Bloggers "Firsts"- "A kiss that said "you're mine."

I actually know Chanel in real life..

We met back in the day..

and by back in the day i mean like 7 years ago..

We instantly connected,

but our lives took us separate ways pretty quickly.

(this sounds like a beginning to a love story...but it's not)

We have only recently connected again via fb and blog..

and I am SO thankful we did..

because she is awesome.

and really pretty.

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Hi there lovelies, I'm Chanel and I write the blog BY WAY of NEY. You should be super jealous of me because I know Megs in real life. You know, the one outside the blogosphere. I met her back in the day when she was still modeling.
Look at her now; done and left the modeling world in her dust, moved to the UK, kicked England's butt while she got her Masters Degree and found herself a hot Irishman (aka Stephen)! I couldn't love it more!

When Megs first asked me to be a part of a guest series of firsts, I knew instantly that I wanted to write about my first kiss. Then I had to decide which first kiss I wanted to write about. 

There was the sixth grade, what-on-earth, how does one go about getting kissed...oh, right, play Truth-or-Dare on the playground during recess and get dared to be kissed by the boy who also ate a month during a Dare. AWESOME! Thank God is was a eyes closed tight, mouth closed tight, rapid speed peck. 

Then, there was the first real boyfriend first kiss. I was a Freshman in high school, he was a Junior, scandalous, I know. My 15 year old self wasn't quite sure how, or if I was ever going to have a real kiss. But, it happened. I was at my high school best friend's house, her parents had gone to bed and our boyfriends, who were also best friends had come over to watch a scary movie. I think it was Scream (the original, not one of the hundreds of sequels). When we were done watching the movie it was time for the boys to leave. We walked them out wrapped in the blankets we had been cuddled under and there, standing in front of her house, on a not-so-quiet street, he lifted the blanket up and put it over both of our head and kissed me...a real kiss. Sounds like it was so cute and sweet all tucked under the blanket but let's be real...we just didn't want our friends to see us. Oh the things my younger self wouldn't have done if my older self was watching!

As much as those two first kisses could have been scenes of Breakfast Club, 10 Things I Hate About You or Easy A there was another first kiss that the real story is about. Not long after my first real kiss, a met this guy who quickly became like an older brother to me (you all know where this is going already don't you). Maybe you've had that guy in your life; the one who is "just your friend" or "like a brother" to you. You swear up and down that there is simply nothing there. You tell your closet girlfriends, your younger sister, and even some current boyfriends that could/will never happen even though you're not quite sure why. Maybe because he's nine years older than you and when you're in high school, the guy who has already graduated from college and is working a real job sounds like he's living some kind of life that older people do.

9 years later...

I had graduated college and was working a real job. (You know, like those older people did.) I had traveled for a summer and come home.  I was settling into what I though life would look like for me. That guy who was "like a brother" and I started hanging out more often and all my girlfriends asked me what I was going to do when he tried to kiss me. Huh, what? Wait, what are you talking about? No way is that going to happen. We've been friends for a long time and if that were to happen, well that would ruin our friendship right? 
After over 3 months of hanging out, going out to dinner, watching movies on the couch (where there wasn't so much as a leg graze in there), and getting to know each other even better than we already did after knowing each other all those years, we went out to eat (as per usual). This night the decision making went like this,
guy FRIEND: "Do you feel like wine or mojitos?"
ME: "Umm, wine."
guy FRIEND: "Northern Hemisphere or Southern?"
ME: "Northern"
GUY FRIEND: "Alright!"
Off we went to a little tiny hole in the wall Italian restaurant in LA. (Apparently if I had Southern Hemisphere we would have been off to a Brazilian restaurant.) We had the most amazing meal with loads of garlic olive oil and bread and our share of chianti. On the way home we stopped at a park that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, got out of the car, walked along the path for a bit, stopped to look at the water. There, he kissed me. A real kiss. A long kiss. A kiss that said "you're mine." He explained to me, "I don't want to be your friend anymore, I want to be more, and the risk is well worth it to me." And was he right?!?!

3 years later...

We kissed again for the first time as husband and wife, standing in that exact same spot where we had our first kiss.
The best part is...we're still friends!