*This post originally appeared on Teatime & Books*
“You
must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss…” Except for when it comes to a first
kiss. As all lovers will tell you, the magic in a relationship sparks or
fizzles with that first kiss. It is a dealmaker or breaker.
When
a first kiss burns hot, love blooms. According to a 2012 ABC Science poll, 90%
of lovers, irrespective of age, can remember when and where their first kiss
occurred. When a first kiss goes badly—as 60% of first kisses do according to
the same poll—all hopes for a lasting romance are lost.
I
was ten years-old the first time I fantasized about holding a boy’s hand—a very
specific boy with blond hair parted by a cowlick on the right side of his
forehead, tiny freckles dotting his perfectly upturned nose, and grey-blue eyes
that reminded me of the sky before a summer storm. I daydreamed about
walking past him one day and letting my hand brush his. In my daydream, he
would take my hand and we’d stand there together. That was as far as my
ten-year-old mind had worked things out. Having accomplished my goal, I
supposed we’d just stand there holding hands for eternity. I wanted it so
badly.
When
I was twelve years-old, that same boy—who was by then fourteen and over six-feet
tall, gave me my first kiss. As we sat together in a wooden porch swing, he
reached out to lift a strand of hair that the gathering wind had blown into my
face, and as he leaned in to tuck the hair behind my ear, he kissed me. “I want
to remember you just like this,” he said, “with the wind and that strand of
hair in your face, always. You’re perfect.” I could have died! It was the most
romantic moment of my life. At twenty-seven, I married that boy even though he hadn’t
said anything half as sweet to me since that long-ago summer. It was
the kiss that did it. I'd never forgotten it.
In
Solomon’s Bell, the second installment of the Genie Chronicles,
thirteen-year-old main character Ginn Lawson contemplates bartering her first
kiss for what she hopes is information she needs to save her family. Caleb
Scott, an older boy and Ginn’s longtime crush, is a descendant of Grimms,
members of the Order of the Grimoire, who’ll stop at nothing to possess a genie
as part of their magical menagerie. Caleb turns from the Order in hopes of
proving his devotion to Ginn, but when Ginn asks Caleb to return to his Grimm
roots to help save her family from the clutches of a golem, Caleb has but one
request: a kiss. Ginn agrees, only to worry later that it’s been bad luck to
barter her first kiss for intel on her most dangerous enemy. As the story
progresses and Ginn is swept up in the adventure of battling golems both at
home and in 16th Century Prague, she forgets about the promised
kiss; but that’s never the case for Caleb. Will their romance burn bright or is
Caleb’s past and their new mission too dark to let in the light?
What do you remember about your first kiss? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
