Things we never did before.

It was not long after that that I looked down at my clothes and suddenly became conscious of the fact that I had spent the entire day in them, followed by the dance and now a late-night gathering at Rebecca's. “Actually, guys, I think I'm going to head home for a few minutes. I want to get changed out of this.”

Rebecca looked at me. “I'll come with you.”

“You don't have to.”

“I know.” She stood up anyway.

Carla looked over from the other end of the sofa. “Wait. Aren't you two neighbours?”

“Next door,” Rebecca said.

“Since we were five,” I added.

Lyndsay looked between us with an expression of disbelief. “Hang on. I've known you for years, and somehow, I forgot you literally lived beside each other.”

Carla laughed. “So did I.”

Rebecca smiled. “It wasn't exactly a secret.”

“Apparently we were all idiots,” Lyndsay said. “What was that like?”

I shrugged. “Normal, I suppose. I never really thought about it.”

Rebecca nodded. “Neither did I. He was just always there.”

“That meant I could annoy her whenever I wanted.”

“You still do.”

“And she could just walk over whenever she wanted.”

“Which I did,” Rebecca admitted.

The conversation somehow turned into a whole collection of childhood memories. We told them about riding our bikes between the two houses, racing each other to the letterbox, borrowing food without asking and sitting on the dividing fence to talk when we were supposed to be doing homework. Rebecca told them about how my family used to find me at her house more often than at my own, while I reminded everyone that Rebecca had once managed to get locked out of her house and climbed through my bedroom window because she had been too embarrassed to tell her mother.

“You climbed through his bedroom window?” Carla asked.

“When I was ten!”

“She still climbed through my window whenever she wanted,” I added.

“That doesn't make it less funny,” Carla giggled.

“It absolutely does.”

I laughed. “She cried because she thought my parents were going to be angry.”

“I wasn't crying.”

“You were definitely crying.”

“I had something in my eye.”

Lyndsay laughed. “You two were ridiculous.”

Rebecca looked at me with a smile. “We've always been like this.”

The words hung there for a second. Neither of us needed to explain what she meant. We'd been neighbours, friends and practically part of each other's families for so long that it was still difficult to imagine what it meant to suddenly add something new to that list.

Eventually I stood up. “I'll be back in a bit.”

Rebecca immediately stood too. “I said I'd come with you.”

Carla grinned. “Aw.”

Rebecca pointed at her. “Don't.”

I laughed as we headed for the door. “You're never going to let us have a normal relationship, are you?”

“Apparently not.”

We stepped outside together and crossed the short distance to my house. It still felt strange walking beside Rebecca like this, knowing that a few hours earlier we'd only been best friends and now there was something between us neither of us quite knew how to name. Inside my house, everything was quiet. We made our way down the hall to my bedroom, and I shut the door behind us.

Rebecca looked around. “Your room really hasn't changed.”

“Why would it? You were literally in here three days ago.”

“Yeah, but this feels different.”

I looked at her. “How?”

She smiled nervously. “I don't know. We were boyfriend and girlfriend. There was a bed. That's where boyfriend and girlfriend ‘stuff’ happened.”

“You literally couldn't bear to kiss me at the dance because it was too weird. You thought we were going to be doing ‘stuff’ as you called it right now?”

Rebecca shook her head. “Kissing you was weird still, especially with those two spying on us. But… we could practise a little now it was just us.”

“Practise?” I stepped closer to her. This time there was no one in the next room waiting to yell or make some stupid noise. There was no crowd around us, no music blaring and no friends watching for entertainment.

“You were nervous again.”

“A little.”

“You didn't have to be.”

“I know.”

She smiled. “I still was.”

I reached for her hand, and she let me take it. We stood there for a moment, looking at each other in the quiet of my room. Back at the dance, we'd been hesitant and awkward because neither of us had known whether we were really allowed to do it. This time there was no doubt.

I leaned towards her, and she met me halfway.

Our lips touched again, but this time neither of us froze or pulled away almost immediately. Rebecca's hands settled against my chest while mine rested gently around her waist, and after a few seconds the nerves that had seemed to surround every moment between us began to disappear. We stopped and laughed quietly when one of us moved too quickly, then tried again, learning what the other liked, when to slow down and when to simply stay close.

At one point Rebecca pulled back just far enough to smile at me. “That's better.”

“Definitely.”

“Practising was a good idea after all.” She smiled. “Maybe this isn't as weird as I thought.”

“Maybe not.”

We kissed again, a little more confidently this time. It was still new and awkward in places, but it felt natural in a way the first attempt hadn't. We were finding the boundaries of this new version of our relationship together, discovering what felt comfortable and what didn't, and every time one of us hesitated, the other waited.

Eventually Rebecca broke away from me and took me by the hand and led me over to my bed. “I think I liked this.”

I smiled. “I did too.”

She looked so incredibly delicate as she moved onto my bed, folding her legs up underneath her as she made room for me beside her. Rebecca lay her head down on my pillow, and I stretched out beside her. I could feel the nerves in her body as I placed my hand on her side. She was shivering at a nearly imperceptible level, but I could sense it. She reached up behind my head as I kissed her this time. Her shaking was going away as we started to make out. Rebecca soon enthusiastically explored my mouth with her tongue.

My hands, which had been holding the small of her back to keep her close, moved without me thinking. I slipped my upper palm from the back of Rebecca’s dress to her side and then along her front. I came to rest my hand around the outline of her breasts.

Rebecca squeaked, breaking off our kiss suddenly and slapping down on the back of my hand like I’d just assaulted her. She gasped, suddenly realising what she’d just done.

“Sorry! That was pure instinct. I can’t change 13 years of memory overnight,” Rebecca apologised sincerely.

“No! Sorry, that was all my fault. I shouldn’t have done that. Or asked. Shoot, I don’t know,” I tried to make an apology also.

“No, no, it’s fine. You should be able to. That was just me then. It’s alright, go ahead. Touch them.”

“No, here’s fine,” I said, going back to Rebecca’s waist.

Rebecca wouldn’t let me and started pulling my hands back to her chest. It ended up in the most ridiculously stupid play fight with Rebecca trying to make me grope her.

“Don’t be weird! Feel my tits!” Rebecca was almost yelling at me.

I couldn’t help but broke down in laughter. “I’m sorry, but I never would have expected to hear that from you in a million years”

It took longer than I expected us to get over our giggles after that, and I was almost ready to give up for the night. In the end, it took Rebecca looking at me with those big round eyes of hers and playfully pouting a bunch of ‘pleases’ for my resolve to crumble. There was really nothing she couldn’t get me to do when she put her mind to it. I’d fold like a deck of cards just like I had for the last 13 years.

We resumed where we’d fallen apart before, and this time Rebecca let out a small, pleased sigh when I felt her breasts with my hands. They were the most perfect handfuls. Round and perky inside her dress and bra. I didn’t dare try slipping my hand inside her clothing to get a feel, not knowing how she would respond.

It was Rebecca who first ventured below the belt. As we kissed and I rubbed her chest, Rebecca sent her hand running down the front of my chest. She stopped at my belt, and I felt every nerve in my body come alive at what might happen next. Her hand stayed there for a few minutes as she worked up the courage. Eventually she slipped her hand over my groin and rubbed it, feeling that I was swollen thick against my trousers. She delicately unzipped my fly and, being particularly brave, dove her hand into my boxer. I groaned, breaking off our kissing, as she closed her hand around my hard shaft. It felt inconceivable, and my whole body pulsed in response.

Just as Rebecca snatched her hand away and smacked me hard. Right in the dick.

“Oh, my God! What?” I groaned in pain and not pleasure this time.

“You made it jump! It twitched at me!” Rebecca firmly told me off.

“I didn’t do anything. That was all you,” I responded, still groaning.

“Well, it shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know if it’s going to go off or not.” Seeing as my pain wasn’t going away right away, Rebecca became remorseful. “I’m sorry! Does it hurt?”

“Yes, it hurts. You practically punched me!”

“Do you want me to try again? Put my hand wherever you want, and I’ll play with it.”

Rebecca stuck her forehead to mine as she kissed my lips at the same time. I found myself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of us trying to reach all the way to second base on our very first night together as anything other than best friends since childhood.

“Nooo… I think we're done for tonight,” I mournfully told her back as I returned her kisses.

---

We eventually returned much later than we'd said we would. The first thing I noticed as we walked back inside Rebecca's house was that something in the atmosphere had changed.

Carla and Lyndsay were sitting on opposite sides of the room. Neither of them was looking directly at the other. Lyndsay had his phone out and was scrolling through it with considerably more concentration than the situation required, while Carla was staring into her drink like it contained the answers to every problem in her life.

Rebecca noticed it too. She looked at me. Then at them. Then back at me.

“Something happened.”

I shrugged. “You think?”

We walked into the room.

Carla looked up. “Hey.”

Lyndsay suddenly looked extremely interested in whatever was happening on his phone.

Rebecca sat down beside Carla. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Carla answered far too quickly.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. “Okay.”

Lyndsay suddenly stood up. “I might get some more drinks.”

“You're not going anywhere,” Carla said.

He stopped.

Rebecca looked between them. Then her eyes widened slightly. “Oh, my God.”

Carla's face changed. “Rebecca…”

“You two…”

Lyndsay groaned. “Don't.”

Rebecca looked at Carla. Then at Lyndsay. Then back at Carla. “Seriously?”

Carla covered her face with one hand.

Lyndsay sighed. “Fine. Okay. Yes.” He looked at me. “Just don't make this a thing.”

I laughed. “What did you do?”

Carla immediately pointed at him. “You were not supposed to say anything.”

Lyndsay threw up his hands. “I didn't say anything!”

“You admitted it!”

Rebecca suddenly started laughing.

Carla looked horrified. “This was not funny.”

“It kind of was,” Rebecca said.

“No, it wasn't.”

She looked at me with a grin. “I think they'd finally done something stupid.”

“Apparently.”

Carla glared at Lyndsay. “We had a deal.”

Lyndsay sighed. “I knew.”

“What deal?” Rebecca asked.

Carla looked towards her. “The no-bragging sort of deal.”

Rebecca's eyebrows lifted. “Oh.”

“Yeah. We'd decided that whatever happened between us stayed between us. No bragging, no stories, no telling Michael, no turning it into some stupid competition.”

Lyndsay looked miserable. “I knew.”

“And you couldn't even last one conversation.”

“I didn't brag!”

“You admitted it!”

“Because they asked me why I was acting weird!”

Carla folded her arms. “Same thing.”

She turned towards Rebecca. “You're sworn to secrecy.”

Rebecca grinned. “Absolutely.”

Carla looked at me. “You too.”

I raised both hands. “Nothing leaves this room. Unlike you two.”

“Oh, God! You better not have done it in my room!” Rebecca cried as she hurried off to check her bedroom.

Lyndsay finally had the right idea to look at the ground. Carla avoided any sort of eye contact altogether.

Carla took a breath and leaned back into the sofa. “Well, that ruined that forever.”

Lyndsay looked genuinely disappointed. “Probably.”

“We were never doing that again?”

“Nope,” Lyndsay agreed, not trying to argue.

“Because he told us?” I asked.

“The deal was supposed to mean something,” Carla said as Rebecca returned.

“In my parents' bed! That's even worse!”

Lyndsay nodded slowly. Carla gave him a look.

The awkwardness slowly settled back down into the room as Rebecca calmed down, although it was different now. Eventually Rebecca caught Carla's eye, then glanced towards me.

“I think we need to talk.”

Carla immediately knew what she meant. “Kitchen?”

“Kitchen.”

The two girls disappeared together.

I looked at Lyndsay.

He looked at me. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Good.”