taking my hand and kissing it lightly.

"Bye," I echoed, biting my lip and grasping my hand in the other when he let go of it as I watched him quickly head for the main doors of the school building.

~~~

Like any other thirteen-year-old girl, the first thing I did upon arriving at school was tell my friend Katie about what had happened over the past couple nights. Her face lit up as I bounced giddily in my seat, and she wore an expression that seemed to say, "It's about time!" since she had to listen to me babbly about Devin for months on end before anything happened. My other friends in the group were as surprised as I still was, but they ended up teasing me all day about finally being in a relationship, because even though we were young, I was the second last in the group to get a boyfriend.

I spent that entire day walking on a cloud rather than the multi-colored, stained tile of our eighth grade hallway.

~~~

After school Devin picked me up again and walked us over to his house that was about two minutes away. We went through the back door that led into the basement where his bedroom was and he pulled me into his lap.

"Hi there," I giggled with a little more confidence that I had that morning.

We spent a little less than an hour simple sitting together on the double bed, giggling and talking about our days at school and how much we were looking forward to spending more time together. He had an arm wrapped around me and was kissing my cheek when the door upstairs creaked open and the sounds of Bella's shoes on the tile up there echoed down the stairs.

"I'm home!" she called out. "You there?"

"Yeah!" Devin called up to her, taking his arm away and leading me to the back door. "I'll be there in a minute, hang on!"

"Bye," I whispered to him, holding onto the side of the door.

"Bye," he echoed, taking my face in his hands and pecking my lips gently before waving and shuttting the door. I ran up to the sidewalk and made it home minutes before my father could.

And those events all combined are the reason why October 28, 2009, is one of the many dates that is permanently implanted in my brain.

~~~