It wasn’t until we’d got off the bus that things began to happen.
It had been his idea to go for a walk, probably inspired by how absolutely beautiful Horsmere had looked that Winter’s evening, the main focal point being the pub at the end of our road. Its brickwork was glittering with ice, lit up by the fairy lights that hung off the snow blanketed thatched roof.
The bus stop was opposite the pub and so to get to our houses you had to walk across the car park and then down our road.
As usual I had glanced at myself in the reflection of the pub window, one of those things that everyone does when they think no one is looking, and this particular window was the one that I always used. From what I can remember I’d been quite happy with what I’d seen that day. Most people I know have said I am classically beautiful, which to me has always seemed to be a polite way of saying I’m plain and boring – I don’t see anything beautiful about having brown hair and brown eyes, I would much rather have been blonde.
It had been while I was looking at myself in the window I had been aware of another pair of eyes staring back at me in amusement.
“You quite finished there?” Ben had commented.
I don’t think I’d ever been that embarrassed in my whole life, I went bright red and had turned away, beginning to walk the road back up to our houses.
However despite the village being a winter beauty it was also somewhat of a hidden death trap, slippery ice patches were concealed on the dark pavements, and it wasn’t long before he was walking right next to me again, me clinging onto him to prevent myself from falling over. Why is it that some people can run along icy roads, yet I always seem to have to walk along like some old lady?
It had been then that he had said it – we had just reached my gate when he’d turned to me and said.
“Let’s go for a walk”
“What now?” I’d said.
It had seemed like quite a bizarre plan, but he had been insistent and so I found myself walking past my house and down towards Paradise.
Paradise was the natural beauty spot of the village. Beyond the church graveyard and through the kissing gate was an amazing new world – well that was the way I had seen it when I was young, I’d always go up there to escape the bustle of every day life, I had called it Paradise, because to me that’s what it was.
You had to really look to find the special areas of Paradise, to a casual observer it looked just like a field, but if you veered a bit towards the right and kept walking you’d come across a charming little stream or if you kept on going right to the end of the field you’d find yourself in the woods.
This was the first time that I had shared Paradise with someone else.
“You come down here often?” I asked as he lead me through the gate and onto the snow covered field.
“Not really,” he shrugged.
That figured, the only people I would usually see down here were dog walkers.
“I love it.”
“It’s only a field,” he had said back, not understanding my enthusiasm.
It was then that I had taken him towards the stream, wanting to prove to him that Horsmere was more than just a boring Norfolk village, it had character and charm.
Of course it had completely slipped my mind that as it was the winter the stream would actually be ice, he didn’t seem too bothered about it though.
“Wow, we have to go skating!” he’d said.
“I dunno,”
“Come on Kim, it’ll be fun.”
And with that we approached the patch of ice.
Finding a new rush of confidence I strode out on to the ice, leaving him still standing on the bank.
After my initial nervousness had worn away I began to skid across with more confidence, Ben was still standing on the bank, seemed he was all mouth and no action, so far he hadn’t even moved in the direction to come and join me.
Wanting to impress him with my newly found figure skating skills I strode over to one end and gave him a little wave.
“Watch this!” I announced.
I pushed off on one foot and glided elegantly along the stretch of stream, I jumped as I came to the end, twizzling in the air and landing with a very loud crack.
The ice had cracked and I was knee deep in freezing cold water.
Luckily I saw the funny side, there I was in the middle of January in an ice cold stream laughing my head off, while my partner in crime stood over me, laughing so much it hadn’t even occurred to him to help me out.
“Hellllllllllllllllllllllp!” I yelled in mock terror.
This made him laugh even more.
“You could at least help me out.”
In the end he did begin to search for something to help – which wasn’t an easy job considering that everything was buried under a foot of snow. Eventually it had been me that spotted a chunky bit of stick poking out and he grabbed it and pulled me out of the ice.
“I was tempted to leave you in there you know,” he commented after he’d pulled me to dry land.
“Why would you want to do a mean thing like that?”
“Dunno, its just you …” he stopped and looked down at his feet for a second, “you looked kind of cute in there.”
That was the first compliment that a boy had ever paid me, and coming from Ben, someone who I had fancied for the last 6 months made it even more special.
I knew at that moment that it was coming – my first ever kiss, with my very first crush.
I can remember the feeling so very clearly, my heart felt like it had stopped beating as his face moved in towards mine, clasping his warm hands in my cold ones I saw him shut his eyes and so I did the same. The next moment he had pressed his lips firmly onto mine in one quick innocent little kiss.
That was all it took though – at the age of 11 Ben was in my system, we had a connection and it was one that was never to shift.