Chapter 2
Our first kiss was nothing special. It was just a peck on the lips. We were ten years old at the time and Alex had just found out that Tom had died. It hurt, a lot. Alex cried for days and I remember him not wanting to go to school for about a week when it happened. My mom let me take a week off of school so that I could stay with Alex because he wasn’t letting anyone else into Tom’s room.
Alex locked himself in there and listened to the album with the nurse on the front of it, Enema Of State. I still remember the chorus to Adam’s Song, Alex never stopped listening to it. I knocked on the door, hoping that Alex would let me in. “Alex it’s me.” I heard small footsteps and the sound of the doorhandle clicking. Alex opened the door and instantly wrapped his arms around me. We were ten; we didn’t know how Tom died, we didn’t know what death was.
On the day of Tom’s funeral I had to wear a black dress and Alex had to wear a dress shirt. He complained about it at first but eventually gave in; knowing that there wasn’t much that he could do about it. My mom was wearing a black dress as well, my dad was wearing a suit [he’d actually bothered to be home for once], and Alex’s parent’s mirrored what mine were wearing. I’d never seen Isobel and Peter so upset before.
When we got home Alex had decided that he wanted to come over to my house so he gave his parents a hug and made his way through the front door of the house. We walked up to my room and sat on my bed. “Is Tom ever going to be back?” Alex asked me. “I’m not sure Alex.” I didn’t know if he was going to be back, I didn’t know where he’d gone. Alex sat beside me and he placed his hand on mine. Alex leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. It was only for a brief second but Alex was blushing when he pulled away.
“That’s what dad does to mom when she’s upset; I thought it would make you feel better.” Alex smiled slightly. I nodded my head. “I feel little better.” Alex went downstairs and then walked back up to my room holding a tub of ice cream. “Come on, we’ll go and watch a movie.” Alex said as he grabbed hold of my hand and walked into the lounge room. I was meant to be the one making him feel better; after all it was his brother that had passed away. I had no right to be just as sad as Alex was about it but Tom was like the older brother that I never had.
Our first real kiss was when we were thirteen. It was Alex’s birthday and he had finally turned thirteen. Due to his birthday being in December and mine being in October I was a few months older than him so I had already turned thirteen.
Jack, Rian and Zack had come over so we were all sitting in Alex’s lounge room watching boring movies. Rian, Jack and Zack had decided to go outside and play a quick game of basketball while they waited for the pizza that we’d ordered to get here, which left Alex and I in his lounge room with some crappy horror movie on.
Alex placed his hand on mine and moved a little closer to me. “Imogen you’re one of my best friends and I don’t know what I would do without you. This is going to sound really awkward but willyoubemygirlfriend?” Alex said really quickly and then looked away. “Alex did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?” I asked him, just to make sure. I couldn’t really understand what he was saying. Alex nodded his head. “Yes.” I replied. Alex’s face instantly lit up and he smiled widely.
The two of us leaned in so that our noses were touching and our breaths were mixing and the Alex leaned in that little bit more so that our lips met. It wasn’t much of a kiss but it was more than just a small peck on the lips. Alex pulled away first, his cheeks bright red. I pulled him into a hug and soon felt him wrap his arms around me. “This is the best birthday ever.” I heard him say.
We’d both agreed not to tell my half of friends that we were dating. I knew from past relationships that my friends had had that they would always ask questions. Alex had told Jack, Rian and Zack once they had walked back in from their game of basketball. We were told that Zack had won, which wasn’t much of a surprise because he was always the best in sports out of the group.
One of the main reasons why I didn’t tell my friends about Alex and I was because my friend Lisa had a little crush on Alex. She didn’t know that I had known Alex since we were eight and she didn’t know that we were neighbours, none of them did. I felt kind of bad for hiding all of this from them but it was for their own good. I didn’t want to come to school one day and have them make stupid immature sex jokes about Alex and I because Jack already did that. But I didn’t mind if Jack did it because it was Jack, the boy wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’d known him for almost as long as I’d known Alex.
When we got to high school Alex and I weren’t put in the same classes. Zack went to a different high school but Rian and Jack were put in Alex’s class. I was put into a class with people that I didn’t really known, and I honestly didn’t want to know them either. But eventually I had to get to know other people because if I didn’t I would be pretty alone. I could’ve just hung around with Alex but I didn’t want to be around him all the time. So I made other friends. There was a large group of us that hung around the same area but I only really talked to two of them, the rest of the annoyed me. Holly and Lisa became some of the most annoying best friends that I ever had.