The Best Kiss of the Night

Emily.

She’s in a sour mood. After the whole ordeal, she suddenly doesn’t want to go out tonight. We had guys walk to our room and ask to hang out, but I told them to fuck off. My entourage was already out and about while we prettied ourselves, meeting up with them later.

            “I don’t even feel like going out…” Emily says while straightening her hair.

            “What, why?”

            “All those guys just want to talk to you, like, I don’t feel like going out tonight.”

           “Why should it matter that the guys want to talk to me? You have a boyfriend who loves you, I don’t. Mine cheated on me and I’m single. Who cares.”

            “It’s just nice to get some attention,” she says. You can see that she’s actually upset about it, but it really is about the attention and at the same time, I don’t even like some of the attention I was getting.

            “Listen, those guys only talk to me because to them, I’m just a piece of meat, something to use and throw away. It that the kind of attention you really want?”

            “Well, no. But it’d be nice to get some.”

            “Don’t let this ruin your night. It’s the last one we got, so let’s get wasted and have a blast?” I give her a open mouth smile with a thumbs up but she doesn't seem convinced. “Or you can stay in the hotel and pout, because no matter what, I’m going out and I’m going to have fun tonight.”

            After another beer and another layer of mascara, we both are ready to keep the night going. Sometimes, tough love works with some people. They need that little slap in the face to loosen them up.

            My entourage and I enter ‘The village’, four cottages on one property that's enclosed by a fence to make it one big party area. Fireworks are stuffed in my pants, allowing me to have to best pick up line when people ask if they’re actually fireworks.

            “Yeah, you want to set off my fireworks?” got a few good looks saying that.

           Lukas is off talking to other girls and what’s great is that I don’t care. After our little intimacy, I didn't know how to act around him. Do I talk to him? Hold his hand? Not like I wanted too, but because hooking up that day, that make us on a date for the rest of the evening? He was acting like it didn’t happen which worked for me. I had gotten what I wanted out of him.

            The atmosphere of the party made me feel like I really did cross the line into the Fun Culture. I was feeling that euphoric scene when you've gotten a job promotion, or that won a lot of me. You feel like a baller like I owned the place and had a house on top of the world.

            I pounded my chest and felt my walls were up and had a heart of steel. This is what it was like, to be drunk, prowl around, see someone who’ve slept with before and not give a damn. It was amazing. I felt victorious, making my own history.

            My cell vibrates and it’s Dante asking if I’m coming by.

            “I’m the one with the fire works,” I reply back and actually do set off the fireworks.

            I set off two in my pants and set the two I’m holding. The roman candles blast out and the crowd backs away from me like I’m dangerous. One kid, with huge plugs in his ears, a backwards cap and a crooked smile looks at me amused, daring.

            Matty grabs one of my firing candles and shoots it off in another direction and Lukas runs over and grabs another one, then running off with it, firing it at a group of girls. My entourage disappears into the crowd of belligerent socialites after my fire goes out and I see Dante walking toward me.

            He looks at me, highly amused by my theatrics, his eyes say something else though and I couldn't quite place my finger on it. After he gives me a hug and kiss on the cheek, we start to hit it off. The conversation flows like we haven’t just met.

            Matty and Emily joined us, but more so watched since our conversation didn't break. We talked about what we had plans for in the future and where we worked. He was so passionate about his schooling in creative writing, having written his own book and created his own website for it. He had big aspirations to make it big in the publishing industry, having entered one of short stories in a completion in Toronto. Dante was animated and funny, life lighting up in his eyes when we talked about what he saw himself doing in the future.

            We touched arms and cracked jokes at one another, laughing at the fun we were having more than at ourselves. Since we were talking about things we had accomplished, I felt the need to increase my value. I started to show a little of myself, talking about all the animations I had done, and how I was moving out to Vancouver to try and get into their University for animation. I explained that I've always wanted to write and create a TV show as great as Dragon Ball Z.

            Dante laughed. “I fucking love that show!”

            I see Matty rolled his eyes, knowing this was my line to either reel the guy in, or cut him loose if he didn't know what show I was talking about.

            “Jessie, come with me to the washroom,” Emily announcing, grabbing my arm.

         “Here, you guys can use the one in my cabin,” Dante suggests and leads us away to one of the cottages.

            I stand guard as Emily does her business. The place is small and I remember Dante showing us last night. I’m still nursing a beer and talking to Dante about what kind of stuff he writes. He stops talking as I laugh at something he said and we kind of just look at each other for moment.

            “Can I kiss you?” he suddenly asks locking my eyes.

            I pause. But why not?

“Yeah, sure,” I say and let it happen.

He reaches in and pulls me to his lips and its great. There was no rhythm to get in sync with, no effort to figure out where our tongues should go. They just knew and it felt like we've kissed many times before. Finally, someone who’s in sync with me when all this time I thought I was doing something wrong. Our bodies got closer together as I grabbed his hips and put them up to mine. That's the moment my heart gave a little jump. Only a little one though, since there was no telling where this was going to lead. Every bit of me came alive, little by little, but I held back just to be safe.

When we finally broke apart at the sound of Emily coming out of the washroom, we both got this sheepish grin plastered on our faces, like we were a part of a dirty scandal.

“You’re the best kisser of the night!” I say without thinking that this could be considered offensive.

“Oh?” Dante laughs and grabs my hand.

“Come on guys, I want to light my firework off at the beach,” Emily pokes me with her roman candle and then pokes Dante. “You coming with us?”

“Yeah, I’ll come!” he gives me a smile and another kiss.

I was getting the feeling that this evening was going to be lots of fun.