Chapter 11: The first kiss

The tiny peck on the lips Janet just got from Wes was her first kiss. That was the very first time a boy kissed her, EVER! A boy other than her dad anyway, but surely, that didn’t count. A kiss from your father wasn’t a real kiss, was it? 

Much to her surprise, she liked it. 

She gazed up at Wes, slightly dazed. She could see he was talking nonchalantly to his aunt and uncle, but she couldn’t hear any of it. For whatever reason, her ears simply were not working. She watched how his black curly hair would bounce as he moved his head and how his eyes would crinkle slightly when he laughed and his wonderful lips when he smiled. He always seemed to be smiling, too. 

Every time he turned to her with that sexy grin and he would squeeze her hand again, her heart gave a little jump. What the heck was that about?

She stood mutely by his side noticing how easy her hand fit into his and also how nice it felt and oddly familiar.  Her mind buzzed with unanswerable questions. Why had he kissed her? Why did he want his aunt and uncle to think she was his girlfriend? And why-oh-why, did she suddenly want to have him all to herself when moments before she didn’t want to be here at all….or had she?

“….. can’t wait for Billy and Rebecca to meet her. They’ll love her,” Wes was saying, flashing another grin at Janet. “You’ll love them too, Janet.”

“Huh?” Janet said. She heard her name and that was it.

“Our son and daughter would love to meet you, Janet,” Beth said.

“Why?” Janet asked, stupidly.

They burst out laughing.

Wes again squeezed her hand. “Because you’re my first girlfriend and they won’t believe it until they see you are real and not some story Uncle Rob made up,” Wes said.

 “Oh… yes…yes sir, Wes is my boyfriend, best boyfriend I ever had. Actually, he’s the only boyfriend I ever had. Maybe I could do better. What do you think?” she asked smiling at them.

“You’re so cute,” Rob said with a chuckle.

“Adorable,” Beth agreed.

Janet gasped and turned to Wes. “Look at that, Wes. The second person to tell me that today. I’m gonna start believing it now,” she said.

“Well, you should,” Beth said. “Won’t you join us for dinner? We’d love to get to know you, Janet, and we haven’t seen much of Wes since… for such a long time.”

“I don’t think we should,” Janet said looking up at Wes. 

“Hmm, I think she wants Wes all to herself, Beth,” Rob said.

“That must be it,” Beth said, winking at Janet. 

“No, it’s…you’re celebrating something special, aren’t you?” Janet said.

“Oh, man. Is it your anniversary?” Wes asked.

They both nodded. 

“Congratulations!” Wes said excitedly. “How long is it now?”

Rob thought for a while. “Only way I can remember is Karen’s age plus one. So… how old is she now?” he asked his wife.

“She’s...um...twenty-three or twenty-four…something like that,” Beth replied carelessly. 

“Well, have a lovely time figuring out which it is and happy anniversary,” Janet said giggling.

“But you must come over some time soon, both of you. Wes, please. Kidnap Donny and bring him over. Hog-tie him if you must, but make him come! We don’t even see him at church anymore,” Beth said earnestly.

“Sorry, Aunt Beth, but we’ve started going to the early service since he always makes appointments in the afternoon. I’ve tried to get him to go to your house, but all he does is work,” Wes explained grimly.

“You said he goes to your games,” Janet piped in.

“Yeah, but he’s constantly on the phone then, too.” he told her.

She made her funny face. “I’ll have to fix that.”

“Oh, really? How?” Wes asked.

“I can be very charming, you know,” she stated seriously.

“We can tell,” Rob replied.

Wes and Janet walked away and were soon seated across the room, with menus in hand.

Now that she had her hand to herself again, Janet felt back to normal. She thought that rather odd and wondered if holding hands somehow diminished brain capacity. It would explain the lack of brilliance in half the kids at school. 

“Now, explain to me why you wanted them to think I was your girlfriend?” Janet asked ignoring her menu. 

She stared at Wes as he made a point of not looking at her and instead seemed to read every single word on the over-large and cumbersome menu. 

“Hello!” she said, tilting her head to the side and blinking at him.

“Please, don’t be mad, okay?” he said anxiously.

“I’m not mad. I’m curious,” she replied.

He looked at her and saw for himself. She didn’t look remotely angry. What a relief! “You were great, Janet. They loved you. They’re totally convinced you’re my girlfriend,” he said, smiling. He reached out and grabbed her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it.

She instantly felt her insides do a flip. “What…why are you doing that?” she asked, nervously.

“What? Kiss your hand?” Wes asked. “I’m sure they’re still watching us. It’s not a big deal, is it?”

“No, I guess not,” she said. “But why pretend at all?”

“They worry about me, almost as much as my dad. So I figured if they thought I was happily in love that they wouldn’t anymore.”

She stared at him for a full minute before she smiled. “Anything for my new best friend,” she said.

“You’re the best,” he said, flashing that sexy grin of his.

“Yeah, you said that already,” she said remembering the feel of his lips on hers and the achingly familiar touch of his hand over her own.

“Didn’t have to lie about that,” he said, shrugging. “Thanks for playing along, Janet. They really loved you.”

“Okay,” she said licking her lips. “So, can I ask you for a favor now?”

“Of course. What?” he said tightening his grip on her hand.

“Think I can have my hand back sometime today? I can’t eat left-handed.”

He burst out laughing, gave her hand one last squeeze and released her. “If I must, but I get it back later,” he said.

“Oh, really?” she said, opening up the menu. She tried to concentrate on the food but her hand felt strange, almost…lonely? Thoughts of her father crept into her mind, too. Did Wes somehow remind her of her dad? She gave herself a mental shake. That was absurd.

“Wanna share a pitcher of frozen strawberry Margaritas with me? They’re really good. I had them on a trip we took to Mexico last year,” she said, casually.

“Are you forgetting something? Like we’re underage and I’m driving?” he said, frowning.

She realized too late that drinking would be a point of contention for Wes being his mother was killed by a drunk driver. 

“Non-alcoholic, of course, Wes. In Mexico they wouldn’t care if you’re just ten years old. Can you imagine? My mother had to keep telling the waiters, ‘No tequila, no tequila’ which totally bewildered them. They never heard of such a thing, a Margarita without tequila.”

“That would be my mother, Margarita without tequila. She never drank but that’s her name . Go figure, huh?” he said sadly.

Janet didn’t like seeing him so miserable. “Really? What a pretty name.”

“Who is we?” he asked curiously.

“We?” she repeated, bewildered.

“You said we went to Mexico.”

“My family, of course. My mom and us kids. We had a blast. Went snorkeling and scuba diving, kayaking, horse-back riding, sight-seeing. We needed a vacation after the vacation,” she said happily. 

“Not your father?” he asked, only now realizing she never mentioned him.

She took a sip of water. “Good idea. You should get your dad to go on vacation. It was awesome. He’ll really like it. There’s lots of pretty senoritas there for the both of you. Just don’t get drunk or you’ll end up with a tattoo on your arm and not know how it got there. It happened to Jimmy Buffet so it could happen to you,” she said.

“You really are a nut,” he said.

“Well, just as long as you don’t try to crack me open and feed me to a squirrel, we’ll be fine,” she said casually. “These look yummy. I’m getting the enchilladas, how about you?”

Janet entertained Wes as they ate by talking animatedly about her trip to Mexico. “Well, a huge wave came at us and we were swept under. Well, we were half drowned but at least my swimsuit stayed in place. Jasmine’s didn’t. There were these guys that saw the whole thing and we could barely get away from them. I think they were hoping mine would fly off too.”

Wes had never laughed so much. “I’ll bet! I wish I had gone with you,” he said.

 “I’m not about to let you see my goods either,” she said, pouring the last of the frozen drink into his glass.

“That’s not what I meant. It sounded like a lot of fun. I wish I could get my father to go to something like that.”

“I’ll fix that too,” she said, lifting her glass in a toast.