I was a bit of a late bloomer.
I can't even blame a strict upbringing, or religion, or anything else but myself, to be honest.
I was just a little awkward and shy.
By the time I was nineteen, I still hadn't masturbated. I'd heard about it, even nodded along and agreed while girlfriends discussed it in giggling semicircles under the stairs at school, or under the covers at a sleepover.
It wasn't that I didn't want to do it. I just didn't know how to. And I didn't really have anyone I was close enough to, to ask for guidance on it.
So, it was quite the shock indeed, when I met a young lad in the summer of 1999, and within a few minutes felt like I'd known him all of my life.
He'd arrived in the area with his parents for a bit of a holiday with some relatives. And being the same age as myself, he'd left them to it and looked around to find himself something to do.
It helped that he loved The Who. One of the best rock bands ever.
And that was how we met.
I was sat minding my own business at a lonesome picnic table away from the hordes of civilization. I think I was reading, but I don't quite remember that bit. What I do know is, I had my favourite Who t-shirt on. An up close and personal image of Roger Daltrey smiling, his crystal blue eyes gleaming with a mixture of the bad boy rock star, and naked innocence.
I almost peed my panties, when I looked up at some random moment, to see someone else wearing the exact same thing.
Our eyes locked.
And we started chatting.
That's all we did that first day. We talked and talked and talked. I don't think we even moved away from the picnic table, until it started to get dark. And as we both prepared to set off in opposite directions, we promised to meet again the next day.
Which we did.
When I got up that morning, I showered before even looking at the clock. As I dried off, I watched the sky outside turn from orange to blue. I pulled out my favourite dress, and a plain pair of white panties. They were comfortable, and with the dress being long, I didn't think anyone else would be any the wiser.
I skipped breakfast. And was out the door before 7AM. My mother reminded me to put a pair of shoes on, and I kept those simple too, with some summery canvas slip ons in a pale shade of yellow. I'd barely worn them before, and they were a little stiff. But I didn't plan on doing much walking.
To my surprise, he was already there, when I got to the picnic table. The plan was to be there first, and be prepared. I guess it was his plan too, and he beat me to it.
Again, the conversation happened naturally. Music, movies, books, the weather, food, you name it, we talked about it. And not one bit of it seemed forced, or awkward.
The time passed.
When his belly rumbled we both laughed. Then out of instinct, we both checked our watches at the same time. 1PM.
We decided to just go to the local sandwich shop for a bite, rather than stand in the queues everywhere else. And I knew one of the girls who worked there, so managed to get a few little extras thrown in.
He paid, against my protestations. And we moved back to our table. Our. That's kinda how it happened. It really did become our table, on the second day of knowing each other. Without freaking either of us out.
We still managed to keep talking, even while eating.
And then it happened.
Right at the very end of our meal. On my very last bite. He leaned across and brushed some food away from the corner of my mouth. His touch electrified me. His skin on mine. I felt it from my lips down to the tips of my toes. And quite a few places in between.
I blushed in an instant. Looked away.
We both laughed.
Maybe to ease the intensity a little, he pulled a Walkman out of his jacket pocket, and we both took one side of the headphones each. It was one of those CD ones, so we had to be careful not to move about too much, or the thing would skip a few seconds at a time.
He didn't have any Who on it, but there was a good mix of '70s and '80s rock, a few of the classics, and one or two I'd never heard before, but liked.
For some reason we ended up on the grass. I don't remember the exact second-to-second account. But there we were, sitting close up against each other on the ground, swaying to the music. And still talking.
Then for no reason at all, he leaned across and kissed me.
I wanted to close my eyes, drink it all in, savour it in my mind. But I couldn't. I froze. I didn't even kiss back.
He must have sensed it, because he brushed his fingers down the length of my arm. He paused, smiled at me, and moved his lips back onto mine.
It did the trick.