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Once upon a time, (because that's how all good stories should start), there lived a young girl and her faithful best friend.
From the moment they were born, they were inseparable from one another. They grew up living on the very same street, their parents already being close friends from having attended the same college.
Now, most people found it odd that the two shared such a close bond, even though they were of opposite genders. Hell, most of the time people had assumed that they were either related or getting married. But despite what everyone else thought, the two did everything together and remained strictly just friends over the years.
Who are we kidding? Of course, that didn't last.
Because then, puberty kicked.
And of course, with puberty comes hormones. And everything is always more complicated when hormones are involved, (fact scientifically proven by experts).
And when they turned thirteen, everything changed.
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"Okay Selena! Your turn! Truth, or dare?"
Conner and I were sitting with a bunch of people from our school at a party. Since we were all only in middle school, the party was naturally pretty lame.
Empty plastic cups were scattered across the living room (previously filled with orange fanta, thank you very much), and half-eaten bags of chips were spilled across the carpet. The radio was playing loudly from the kitchen, and a scattered group of people were dancing idiotically around the table, everyone specifically staying away from anyone of the opposite gender. Because god forbid a girl was caught dancing with a boy, she would be permanently labeled as a slut by morning.
That's middle school for you.
Currently, Conner and I were currently participating in one of the dullest games of truth or dare ever. It pretty much consisted of "I dare you to eat" fill in-the-blank.
I turned to the girl who had just asked the next question to me, and scarcely recognized her from being in my English class. "Dare."
She grinned at me with a mouth full of braces, as if she had just thought of the craziest idea in the world. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as she started to giggle at me, vaguely resembling a monkey on drugs.
"I dare you to go into the closet and kiss someone!"
My mouth physically dropped open. No one had ever made a dare like this at middle school parties. We were barely past the whole 'kissing is gross' stage of life.
Then, she shocked me even more.
"Kiss Conner!"
My eyes widened as I turned my head to look at my best friend since birth, with whom I was currently leaning against, my hands casually interlocked with his between us. His green eyes were almost as wide as mine, and a shock of dark hair was adorably ruffled on top of his head. And though even I had to admit that he was really cute, there was no way I could kiss him. It would be like kissing my brother!
"No way!" I answered at the same time as he exclaimed, "Not gonna happen!" I quickly pulled my fingers away from his and hid my hands in my lap, blushing fiercely.
The girl did her best pouty face, which kind of reminded me of a beached whale lying lethargically on the shore. "You have to. That's the dare." She stated as if it was the most obvious thing.
Such logic.
Conner scoffed. "So what? I'm not going to kiss my best friend." I nodded in agreement, pulling a slightly disgusted look onto my face.
"Sorry guys." The guy next to her spoke up. "But you can't chicken out again. You already used your one free pass to not drink pickle juice."
Man I hate pickles.
Conner sighed and gave me a resigned look, before slowly standing up and holding out his hand to me.
I looked up at him, surprised that he was giving in so easily, but allowed him to help me to my feet anyways. I didn't protest as he led me across the room towards the closet, gripping his hand nervously. I was half hoping that he would turn around and see my expression, so that I could give him my best, hell no face.
I bit my lip as people started to whoop at us as we passed, since this was probably the most exciting event of the night, until we awkwardly stopped at the closet door. Rather reluctantly, Conner pushed open the door, allowing me to walk in first before he joined me and shut the door behind him.
My eyes adjusted to the dark after a minute, and I could see the outlines of numerous jackets and sweaters hanging on the rack above us, the closest one just an inch from the top of Conner's head. I was still a tad bitter that after a few years, he had finally grown taller than me.
So there I was, standing in a dark closet with my best friend, my mind whirling and my heart pounding.
"Now what?" I tried to break the tension, but definitely ended up sounding like an idiot.
Conner hesitated for a moment before responding. "We kiss." My heart nearly stopped.
Before I could come up with an intelligent response, he leaned forward and did just that.
I knew it was both of our first kisses, and was actually partially relieved. I had wanted it to be with someone I cared about, and Conner was my best friend. Though never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be kissing him.
I knew that I was his first kiss as well, because he certainly would have told me about it if he had kissed another girl. We told each other everything; from all of our crushes, to our opinions on teachers, to the latest middle school gossip, to even about when I first got my period. (Though that was a topic that was still pretty awkward to bring up.)
But this, this was definitely new.
His lips were warm against mine, and a whole lot softer than I had expected. He hesitantly circled his arms around my waist, tugging me closer and holding me to his chest. A rush of unexpected jitters ran through me, making me respond to him immediately and as best I could. I could practically taste his familiarly comforting scent, and I realized with a jolt that I was pretty comfortable kissing my best friend.
Surprised by how much I was enjoying this, I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning in close to press my lips closer.
We were so close now that I could feel his heart beating faster in his chest, until it nearly matched my own in speed. I silently marveled in the fact that I seemed to fit in his arms perfectly.
He spun us around suddenly, not breaking off the kiss, and pressed me up against the wall of the closet. Another feeling of want- which definitely should not have been present in an eighth grader- coursed through my veins. My skin tingled wherever it touched his, and my entire body was practically buzzing in excitement.
His hands stayed locked around my waist, but I couldn't say the same about mine. My fingers ran down his back without my permission, feeling the muscles under his T-shirt tense and shudder at my touch. I grabbed his shirt in my hands greedily, and pushed him even closer to me.
I think I surprised myself even more than I surprised him.
He responded enthusiastically, kissing me harder. I had a hard time believing that this was his first kiss, because he was surprisingly good at it. And I know this will probably sound creepy, but he tasted amazing.
When I reached his lower back, I involuntarily slid my hands under the back of his shirt. I ran my palms up his bare back, savoring the warmth and firmness of his skin, and the toned smoothness of his back. His heart quickened even faster.
It was probably the most inappropriate first kiss in the history of the world.
He pulled back, still not letting go of my waist. He rested his forehead on mine, breathing heavily with me. I gasped in lungfuls of oxygen when I realized that I had stopped breathing, and retracted my hands from his shirt, catching my breath before speaking.
I hesitantly looked up at him, my nose just barely brushing his since he was looking right back down at me. The warmth of his breath made me just want to kiss him more.
"Wow." I breathed at last, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks.
He gave me an adorably lopsided smile, and swallowed nervously. "Yeah."
"I want to stay best friends." I breathed out suddenly, realizing that it was true. We had been together since before I could even remember a tim without him, and I didn't want to risk any of that by participating in what middle schoolers classified as 'dating', no matter how much I was enjoying out shared intimacy.
He nodded, as if he was already thinking the same thing. "Okay. That's probably a good idea. But...."
I smiled. Once again, he had read my mind.
"A little more kissing won't hurt anyone, right?"
His smile grew as he leaned in to kiss me again. "You read my mind." He breathed on my lips, before closing the gap between us again.
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If you hadn't already guessed, I'm Selena, and I like to make smoochy faces with my best friend Conner every once in a while.
Some things just never change, I guess.
Was it ever awkward? No, not really. After a year or so, we got used to the fact that we were much closer than your average friends, and being closer than normal became practically a second nature.
Don't get me wrong, I positively adore Conner. He knows everything about me, and I know everything about him. We do everything together, and I really do love spending time with him, even without all the 'extra fun'. But somehow, far in the back of my head, I knew that he didn't think of me as anything other than his best friend.
We both knew we were using each other, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Three and a half years have passed since then, and we were still best friends with benefits. Turns out, "a little more kissing" involved a lot more kissing than originally implied. Since that day we have remained just friends in the eyes of the public, and hook-up buddies behind closed doors.
Juggling school, friends, a social life, my parents, and my Conner time? By now, I'm such a pro that I could join the circus.
Maintaining our life-long friends ship? No problem, I love him more than most siblings love each other anyways.
The real challenge, was not letting anyone find out.
Welcome to my life.