I received my first kiss from a boy named Mike. He was my brother’s best friend and my first “official” boyfriend. We were shy around each other. He was much older. I was in the fourth grade and he was in the fifth. We knew enough to keep our relationship secret from my brother. There was nothing worse for a boy of his age to know that his friend had been coming ‘round the house to see his little sister.

Mike had funny, skinny legs and wore striped tube socks pulled all the way up to his knees. He always seemed to be wearing the same pair of oversized red jogging shorts and threadbare t-shirt. He had a sprinkle of freckles across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose and was always pushing his tousled brown hair out of his eyes. I was too young to know that he was a geek. Aside from Danny, who sat across from me in the second grade, I’d never thought a boy could be so irresistible. One day, he asked me to “go with him.” I was ecstatic.

We used to steal looks at each other while Mike and my brother played Atari. He never got the high score because he was flirting with me across the room. Sometimes Mike would come swimming at the lake with us. He’d pinch my butt as we got out of the water to lie in the sun on the floating rafts. I’d scream, “You GOOSED me!” while lunging for his neck, slippery from the sunscreen lotion that coated his skin. We’d wrestle around in the water for a bit, each trying to pinch the other’s butt until we were exhausted and forced to climb the fraying rope ladder to catch our breath upon the raft.

Our relationship was mostly filled with nothing but stolen moments, including our first kiss. We were standing in the shade of his house on a hot summer afternoon. We both knew that the kiss was coming and we were both visibly nervous. After several long minutes of staring at each other in anticipation, I turned to leave, feeling embarrassed. Suddenly, Mike grabbed my hand and pressed his stiff lips against mine for a split second. There. We’d done it. I smiled at him and then ran as fast as I could all the way back to my house.

Although nothing but a simple peck, I believed my kiss to be as dramatic and passionate as the ones I saw in the movies. Over and over, I replayed the moment Mike grabbed my hand as I turned to leave, spinning my body back towards his. Nervous anticipation of the minutes leading up to the event exploded like the grand finale at a fireworks show. I was perplexed that I did not feel the earth move beneath my feet. I’d heard that that was supposed to happen. But I did feel the electricity of his lips against mine and figured that its intensity merely cloaked the earthquake that must have occurred.

As the summer ended, so did our relationship. My brother never did find out about it. Mike’s Atari scores soared, and I moved on to doing my own thing instead of hanging around my brother and his friends. I’d become obsessed with perfecting my roller skating dance moves and frankly, had no time for boys. Once in a while, I’d catch Mike looking at me and after we made sure no one was watching, we’d smile secretively at each other.