Timeline

[title type="subtitle-h6"]Melanie Kohls[/title][vc_row][vc_column width="11/12"][vc_column_text]One year and four hours ago we kissed behind a grocery store. We kissed in my car (we didn’t kiss in his car). We kissed in his older sister’s bedroom. She is my age.It was not technically illegal. When I asked him if he liked me, he lied, because he thought I’d be appalled if he said yes. I lied too, and told him good, I wouldn’t want to lead him on. One hour later we told each other the truth and we kissed in his older sister’s bedroom.The next morning I told him I liked his dog. He told me he liked my dress. We watched TV in his basement and he put his arm around me. But I was his older sister’s age, and I was getting into my car in four hours to drive to my apartment three hours away.We watched TV in his basement and three and a half hours later we kissed behind a grocery store. Thirty minutes after that we kissed in my car. We never kissed in his car because when we had been in his car, yesterday, we were pretending to be friends. We kissed in my car four hours after we watched TV in his basement, twelve hours after we stopped pretending, and then I drove home.I drove home and two weeks later he admitted that he had lied again, that he didn’t want to visit me the way we had planned two weeks ago, that he actually didn’t know how he felt about the whole thing and didn’t really want to talk about it.Three weeks earlier, we had planned my trip to his house. One week after that, we ate pizza and pasta at an Italian place where the waitress told me, “Have a nice date.” Eight hours after that, we admitted the truth and I asked him if he had heard the waitress–he said yes and laughed, and then we kissed in his older sister’s bedroom.I told him nothing like this had ever happened to me. I told him I wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t a movie. He told me he’d liked me for years. He told me he never thought I’d return the feeling. I told him I didn’t understand it, but what can you do? I was done pretending.Two weeks later he told me it wasn’t anything I did, that it was just reality not matching what he had dreamed about for years. I told him I knew I had made a mistake. I told him it was okay if he lost respect for me. I didn’t mention how much respect I had lost for myself.Secretly I still wonder what it was about the real me that didn’t match closely enough with the girl of his dreams. I still wonder if I’ll fall in love again. I still wonder if he was even in love, or if he just liked kissing someone his older sister’s age. One year and four hours later, I wonder if I’ll ever get a better kiss. I’m not convinced that it wasn’t a movie.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]