First Time for Everything!

It felt amazing to be in his arms, like nothing could pull me away. I could smell his smell of citrus and I could feel warmth spreading from him to me. My head lightly rested on his shoulder and at that moment time seemed to freeze, I didn't care who was watching, and all I knew is that I love this boy.

“Mom, please! New Years Eve is two days away and you still haven't given me an answer on if Oliver can come. You know how much he means to me and it's been three months that we’ve been dating”, I said. My mom gave me her typical mom look and said with a sigh, “Ok fine, I've already talked to your Father about it and he thinks it's fine as well.”. “So he can come?” I asked, not believing my ears. “Yes, he can come as long as he can drive himself, I won’t have time to pick him up.”

Later that night I was writing in my journal, trying not to cry of happiness. I was thinking to myself on how much I like Oliver ,and now that I’m 15, my parents have started to let me go out with boys by myself. I was writing about how much I’ve wanted to tell him how much I love him and what better time to tell him than the first second of the new year? I’ve always dreamed about a moment like the one I’m hoping for, and now that there is even a chance of it happening, it makes me a bit nervous.

Thinking about the party makes me really nervous but more importantly, excited. As I tried to fall asleep that night, I couldn’t help having doubts that he might not love me, after all, we have only been together for three months. As I pushed those thoughts out of my mind I could feel my body start to relax until I started to drift off to sleep. 

The next morning I woke up to a ding coming from my phone. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and picked up my phone. The screen showed a text message from Oliver with a kissy face emoji saying good morning, and a text from my best friend Caroline. I opened the text from Caroline hoping she wanted to hangout. I was a bit disheartened when she invited me to go to the New Years Eve party she has every year because I had already made up my mind about having Oliver over to our house. 

I texted her back saying I couldn’t make it because I was having Oliver over. She replied back saying she couldn’t believe I was replacing her with him. The thing about Caroline is that she takes things way too personally and is very dramatic about pretty much everything. I calmly explained to her that I wasn’t replacing her, just spending this one day with him and that I always spend time with her instead of him. Our conversation ended with me saying, “Friends?” and her saying, “Sure”. 

After taking a deep breath I opened the text from Oliver with a smile on my face. He makes me so happy and every time I hear his name I blush a little with a wide smile on my face. I replied, “Good morning, hey just a question, what are you doing on New Years Eve night?”. I dropped my phone on my bed and got up to brush my hair. Mid-brush I heard another ding from my phone. 

Diving back onto my bed and grabbing my phone I saw that it was another text from him saying, “Hmm nothing, probably just watching a movie. Why?”. Without a moment of thought I replied to him, “I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house for a party. I already talked to my parents about it and they said you can come.” He immediately texted back, “Let me go ask my parents, hold on brb.” 

Exactly six minutes later when I was getting dressed for the day choosing a cute, fall flowered dress with a pink belt to go around the waist, I heard another ding from my phone. I rushed to my phone and in the process slipped on the floor rolling around laughing at my mistake. I climbed onto my bed and read, “They said I could come, they are going out that night so I would’ve been by myself. What time do you want me to be there?” I got up swiftly to ask my mom what time the party starts.

“Three thirty”, my mom said after I told her about our conversation, “I want to have enough time to spend time outside.” I turned around quickly, thanks to my socks, and speed walked back to my room calling a thanks to my mom. Once inside my room I told Oliver what my mom had said. He quickly replied back saying he can make it and that he will see my tomorrow at three thirty.

The next day I was rushing around the house sweeping, dusting, and an overall pickup while my mom and dad on the other hand were preparing dozens of dishes of delicious food. I absolutely hate cooking and baking so I'm super glad my parents took that job into their own hands. As three thirty rolled around slowly, guests started arriving. Most of them were my parents' friends and family friends. Finally the moment I was waiting for came at three thirty-four, when I peaked around the curtains and saw Oliver get out of his car.

 I welcomed him into our house with a really big hug. “What was that for?” he asked. “I just missed you, that's all.” I said. The next few hours went by in a blur from card games to stuffing our mouths full with junk food and even playing a bit of soccer. I was having so much fun that I could hardly believe it when someone called out “Fifteen minutes!”. 

My nerves shot through the roof when I realized that the time for me to confess my love was coming so soon. I was so excited but nervous at the same time, I thought I might vomit. We continued to play our competitive game of Uno until someone shouted, “Five minutes!”. Oh. My. Stinking. Gosh. I might pass out. Now come to think of it, it is kind of hot in here.

I brushed those thoughts away focusing on my end goal. I looked at my watch and my eyes practically popped out of my head. Two minutes left, how the heck did three minutes go by that fast? I came out of my trance when Oliver called my name. 

“Are you ok?” he asked. “Yeah I'm fine. Who’s turn is it?” I said trying to draw attention from my obvious nervousness. He gave me a look but to my relief turned back to the game. One minute left, I swear these minutes go by like seconds. “Forty, thirty nine, thirty eight…” The party had started to count down the seconds. I joined in by habit.

“Twenty nine, twenty eight… fourteen, thirteen…” My heart started beating, my hands started sweating, I could feel myself shiver in anticipation. “Five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year!!!” My head exploded with the noise of whoops and excited shouts. Everywhere I looked I saw couples kissing. I realized that Oliver had taken my hand and had started to lead me outside.

Once outside I said, “I love you Oliver.”, he turned to me and shouted, “What?”. I shouted back, “I said I love you!”. He blushed slightly and said “I heard you the first time, I just wanted to make sure it was real.” I looked away in embarrassment trying to find another topic to talk about. 

I turned back to Oliver to see him staring into my face, and I thought my heart was beating fast earlier. “I love you too Juliana.” he said, pulling me into a sensational hug and only then did I rest my head on his shoulder. I looked up and pulled my head away afraid I had pushed it too far. He was so dreamy eyed and the moment was so unbelievably romantic .

Time seemed to freeze as my vision went from his eyes to his lips. I could tell he was doing the same. Our heads grew closer and closer until finally our lips touched. Our eyes were closed and I could feel his hands caress the back of my neck. I giggled a little when he started playing with my hair. 

He tasted like a mix of chocolate and peppermint thanks to the cookies my parents had made. I didn’t want it to ever end. I wanted this moment to last as long as possible. I loved the way he touched the back of my neck. He pulled away slowly and looked into my eyes. 

“Was that okay?” he asked. “More than okay.” I responded with a wide smile. He gave me a quick hug and went to go inside. I was a bit frazzled so I was thankful that he had left me to calm my senses. I could still smell citrus in the air and I was so thankful that I had remembered to put on my favorite and only perfume tonight. 

After I had completely calmed myself, I went inside to say goodbye to the people who were starting to leave. One by one families left and said goodbye to us. I knew the time had come for him to leave and go home to his family. It startled me when I felt his hand on my shoulder.

I quickly turned around. “Goodbye Juliana, see you in a few days when school starts?” he said. “Yeah of course.” I said, trying not to show my sadness that he had to leave. He gave me a quick hug and went outside. As I closed the door behind him I let out a big sigh. “You really love him don’t you?” my mom said. I replied with, “ More than I thought possible”.