Midnight Kiss - 1. Chapter 1

It's always nice to know that there is someone there for us. By our side, to take care of us. That Friday night, as I sat clutching the sides of a white toilet, throwing up my insides, I was comforted by the fact that there was someone next to me. As I coughed and spat, he rubbed my back and after I wiped my mouth, he handed me some water to drink. He was crouched on the floor next to me but in my daze, I didn't really get to see his face clearly. All I really remember is that he was wearing an orange t-shirt and some faded jeans with white sneakers. My stomach was hurting and my eyes stayed mostly closed to avoid feeling too dizzy. Despite all these disgusting feelings, I felt consoled by his presence. A total stranger or perhaps an acquaintance. I just wasn't sure who he was. But he was there by my side taking care of me. The last thing I remember was that he kissed me on the cheeks and then I have no recollection about happened afterwards. The next thing I knew my friends Brad and James were taking me home.

I was pretty sick for most of the weekend and stayed home. I spent a lot of that time trying to more clearly remember that Friday night but I couldn't come up with any satisfying details. I didn't remember when I ended up in that bathroom with that person. I didn't remember what had happened after that kiss. All that came back to me was that soft kiss on my cheek. For some reason that kiss stood out in crisp details in all the haze of that night. I had been leaning against the bathroom wall with my eyes closed and a bottle of water in one hand. Then I had felt his lips on my face. He kept them there for a tantalizing amount of time. And then I blacked out.

I told this story to my best friend, Hannah, the next Monday as we both sat in art class, sketching portraits from a magazine.

"Huh, interesting," replied Hannah after I had finished talking.

I lazily shaded in the hair of the girl I was drawing before looking up at Hannah. "I felt like crap really. But then it felt so great that he was there. I really wish I knew who he was. I mean to take care of me like that. It's really something, you know?"

"Definitely," Hannah said as she rested her chin on her hand. "The thing is I don't remember anyone wearing an orange t-shirt at that party. I know Brad was wearing something dark green and I'm pretty sure that James had on something navy blue."

"Well it was definitely a bright orange. Something you could definitely spot out even in a large party."

"Hmmm... I can't really remember. Perhaps you should ask Julie though. She was sober and would better remember something like that."

I nodded. "I figured I should ask her."

"So do you think that the guy might be... gay or something?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. "I thought about it and I'm not sure. He did kiss me though."

"Well, I would think that most straight guys don't just kiss other guys, even on the cheeks. I would say that you have a secret admirer, Conner."

I chuckled a bit at that remark. "It's only secret because I was fucking wasted that night and don't remember him."

Hannah smiled and added coyly, "Maybe that is exactly why he did kiss you. He probably thought you wouldn't remember."

"I guess that makes sense," I replied thinking the idea over in my head.

But the fact remained that I had no idea who this secret admirer was. There were many high school kids at that party Friday and many of them I am sure didn't even go to this high school. It really could have been anyone. It could even be someone in this very room for all I knew.

I idly looked around the room. I caught the eye of Josh, who only gave me a quick glance and then looked back down at his drawing. He was an attractive red-head on the soccer team but also had a girlfriend, I think. On the other side of the room, I saw Julian laughing with his friends Carly and Amber. He gave me a smile and a nod which I returned before he turned to Carly and continued talking. Julian had black hair in a short faux-hawk and was also very out-going. But the guy at the party had seemed to be more of the reserved type.

"It's probably a lost cause," I said with a sigh.

Hanna just smiled. "Or maybe it's just the beginning."

*****

I found Julie during lunch break. She was sitting with her boyfriend, Brad who was also a good friend of mine. I told them the same story that I told Hannah except I left out the part about the kiss. I wasn't exactly out to them. That was only something that Hannah knew.

"I am just really curious to know who it was that took the time to take care of me. I really owe them a thanks," I added.

"Yeah totally dude," added Brad. "I remember taking you home. You were in pretty bad shape. You should really be thankful for that guy."

"Wait, where did you find me?" I asked curious for any information from that night.

"You were lying on a bed in one of the bedrooms. When we decided to leave, no one knew where you had gone. We had to look all over the house."

"Sorry about that. I think my drinks were a bit stronger than I thought," I said a bit embarrassed. It was the truth though. I had only had about four drinks so they must have been very spiked to get me so trashed. I usually never got this sick while drinking before.

"So do you remember seeing anyone in an orange shirt, Julie?"

"Yeah, I think so actually," Julie replied. "There was a guy with an orange shirt with some black design on it. He had like brown hair that was maybe spiked in the front. It was dark though and I didn't get a good look at him so I couldn't really tell you who he was."

"Well, at least I know I didn't make the whole thing up," I added with a little laugh. I was disappointed though that I still didn't know who the guy was. Now, it seemed impossible that I could ever find out. No one seemed to have known who he was.

*****

James just laughed when I told him the story during English class. We were supposed to be discussing the reading in groups so he got a few looks from the other students.

"Oh Conner. You were so trashed! I feel sorry for that guy who took care of you."

"Thanks James," I replied sarcastically. I realized that James wasn't going to be any help so I didn't bother to ask him any further questions. He had probably been with Brad the whole time so he wouldn't know anything more anyways.

After his laughter died down, James looked at me with a more concerned face. "But seriously dude, you should be more careful. I don't want to have to take you to the ER or anything."

"Don't worry about that. I definitely will be taking it easy next time."

"Good," James said as he mindlessly flipped through the book in his hand. "So how about this book?" he asked holding it up.

I just shrugged. "I didn't read it."

James burst into laughter again which caught the attention of the teacher this time.

"Mr. Harrison, what exactly did you find comic in the reading?"

"Nothing," James mumbled.

*****

I spent a good deal of that school day just looking around at people hoping I might be able to recognize one of them as my supposed secret admirer. However, by the end of the day, I had not had any success. After school, I even stopped at the library to look through the yearbook. The black and white photos didn't help much though.

I grabbed my things from my locker and was making my way out to my car when I ran into Julian. He looked really relieved to see me.

"Oh Conner! I'm so glad I found you. Do you think you could give me a ride home?"

"Sure, Julian. What happened to your car?"

Julian seemed a bit embarrassed. "It's getting cleaned."

Seeing his face, I was curious to know what had exactly happened to his car but I didn't dare ask. I led the way to my car and we both got in.

"So, um, how are you feeling?" asked Julian as I pulled out of the school parking lot.

I looked over at him as my eyebrows shot up. How did he know?

He snickered. "I heard that you got really sick last Friday night."

I sighed inside. I guess it was really no secret that I had been throwing up. "I'm fine now. Thanks."

"I never thought you were the type to over do it."

"I'm not. It's just that my drinks ended up having more alcohol in them then I had expected."

"That sucks," Julian said. He then gave me a few directions to his house. For the rest of the drive, Julian didn't say anything more. He ran his hand over his spiked up hair and stared out the window until I was parked outside his home.

"Thanks again," said Julian as he got out of the car. "See you tomorrow!"

"No problem. See you."