you
remember meeting him for the first time. well, actually - you were
pretty sure he was introduced on the first day of classes, but you
didn’t really remember at that time. you were too busy staring longingly
at the playground outside that only timothy (your seatmate),
buck-toothed betty (the girl in front of you with the big braids), and
little bit (the one with the funny name) were the only people whom you
had kept in mind. scratch that, you remember remembering him for the first time.
it was because of that special candy from switch…sween…sicherland (your
mom called it). you were told to share it, but you didn’t really want
to, so you told your classmates that if they gave you something you’ve
never had before, you would give it to them. they crowded around you
that lunchtime.
somebody
named chanchan tried to give you her robot stickers (but you already
had those before), followed by gregory (but you didn’t really want his
rocket science notebook), anabelle (you thought you might’ve considered
the cherry muffin until she had sneezed all over it), and little bit
(who failed miserably by trying to snatch the candy from your hand).
it
was a lost cause for your classmates, really. some of them cried
because you had said some mean things. some of them got angry because
you weren’t following teacher kim’s rules of sharing. you remember how
much you really wanted that candy for yourself. no one ate lunch with
you that day.
it
was the end of the day and while you were packing your crayons,
somebody tapped you on your shoulder. you whirled around, clearly
irritated, because not only was there no satisfaction of having the
candy all to yourself (you secretly didn’t eat it anymore), but no one
ate lunch with you, and the class ignored you the rest of the day. you
came face to face with a boy who seemed slightly familiar (but you
couldn’t quite pinpoint it), who had a determined look on his face.
you
looked at him strangely because he was holding a bunch of leaves.
slowly, he had lifted them and placed it in between the distance of the
both of you. you couldn’t see his face anymore, but you heard yourself
speaking even before you had realized the words had already slipped from
your lips.
‘i’ve already got a hundred leaves at home. i don’t want your leaves.’
he
lifted the leaves higher, but kept it in the distance between you two,
so you could now see his face. he had pretty green eyes (although your
mom told you that boys weren’t pretty, you couldn’t help but disagree
for this case), messy dark hair (which you thought resembled a chocolate
color), and a dimpled smile (which you were undeniably drawn to). he
wasn’t angry, or sad. instead, that dimpled smile stretched into a smug
grin.
before you could ask what he found funny, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against yours.
you
were so taken aback that you had frozen in place. you heard your heart
beat louder than you have ever heard it before. you remember wanting to
push him away, but it was as if somebody had put super glue under your
shoes and kept you there. a few more heartbeats later, he broke the
kiss.
‘those weren’t leaves,’ he said, no trace of malice in his voice. ‘those were special leaves. my ma calls them mistel…misshel… miffledoes, and when two people stand under a miffledoe, i’m supposed to press this - ’ he pointed to his lips then at yours ‘to your lips.’
you bit your lower lip involuntarily, tasting the sweet sensation of his kiss lingering. you knew what he had given you. how long was it,
you had thought, because you swore that it still felt like his kiss was
ghosting above your lips. you see your grandma watching those really
boring shows where people are kissing, and you had thought it was yucky
and gross (you even covered your eyes whenever it happened).
but
having it happen to you was completely different altogether. you
weren’t so sure what to do. not especially since the boy (whose name you
didn’t know) was just there, smiling at you.
‘so, do i win?’
you blinked.
‘the candy,’ he supplied for your lack of speech thereof. ‘do i win it?’
you nodded dumbly, not sure as to why you found yourself sorely lacking an answer, a retort, some sort of chastise - anything. you
reached for the hidden pocket in your bag, letting your bangs cover
your face (because you knew he was watching you), and slowly handed him
the candy.
the
way his stupid eyes lit up made your heart do some kind of flip (you
remember that was how your older sister described situations like these,
when you were at a loss for words). he quickly took the candy and ran
off.
for
the umpteenth time that day, you were stumped yet again. and you didn’t
even know why! you wanted nothing to do but snarl at that boy (whose
name you should really know), because you felt like he had taken
something important from you and had just ran away like that.
just
before you could go back to fixing your bag, feeling sort of bitter,
the boy stopped dead in his tracks, turned around and ran back to you.
you
looked at him questioningly. he ripped open the plastic, broke the
candy in half and offered it to you. he smiled that idiotically dimpled
smile of his, and you found yourself thinking you may really like that
smile (but you kept that to yourself).
‘thank
you.’ you said, trying not to show how much your voice was trembling.
without a warning, he leaned in once again and gave you a quick kiss
(actually, it was more like a clumsy bumping of two pairs of lips
instead of a shared kiss, not that you minded).
he
popped the candy into his mouth, bid you a muffled goodbye, and waved
his hands as he ran off, back slightly turned so you had a good view of
his face.
you
thought that today may not have been such a bad day after all. and that
sharing will, like teacher kim said, bring about good things. you
didn’t even realize you were grinning from ear-to-ear until buck-toothed
becky asked you why you looked so happy.
the
next day, you realized that the reason you never see him in class is
because you’re always just in the brink of time for class (never late,
nor early), and because of your height, you were placed at the back of
the classroom, while he’s always there early and was seated in the very
front. you still didn’t know his name, and that bothered you. so you
asked timothy.
‘tyler.’ the name rolled of your lips quite nicely.
you
went up to him during recess and weren’t sure what to say. you offered a
meek ‘tyler’. you mentally wanted to hit yourself because you thought
that had sounded so lame.
instead,
he smiled knowingly at you and you returned his smile this time. you
were pleasantly surprised when he leaned in, and bravely kissed you
again.
tbc.
