First Time

She was ready

Freda smiled purposefully at the mirror, grinning both to build up her self-confidence and more importantly, make sure there were no funny green fibres layered across her teeth.

An even row of pearly whites (courtesy of Dr Owino, two years in braces and a vigorous polishing session) gleamed back reassuringly at her. No spinach, lettuce or bean seeds glaring at her. Which was to be expected seeing as she had been too nervous to eat lunch, before she got to Angela's house.

She mentally moved to the next item of her checklist. Breath test.

Bringing her hand to her face, she exhaled into her palm and tried to sniff at her breath. She got a whiff of Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion, but that was it. Frowning, she wondered if anyone had actually ever succeeded at smelling his or her own breath. She decided to play it safe and helped herself to another spurt of Breath Freshener.

She paused.

Better not to appear to eager, she decided. She rinsed out her mouth with water.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"One minute" Freda called out. She fished into her bag and stared critically at the little glass container. "Kissable Pineapple!" the container loudly proclaimed in a cursive script.

Do pineapple flavour and mint-freshener make a good combination? She wondered as she applied a layer. She glanced in the mirror and shuddered. It smelt like pineapple, tasted like pineapple, but also had the effect of making her lips look like they had been dipped in fish-oil.

The knocking on the bathroom door became more insistent, rising over the music. "I'm going to burst!" wailed the plaintive voice.

Freda wiped off her lips. Too bad for pineapple flavour, she decided. She finally walked out getting almost knocked down by Angela in the process.

Freda idly wondered if it was diarrhoea. Angela was spending more time in the bathroom that at the party.

James was standing nervously by the food table, fiddling with an empty glass. When he noticed Freda, he smiled, put the glass down and slid his hands into his pockets.

"What a relief," he said when she was close enough. "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind,"

Freda was startled, "No." she shook her head to emphasise her reply. She stopped, "Why, have you?"

"No," he confirmed. They stood like that for a while. Freda picked up the empty glass and James looked at the ceiling. Soon, he started whistling. He stopped after the second bar, realising that he had no idea what he was whistling to. James removed his hands from his pockets, crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmm?" asked Freda looking up.

"What?" he started

"Oh, I thought you said something."

"No, I didn't."

"Okay."

She twisted the glass in her hands and wondered if it was too late to back out. He put his hands back in his pockets.

"So-" they both said. Freda motioned for him to continue.

"So, let's go outside?" he suggested.

"Okay."

They sat on the edge of the flowerbed. He stretched out his legs. She drew her knees up to her chest and locked her fingers round them.

"Shall I count?" she asked.

"Count what?" he was sincerely puzzled.

"You know. One, Two, Three."

"Oh," he said, "Okay"

"One, two-"

"Wait!" he stood up. "On three or should I wait for you to say, 'Go'?"

Freda craned her head backwards and stared up at him, "On 'Three'," she confirmed.

"Oh, " he sat down. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Three," she said.

Nothing happened. The light faded. A bird cried out. In the background from the house, Sisqo continued to unleash the dragon.

" I said 'Three'," Freda pointed out after a while.

"But you didn't count from one," James pointed out.

Freda sighed, stretched out her legs and crossed them at the ankles. "Listen, " she said, "If you've changed your mind then-"

"One, Two, Three," James said.

"Ouch!" complained Freda, rubbing her nose.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," James pointed out clutching at his nose in bewilderment. "Well, at least it doesn't happen in any of those movies and stuff."

"Let's do this properly. One, two, three" Freda said.

This time, their noses didn't bump.

Freda analysed the moment carefully. Later she would note down in her diary:

1. No butterflies in stomach
2. Knees did not turn into jelly.
3. Face did not flush.
4. No feeling of general weakness.
5. Conclusion: "Sweet Valley High" is a trashy series, and in movies, they lie.

"Hmm," James said.

"Is that it?" Freda shrugged back at him.

"I guess so," James paused. "Or maybe we forgot something. Want to try again?"

They did.

"I guess not," Freda said. "It's much the same."

"So what's the big fuss about?" wondered James.

"Beats me."

"So, wanna go back to the house and do FIFA 99?"

"Lord, you're so obsessed with PlayStation" Freda complained as he helped her to her feet.

"You and me, darling." he said in some accent he'd probably picked up from a TCM Western.

On the way back, it occurred to Freda that the fading sunlight did seem a little brighter.

THE END

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