fourteen kisses

by chichi offor

‘Tis the season of love here at the Fluf. We love love, so what better way to celebrate than with stories of a time where lips were unsealed and butterflies took over. First kisses mark new beginnings and spark many more to come. Here’s to all our mushy, cute, raunchy, awkward first kiss stories shared from the greater Fluf community. Happy Valentine’s Day, love birds!

photo by sarah crawford

When in Barcelona

My friend Erin and I were in the hostel bar finishing up our chicken fingers and ready to go to bed early because we had a flight to Madrid at the crack of dawn. As we were leaving, this guy that worked at the hostel was taking a group of vacationers to a local club. I emphasized our early flight, but after someone accused me of being a party pooper, I gave in. My friend, who was very drunk at this point, had no qualms with a last minute Spanish club adventure. On the way to the club, the hostel guy and I became relatively friendly. When we got to the club, there were two floors—one with hip hop / R&B and one with all the cheesy stuff like “Eye of the Tiger.”

The hip hop floor had good music, but my friend (a Very White Person) wanted to stay on the cheesy floor. At one point amidst the a pop hit of some decade, our hostel host asked me if I wanted to go to the other floor. I checked that my friend was good and went to shake my booty to some hippity hop. One thing led to another and suddenly, behold: a make out sesh! It was pretty solid with the right amount of tongue and light groping,  but I was getting tired (breathing is hard in these situations), so I made an excuse to go check on my friend. I came back to let him know we are leaving, but he was nowhere to be found! I was so relieved. —Chichi

The Fumble

I was 14. It was barely a peck at a high school football game. I was terrified and ran away afterward. —Tracie

Chutes & Ladders

In a very cliché setting of the stage, 14-year old me was very obsessed with having my first kiss as soon as possible. For whatever reason, I had it in my mind that it was very important in my development / high school career and I wanted to check off that box and move along. Lord have mercy. Fade to black. Enter an innocent, fresh into high school couple wasting time after class got out. The sun was just starting to go down around 5 pm, outside of an elementary school where his mother worked (because, let me remind you, we needed a ride). All the kids were gone and we were on the empty playground swinging and talking, about what I couldn't tell you. I remember recognizing that we were really alone on this playground, and knew that this was a chance, the chance perhaps.

So I got up from the swing, continuing the conversation and started traipsing along the jungle gym. I climbed up the ladders to the top of the slide and noticed that he had followed along on the ground. I slid down the slide and he was waiting at the bottom, scooped me up and kissed me for the first time. It wasn't anything special, but it was special to me. I distinctly remember the smile on his face, and how I could feel my cheeks getting pink as I grinned in return. Our eyes were sparkling in that puppy love kind of way. He slipped his hand into mine and squeezed ever-so-slightly before we were interrupted by his little brother running onto the playground announcing that his mom was ready to go. End scene.

Now I'm not going to say that I plannnnned my own first kiss. But I will say that even at 14 years old, I knew what I wanted. 😂 I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it. —Emily

Welcome to Adulthood

It was the night of my high school graduation. My best friend and her boyfriend had a friend in town from Florida. His name was Matt. I had plans with all of them to hang out that night. Katie told Matt I’d never been kissed and that he should “get it over with” for me and kiss me. So on a bean bag, in my best friend’s boyfriend’s basement, with a comedy show playing in the background and my friend making out with her boyfriend next to me, I had my first kiss. And he slobbered all over my face. We made out every week for like a month until he went back to Florida and never talked to me ever again. —Maggie

Simple and Sweet

I was in 8th grade. In between lunch and math class, my first-ever boyfriend walked me to my locker & gave a little peck on the lips before parting ways to our separate classes —Liz

A Church Confession

In 5th grade I was at my church’s “kid’s zone” with two of my friends waiting for our parents to finish a meeting. We played hide and seek until someone suggested truth or dare, which is mildly limiting with three people. After picking Truth, the boy revealed he had a crush on me, upon which I was dared to kiss him. After giggling and running around I finally laid a big smooch on him while our friend screamed “ewww” in the background. We continued on to date for three blissful weeks until our parents stopped wanting to drive us to playdates and our romance abruptly ended. RIP my first love. —Anonymous

Something To Be Thankful For

I was twelve years old and it was Thanksgiving night. My “boyfriend” at the time was visiting his grandma who lived down the street from me, but it was his last night in town. That night he relentlessly texted, bugging me to sneak out so that we could have our first kiss. I was so scared because I’m a goody-goody and I hate getting in trouble. Sometime that night my dad and I drove to the store and that’s when I devised my plan. When we got home, I left something of mine in the car and then told me boyfriend to run over from his grandma’s house. Once he texted me he was on his way, I told my dad I had to go out to the car to get the thing that I had left. I went outside and saw my boyfriend running towards me from around the corner. He ran up out of breath and I was terrified. We stood staring at each other for what felt like forever. Then finally I blurted out, “You better kiss me before my dad comes out and kills me.”

He kissed me so quickly that I don’t remember it at all. And then ran off. We broke up sometime after and years later, I had what I told everyone was my first kiss. To this day my parents still don’t know about it. It’s been seven years. —Caroline

The Home Run

My first kiss was at the top of a baseball scoreboard! I think I was 13 years old. My little sister was supposed to be “watching” me and the boy I liked while we kept score for a little league game. We paid her a dollar to get us something from the concession stand and he kissed me when she left. 😂 —Kassidy

Serving Up Something Frisky

My first kiss was so weird! It was freshman year of high school. I was volunteering with a guy at our middle school volleyball game in the concessions stand. We snuck off to the stage (gym/ auditorium was the same place) with the curtains closed and volleyball game going on to make out and do some super fumbley groping. We kind of skipped the first kiss and went straight to a first make out. One of our fellow volunteers came looking and caught us. We didn’t get in trouble, but it was so awkward for the rest of the night. 😝—Marisa

A Kiss for the End of the World

My middle school boyfriend thought it was romantic to teach me how to survive a zombie apocalypse. After telling me about how it is pertinent to blow up your stairs, he gave me a short peck. —Morgan

Find me In the Club

I was a senior in college (22 years old), and I started talking to this guy on Tinder. We met up at the club and started dancing Then suddenly we were making out. Continued making out for literally an hour. And then he left, and I never saw him again. 😂😂😂 —Sabrina

A Backstage Kiss

I had just turned 15 years old and was a freshman in high school. My first “real” boyfriend, a tall, dark-haired junior, and I had dated for a solid two weeks. We were in drama club and at our dress rehearsal for our spring play - a comedic retelling of Greek myths. I felt like a goddess in a beautiful purple Grecian dress while the whole cast ate lunch - but my boyfriend interrupted my eating (big mistake) and asked me to help him in the backstage hallway of the theater. I followed him into a dark and shadowy hallway backstage, and then he gently pressed me against the wall and kissed me. I pushed him away from me because I was honestly unaware that this was what he “needed help with,” and I was super self-conscious that my breath and I smelled of classic chicken noodle Progresso soup. I effectively killed the mood and went back to eating my lunch with the rest of the cast. Thankfully, he quickly learned that I take my food very seriously and made sure I was full and finished eating prior to our much-better-second-kiss the next day! —Marli

When Netflix Isn’t So Chill

So we had just woken up, and I got all dressed and smelling good to leave. The Netflix and Chill session we had the night before was completely uneventful and boy, was I ready to pack my shit up and never look back. But then I heard, "Mami you look good, just come lay with me." We cuddled for like 2 seconds before this boy jumped me. He was on top. Then I was on top and then back again. I was ducking and dodging his attempts at a kiss, because I was honestly not ready. Then I thought, “Can you ever really be ready?” Plus it was literally just a kiss.

Finally, I climbed on top of him and take charge. I said, "I want a kiss." Yep, just like that. I smiled. He smiled. We both went about halfway, and then we were there. At first, it was wet and choppy. He said, "You have full lips." I said, "Yeah." That was a compliment right? Let's just say that was a compliment. We kissed a little more and grinded a bit. I was still on top, and I couldn't stop laughing. The last kiss was the one though. We'd finally found a rhythm. But he ruined the moment with, "You have to leave by 1, sorry to say." All I thought was WOW. —Deja

A Woman in Charge

Technically, my first kiss was in kindergarten. I had a playdate with one of the two classmates I had a crush (the other was less emotionally available, much to my dismay. But kindergarten kissers can’t always be choosers). I said “Let’s play house. You be daddy, I’ll be mommy.” Then we went inside a little miniature house that my parents gave me and I said, “Now mommy and daddy kiss.” And that was it! I’ve almost always been the one to make the first move.

But my “real” first kiss was at the 6th grade Valentine’s Dance in my middle school gym. It was with my first boyfriend, a cool skater boy who was secretly a softie. He bought me chocolate and made me a bracelet with a heart and both our birthstones on it. I went to give him a kiss on the cheek to thank him. But he turned his head last minute and—SURPRISE!—we had a very quick, awkward kiss on the lips. A couple months later I tried to French Kiss him and he was so scared of my tongue that he broke up with me. —Sarah