Chapter 3 – My First Kiss

(Aiden’s POV)

I lowered my head, hoping to escape from Deborah’s eyes. She had fixed her eyes on me as soon as Jessamine dashed to her bedroom to get her sacred box. Despite the technology, we refused to communicate through e-mail and social media. Instead, we continued to use snail mail, sending printed pictures and postcards, and calling through the telephone booth. We only exchanged cell phone numbers three years ago when the only telephone booth left in Carterville was torn down and changed into a charging area.  

There were only two seats in their living room, a love seat, and a single sofa. As if they owned seats, Jessamine asked me to sit on the single sofa while Deborah was on the loveseat. When she returned, she sat cross-legged on the floor and put the decorated box on the center table.

“I can’t believe you two,” she muttered as she leaned forward to see the letters inside the box. “And where’s yours?” she asked, narrowing her eyes as she accused me of not doing the same thing as my best friend.

I stood up, opened my luggage, and took the one that took up most of the space in my bag. Smiling, I sat beside Jessamine and placed my own version of my sacred box, heavily decorated with Marvel stickers, beside her box.

“Wow!” Deborah chuckled as I opened the lid. “You two are something.” One corner of her mouth lifted as she looked at Jessamine getting one envelope from her box.

“This is your last letter to me,” she smiled but pouted as she showed me my picture with Hannah. “She still your girlfriend?”

“That’s so six months ago. Old news,” I said, shaking my head.

Jessamine rolled her eyes and chuckled. “We’re so alike. This guy here can’t be tamed,” she uttered, introducing my bad side to her housemate. “You’re the one who’s wild and all fun,” she muttered, clucking her tongue as she looked at me. “When are you going to get serious with a girl?” She turned her head to Deborah. “The longest relationship he had was three months. It’s like there was some kind of expiration date to his every relationship.”

“Look who’s talking,” I chuckled, crossing my arms over my chest as I narrowed my eyes at her. “And you? What's the longest relationship you had?”

She wrinkled her nose and sneered at me. “Six months with Mark. The last one,” she stuck her tongue out. “I thought he was the one, but...” she shook her head, returning the picture in the envelope. “He’s just not the one.” She sighed.

“Are you sure you’re just best friends?” Deborah lifted an eyebrow at her.

“Best friends forever,” she grinned, showing the friendship-knotted ring on her left finger.

“Best friends forever,” I repeated, showing the same ring to her, but I used mine as a pendant to my necklace as it didn’t fit my finger anymore.

Deborah smirked but refused to say something. She stood up. “I’m preparing lunch.”

“Lunch is on me,” Jessamine said, stopping her from going to the kitchen. “Aiden loves Chinese food.” She turned to me, blinking her adorable almond eyes. “You still love Chow Mein, right?”

“Yep!” I smiled, raising my hand to brush the hair strand that got loose from her ponytail.  “How can you be the same?”

“You just said I grew up, so I’m not that same high school girl, Aiden. I’m different,” she said as she took her phone, taking a picture of our boxes.

“I’m sorry for asking, but why did you decide to return and live here in Carterville?” Deborah had that same suspicious look as she asked me.

Jessamine turned to me, raising her eyebrows while waiting for my answer.

“Did Jessamine tell you about my father, only showing up at my grandmother’s wake?” I asked her. When she nodded, I continued, “Well... he’s someone really difficult to please, always expecting much from me... but you see, I’m Aiden, the untamed son, not taking things seriously, so he kind of kicked me out. Before leaving, I asked him for money and promised him I’d make myself a millionaire out of it in a year.”

Jessamine gazed at me with a serious look. “How much did he give you?”

“Fifty thousand,” I answered, meeting her eyes.

“Aiden, how exactly will you turn fifty thousand into a million?” My best friend murmured worriedly.

“That’s why I’m here to ask for your help,” I smiled at her.

 “You have savings?” Deborah interrupted, raising her eyebrows at me.

I shook my head. “No savings... nothing! That’s why he kicked my butt out of his home because I was useless to him.”

Jessamine tilted her head as she thought. “That’s a good start, though,” she said in a hushed tone. “I can lend you money.”

“The deal with my dad is not to get help from anyone for additional finances. I had to work hard if I wanted to add money to my capital,” I waggled my eyebrows. “Oh, I forgot to mention that I’ll be getting my expenses from that money, too.”

Jessamine gasped. “What? He’s worse than my mother,” she scowled. “How will you live?”

Deborah scoffed at her. “He has you.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “I can sense you’ll get a prize if you make a million, Aiden.”

“He’ll double my money,” I smirked.

The ‘ding’ sound of the doorbell made us turn our heads to the main door. Jessamine stood up hurriedly to open it like she was expecting someone was coming. I shifted on my seat to see who it was, but the visitor refused to enter and asked her to go out instead.

“That must be Holly, the owner of this row of apartments here in Maddison,” Deborah said, taking my attention. “Aiden, while Jessamine is outside, let’s be clear with one another, okay?”

I met her eyes and nodded, unsure why she looked at me like she would strangle me or slap my face if I did something terrible to Jessamine.

“You’re here because of your little squabble with your father and not to break Jessamine’s heart,” she muttered in a hushed tone.

“I don’t understand you, Deborah,” I was about to laugh, but when she glowered at me, I pressed my lips tightly.

“She may look tough, but she’s a child inside, Aiden. She’s looking for direction, a straight one, not a twirling path that will only confuse her,” she hissed.

I scoffed, shaking my head. “You think I’m here to woo Jessamine and be in a relationship with her?” I raised my head and met her eyes. “You may know her, but I have known Jessamine since third grade. She’s my only family, Deborah, and I had no plan of losing the only sister I had over the need of my body.”

Deborah pressed her lips and narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. Her eyes flickered on the door before looking at me again.

“At least we’re clear,” she sighed and sat again when the door opened.

When I turned my head in her direction, her mouth was downturned as she walked toward the single sofa. She nibbled on her bottom lip, a habit she had when stressed and worried.

“Argh!” She hissed annoyingly. “Holly’s so unfair,” she growled.

“What happened?” Deborah and I asked in unison.

“She promised to wait for you for the deposit and advance, but just because someone came yesterday and was ready to pay, she gave the apartment to them,” she snarled.

I grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll book a hotel tonight. Don’t stress yourself about it, okay?”

She gasped and then sneered at me, hitting my arm. “How can you think of booking a hotel with your limited resources? Stay here.”

“What?” Deborah’s eyes were wide as she looked at her. “I’m not giving up my room. You know that Xavier stays here on weekends.”

“I can sleep on the... couch!” I sucked in my lips, looking at the loveseat and thinking how I would fit in.

Jessamine shook her head, standing up and grabbing my luggage’s handle. “Deborah, I’m definitely not taking your room, but I’m not letting Aiden sleep here on the loveseat. He can sleep in my room.”

“He will sleep in your room?” Deborah blinked. She opened her mouth again, looking at her, dumbfounded and horrified by her decision. “Do you know what happens to a man and woman sleeping in one room, Jessamine?”

She grinned. “Not my Aiden, Deborah. Besides, he’ll be sleeping on the pull-out bed. Not in my bed. We used to sleep together in the classroom and the tree house, so don’t worry much. Aiden is spelled out as S-A-F-E. The only time he dared to kiss me was that prom night, and he kinda disappointed me.” She chuckled amusedly.

“Oh, God.” I arched my head, fixing my eyes on the ceiling. “Don’t bring that up, please.”

Debora’s reaction was priceless. She opened her mouth again, but this time, she closed it without uttering any words.

Jessamine chuckled and tousled my hair as if I was a young boy. “Don’t worry, Aiden. It’s still our secret, but I am sharing it with Deborah, so she won’t worry much about us staying in one room.”

“You...” Deborah blinked, looking at me. “You...”

“Nothing happened,” Jessamine rolled her eyes as she assured him. “It was...” She furrowed her forehead as if trying to remember the kiss. “It was just a peck on my lips so I would stop crying because my crush liked someone else, and I hoped to have my first kiss with him that night. Instead, I got my heart broken.” She looked at me and smirked. “That’s how I got my first lousy kiss.”

“That bad?” I asked, unsure why my ego was hurt when it had been our joke for almost a decade.

Jessamine guffawed and turned her back on us, taking my luggage as she walked toward her bedroom. I pressed my lips, suppressing a smile, but I failed. If only Jessamine knew it was also my first and how I wanted to deepen the kiss and explore her mouth, but I was afraid she would run away from me.

That night in the tree house, while she snored in my arms, I didn’t sleep, deciding to keep my feelings for her. Jessamine was my first love, but I would rather lose the chance of trying to be in a relationship with my first love than lose my best friend and only family.