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“And
you,” Shelby pointed at Trevon, “don’t have to go showing off your ability just
because Lexi’s here. Just teleport yourself back over here right now.” She
turned and winked at me.

“Is
this better?” he asked, appearing in her lap.

“Get
back in your own chair,” she demanded with a shove, and he complied. “I know
you’re trying to change the topic of conversation,” she scolded. “Trevon here,”
she said accusingly and glanced at me, “couldn’t even remember the name of the
first girl he’d ever kissed.” She clipped him on the side of the head, but it
was an affectionate clip. “On the other hand, he had no problem giving us an
informative history lesson on the Civil War.” She shook her head and looked at
him with disgust.

“I’m
proud of my historical knowledge,” he said with audacity and smiled broadly.
Running his hand over his buzz cut he added, “If it makes you feel better
though, I haven’t forgotten any of my kisses with you.” Leaning across his
chair, he planted a big kiss on her cheek. She rolled her eyes but smiled contentedly.

“Maybe
we guys are just better with semantic memories,” Jason suggested.

“What
does that mean?” Madison groaned.

“Someone
obviously didn’t pay attention in psychology class.” He shook his head, but
there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Semantic memories have to do with
concept-based knowledge, like facts about historical events or people.” He
shrugged. “I’m just trying to level the playing field here, Madison.”

“Good
idea,” Trevon agreed.

Madison’s
chair squeaked as she swiveled my direction. “Lexi it’s your turn to share a
memory.” With a slight barb to her tone she added, “What’s it gonna be Civil
War or first kiss?”

What
trap was Madison setting for me this time? I stared at the flickering flames of
the Citronella candle which sat on the small table in front of me. The flames
flickered inside the silver bucket, and my nose twitched from the mixture of
heavy lemon and lavender.

“Sorry
guys,” I said and glanced up. “I’ll have to stick with the girls and go with an
episodic memory on this one, my recollections of the Civil War are scattered at
best.”

Madison
smiled, but it was more wicked than friendly I thought. “Okay, smart move
Lexi,” she leaned back and crossed her arms, “how about your first real kiss.
French kiss, of course. Assuming you have a story to tell,” she added rather
snidely.

Why
was she so interested?“Maybe I should choose a different memory,” I suggested,
tapping my feet against the deck.

“Probably,”
Madison exhaled noisily. “I had my doubts you’d have anything good to share
anyways.”

“Ignore
her Lexi,” Jessica snorted and said with excitement, “We love having someone
new to share stories with us. Since we all grew up together our stories tend to
be old news, so you have to tell us about your first kiss. Was it the freckled
kid next door who was always playing mean tricks on you or some cute guy
everyone had a crush on?”

Twisting
my hands together, I glanced at Jason and found an amused smile passing over
his face. He leaned forward, placed his elbows on his knees and rested his chin
in his hands like he was ready to listen. I noticed Madison watching him
intently.

“Okay,”
I said, “but it was a long time ago.”

“That’s
okay,” Jessica said and clapped her hands together. “Just remember – details,
details, details.”

“Fine,”
I said and leaned back in my chair. “When I was growing up, my dad was in
Rotary, and every year we’d host four exchange students for a week during the
summer. The students toured around the U.S. visiting different cities and
staying with a variety of host families,” I explained. “It was one week before
my 15
^th
birthday, and we had four very cute exchange students at our
house.”

“When
you say four
cute
students, I take it they were all guys then?” Laci
asked with a wayward smile.

“Always,”
I said with a devilish grin. “My mom insisted boys were easier and didn’t spend
all day getting ready. Since we had two guestrooms, two guys could bunk in a
room without any trouble. She and I would look at a list of countries
beforehand, and usually we’d request a guy from Sweden, a guy from Norway, a
guy from Italy, and one from Denmark.”

Jessica,
Shelby, and Laci laughed aloud and Trevon snorted.

“Awesome,”
Jessica said. Her eyes sparkled in the dimness as she rocked furiously back and
forth in her rocker. “How fun was that?”

“Very,”
I said with a wink. “My brothers always complained and wanted to know why we
couldn’t have female exchange students, but mom stuck to her guns. I think she
enjoyed having the cute guys around almost as much as I did.”

“Getting
back to the kiss…” Madison said impatiently.

“Madison,”
Jessica screeched. “We said we wanted details; don’t rush her for heaven’s
sake.”

Biting
my lip to keep from laughing, I caught Jason’s eye; he was still leaning
forward with an intrigued expression. A sudden breeze swept over the deck and
blew out the candle.

“I got
it,” Shelby said and relit the flame with a flick of her hand.

“Now
who’s the show-off Miss Pyro?” Trevon mocked.

With
nothing but a grunt, Shelby ignored his comment and slid her glasses up the
bridge of her nose. “Keep going Lexi,” she said politely.

“Anyways,”
I continued and pulled my legs up onto my chair. “The four exchange students,
my brother Greg, and my best friend Ally and I had just come in from our
overcrowded hot tub – sometime around midnight. As everyone went their
respective ways, Ally headed upstairs to my room but not before giving me a sly
wink and a shove towards one of the exchange students.”

“Oh, I
could totally see Ally doing that,” Jessica laughed.

“That
left me standing alone with Sune from Denmark. In our wet swimsuits with our
towels wrapped around us, we talked quietly for a couple minutes. Somehow, we
ended up right in front of my parent’s bedroom door. That’s when he leaned in
and kissed me, and when it turned into a French kiss I remember being
distinctly worried about the piece of gum I still had in my mouth.”

Jessica
and Laci laughed.

“What
were you worried about?” Shelby asked.

“Well,”
I giggled, “seeing as I was completely inexperienced, I was worried I might
swallow the gum or that it would somehow accidentally end up in his mouth. But
it never did, and luckily,” I added, “my parents didn’t open their bedroom
door, either.”

“It’s
a good thing they didn’t,” Max finally contributed, “because I bet you would have
been hosting only female exchange students from that day forward.” Everyone
laughed.

“Good
story,” Jessica said. “Did you ever kiss any other exchange students?” she
asked with curiosity.

I
pointed at her. “You’re nosy. I’ve done my sharing for now, and that’s I’m
gonna say on the matter.”

“Sounds
like there’s more to tell sometime,” Jessica said, rubbing her hands together.

“Quite
the memory,” Madison said, clearly unimpressed. Then she added, “But, I do
think we girls have shown we have better recall of personal memories – the ones
that really count,” she said shrewdly.

“I
have to agree,” Shelby said, smacking her lips together.

“Although,”
Madison drawled, “I am willing to give you guys one more chance to recall an
episodic memory and prove yourselves.” She tilted her head sideways and looked
right at Jason. “Since Lexi has put us on the topic of kissing,” she considered
me briefly, and my jaw dropped, because that had been her idea completely, “all
you have to do is describe your first kiss.” She said that with a certain
amount of satisfaction, keeping her eyes on Jason.

Trevon
and Max groaned. I was disappointed the shadows had fallen across our faces,
because I wanted to see if Jason’s cheeks were flushing.

“Madison,”
Jason said apathetically, “I think this conversation has taken a turn for the
juvenile. I’m willing to concede to your superior memory recall when it comes
to personal experiences. Let’s just drop it.”

“What’s
up with that?” She said tersely. “It’s not like you to concede on–”

“Don’t
worry Jason,” Trevon jumped in. “I know I can answer this one, and it might
earn me some serious brownie points.” Jason looked at him in confusion, but
Trevon ignored him and turned to Shelby. Cupping her face, he gazed into her
eyes. “Even though my first kiss was not with Shelby, without a doubt,” he said
softly but clearly so we could all hear him, “she is the best kisser ever.
Every time she kisses me it’s even better than the time before. Now, I could
give you lots of details, but…”

That
did the trick. Shelby swooned and murmured, “That’s okay honey. Some details
are better kept unsaid.” Leaning over, she planted a kiss on his lips. “I love
you.”

“They’re
always so romantic,” Jessica said dreamily.

“I
feel the same way about Laci,” Max said, walking over and pulling her out of
her chair. Smiling, they waved to us and then strolled across the expansive
deck, around the corner and out of sight.

“Well,
looks like hugs aren’t the only thing in the air tonight,” Jessica said
wistfully, and I detected a note of melancholy in her voice.

“Why
so sad?” I asked.

She
sighed. “Our discussion has made me think about my old boyfriend, Eric Olsen. I
don’t think I’ve ever really told you much about him before Lexi.”

I could
see the outline of her body as she slumped back into her chair and tilted her
face skyward. “This is old news to everyone else, but I dated Eric pretty
seriously for two years. We were seniors together, and I thought maybe he was
someone I could spend the rest of my life with.” She broke up a little bit, and
Jason leaned her way. She reached over and rested her hand on his arm.

“Jason,
you’re such a good friend. You always make me feel better. Anyways,” she
continued with her story, “he was an
Innocent
obviously, but we spent
all our time together; we had great conversations, laughed a lot, and our
kisses were passionate, too. I hadn’t told him about my healing abilities,
because I wanted to be sure he was definitely ‘the One’ first. After we
graduated, and he found out he’d been accepted into MIT, he begged me to
understand how important his education was, and then he broke off our
relationship. He wished me all the best and moved to Cambridge,” she said
sadly. “We talked on the phone and sent texts back and forth for awhile, but
even that seemed strained.” With the light of the full moon, I could see the
tears glistening in her eyes.

“I’m
sorry,” I said softly.

“I
know it was difficult Jessica,” Madison broke in, “but I never thought he was
good enough for you. You’ll find the right guy, probably an Amethyst too. That
would make your life so much easier.”

Jessica
didn’t say anything, but I could see her nodding.

“What
about you Madison?” I said with the intent of turning the attention away from
Jessica and giving her a little room to recover. I knew how she felt, because
I’d been in a similar situation myself, only it had taken place during my
junior year. Madison turned her chair ninety degrees until she had me within
full view. Chewing on her thumb, she gave me a peculiar grin. Okay, here we go.
I could tell this was the moment she’d been waiting for. I felt like a fly that
had gotten caught in a web and couldn’t see but could sense the danger lurking
in the corner.

“Hmm,”
she paused and looked at Jason. Staring coldly at her, he walked over to the
edge of the deck and turned his back towards us. She straightened in her chair,
tilted her nose in the air and focused her attention on me. “The most
passionate and hot blooded kiss I ever experienced was definitely my first,
which of course was with Jason.” She wiped a few strands of hair away from her
face, allowing time for her words to sink in. Smiling fiendishly, she said,
“but I’m not sure I should share all the
intimate
details, either”

For a
few seconds, I didn’t move and I didn’t breathe. It wasn’t like I was surprised
or upset. They’d grown up together; it was natural that they would share a kiss
– or maybe more. She was definitely implying there was more to their
relationship. Glancing at Jason’s back, I could see that he wasn’t about to
join this conversation. A train, probably the Amtrak, whistling off in the
distance, broke the silence with one long horn followed by several short
blasts.

Reaching
out, I touched her arm and said in a smooth tone, “Sounds interesting, and
that’s okay – I’m sure that whatever happened between you and Jason is
personal.”

That’s
when I heard him.

“I
don’t know where you’re coming from or where you’re going with this, but you’re
really starting to piss me off,”
Jason said.
He was lambasting her
pretty good telepathically. Wide-eyed, but wholly entertained, I bit my lip and
tried to suppress any signs of my amusement.

“
Not
to mention, that kiss took place several years ago when we were young. It’s not
like we shared anything other than that kiss. Why do you continue to imagine or
imply we have some sort of romantic relationship? Especially when Alex is
around.”

His
tone was still pretty heated, and before she could respond I pulled my hand
away. And because I couldn’t resist, and was insanely jealous of anything she
shared with Jason, I said aloud, “Besides, I’m sure you were young and it
probably happened several years ago.”

Abruptly,
she grabbed the side of her chair and glared at me. Jason did a full u-turn,
and I thought I could see him shaking slightly as he looked our direction. I
hoped he was laughing. Relief rushed over me, because what I’d overheard
assured me that he really hadn’t been involved with her. I smiled to myself.
I’d just escaped from her web of deception, and she didn’t even know it. Her
fingernails tapped incessantly against the armrest; she was irritated. Part of
me wanted to play her immature game. I wanted to offer my own testimonial about
him being a sensational kisser and shower her with the details. And believe me,
I remembered every last sound and smell as well as the taste of his mouth, the
feel of his tongue, and the heat off his chest.