Failed First Kiss

This is a story I alluded to briefly on the get-to-know-you quizzes we made at the beginning of the year. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, and I had just started a relationship with this guy who I had had a massive crush on for a while. For privacy reasons, we will call him Daniel. Daniel and I were both very awkward as it was a first relationship for both of us, but I was probably a bit more afraid than he was. One of our first dates was at Ballwin Days, the carnival hosted in Vlasis Park every summer. We were driven there by my mom(neither of us were driving yet, he had just turned 16 and I was still 15) in her minivan, which is already a super romantic start. Looking back on that sort of thing now feels entirely ridiculous! Trying to enter and pursue a “real” relationship being chauffeured around and entirely dependent on our mommies and daddies for money and transport. But anyway, we were dropped off, and it was actually a lot of fun. We got frozen lemonade, rode a bunch of WAY overpriced but still fun rides, and walked around enjoying the park. One of the most well-known parts of Ballwin Days is the fireworks show at the end of each night. Daniel had excitedly told me about a spot on a hill that he and his friends always watched the fireworks from. Because I had moved there the previous summer, it was my first time at the carnival, so he was “showing me the ropes,” I guess. We sat on the hill and the glorious show began, and he put his arm around me. That’s when it hit me: this dude had fully set up the scene for a first kiss. I wish I could say that I reacted to this realization with excitement, but unfortunately, I was hit with immediate panic. I don’t remember the fireworks at all and I have no idea how long they were, because the whole time I was trying to figure out what to do. Romantically, I leaned in to him and said, “I really wanna roll down the hill.” He laughed, taking my suggestion to be nothing more than a joke. I leaned in again: “I seriously think I will roll down this hill.” He looked a little more judgmental this time around, but still chuckled and tried to give me a nice reaction to my “joke.” The big finale of the fireworks began, and I felt him turn towards me and lean in. I dove out of the way as though a car was about to hit me, and followed through on what I had been suggesting the entire time: I rolled down that hill. It was not my proudest moment, but it did get me out of that kiss, which was a little too cheesily set up for me. And somehow, Daniel still wanted to see me afterwards, so it worked out well enough for as embarrassing as it had been for both of us.