My First Kiss

When I was 15, I went to a party at a friend named Taylor's house with a guy I liked. He picked me up and gave me a ride over since I couldn't drive, and I really liked being alone with him even if it was just for about ten minutes.

He was a really funny and intriguing guy. When we got to the party, we met some new people that were friends of Taylor's from her old school. There was a girl and her boyfriend and also a guy Taylor was interested in.

She pulled me aside to tell me that privately. His name was David. After sitting around talking for a bit, the girl with her boyfriend wanted to play Truth or Dare, but I was kind of hesitant. When a bunch of teenagers play that game together, stupid things tend to happen.

I did end up consenting, though, because I didn't want to look like a chicken. I had a strategy, and it was always to choose truth when the people I didn't know asked me. I didn't mind picking dare with Taylor because I didn't think she'd embarrass me, but I didn't know what the new ones might do.

I was asked some really lame questions until I got to Taylor's friend's boyfriend. "Truth or dare?" he asked. "Truth," I said. "Are you attracted to anyone in this room?" I began to blush furiously. I didn't want to answer, but finally nodded.

The guy I liked looked over at me, thought for a minute and then began to blush as well. On the way home that day, he asked me if he was the guy I liked and I admitted it shyly. After all, who else could it have been?

When we got to my house, he leaned over in the front seat of his car and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips, saying he thought I was a really nice girl and a pretty one at that. I no longer had any qualms about whether or not Truth or Dare was a good idea.

I remember my freshman year of college quite clearly. I was an early graduate, so I went to college as a seventeen year-old girl. I headed to the University of Iowa, and moved into the freshman co-ed dorm. One of the best friends I made was a guy named JR. We quickly bonded and were given the nickname J and Kay.

The other members of our usual gang were a girl named Shay, and a guy named Matty. About halfway through freshman year, there was a massive blizzard across the entire eastern half of Iowa. Our classes were cancelled, and we found ourselves sitting around in the commons. JR got the bright idea that we should play a game of Truth or Dare.

After coercing us into his game, we started off slow. Shay and Matty asked for Truth on their turns and answered some boring questions. I took the first dare. JR jokingly dared me to kiss him, but changed his mind. He stood up abruptly. "I dare you to run outside and down the street," he said.

I laughed in his face. He grinned and told me he wasn't finished, there was more to the dare. "Just in your shoes, and I guess you can wear your underwear." Now, I grew up with three older brothers, and I cannot back down from a dare. I smiled at him as I stripped down and laced my boots up tight. "Here goes!" I whooped and ran out the door.

The whole gang was standing on the front steps, laughing and cheering. I ran all the way down the block, turned at the intersection and came sprinting back. The icy wind whipped at me and I decided to take a leap across the ditch as an act of defiance. As I came towards the building, I slipped on a patch of ice in the road and flipped head over feet into the snowdrift in said ditch.

I let out a girly shriek and quickly collected myself. I immediately raced for the open door, shoving my friends aside to get my sweatshirt as quickly as possible. I made my friends swear to never speak of my lap down the street, and we moved on with our game. Matty took the next dare from Shay, and it was a doozy. She dared him to kiss JR, on the lips for a minimum of ten seconds.

He accepted, and we waited and held our breath. They closed the gap between them, and JR had a huge, goofy smile across his face. Within moments of their lips touching and Shay and I giggling, we could easily see JR's tongue come out of his mouth and into Matty's. Matty's eyes flew open wide and he started to push away and clamber up the couch.

JR held on just long enough that Matty flipped over the back of the couch, landing upside down and sputtering. We were all busting a gut as he collected himself and came back to the group. We decided nothing could top that, so ordered a pizza and watched movies for the rest of the day.

Tory Carey had an EPIC Halloween party. My friends and I were new to parties with boys. We had just started junior high and the prospect of seeing boys outside the school was exciting. I am sure it was just as confusing for the boys and everyone was nervous.

Those of us who had older brothers and sisters knew that we were supposed to play games that put us in awkward places with members of the opposite sex. We weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do once we got there, however. "Truth or Dare?" Tory asked when it was my turn.

I weighed my options and decided that, while truth was safe, dare was more likely to show my mettle. I chose dare. "I dare you to go into the closet for seven minutes and make out with Eric Sabo." Tory knew that Eric Sabo and I were not friends.

In fact, we didn't like each other at all. While we ran in the same circles, we avoided each other at all costs. And truth be told, I was pretty scared of Eric Sabo. He was so cool and I was always worried that he would make fun of me or single me out in front of all the boys.

Rejecting this dare was not an option, though. If I rejected this Dare everyone would know I was scared of Eric and it might be worse than anything he could do to me, so into the closet we went. This particular closet was more of a utility room.

It had games and Christmas decorations and an old piano. Eric and I went into the closet and turned out the lights. If we were going to spend 7 minutes in the closet, we certainly weren't going to look at each other. Eric put his hand on my shoulder. I couldn't believe he was making a move. I couldn't believe he was in the closet with me.

I couldn't imagine what he was going to tell his friends and how he was planning on ridiculing me after we got out of the closet. We inched our faces closer to each other. I shivered with anticipation and worry. We were about to kiss when, suddenly, we heard Tory's mom come down the stairs. She greeted the kids, who were quietly waiting for us.

She must have wondered why they were as quiet as they waited for us to emerge from the closet; or she knew better, and I just knew she was heading our way. I turned away from Eric and started playing the piano, right there in the dark, as Tory's mom opened the door. "Why are you playing piano in the dark?" she asked as she flipped on the light.

She saw Eric and me and I am sure she knew what we were up to. She grabbed a stack of paper plates off the shelf. "Why don't you two join everyone else?" she asked, more of a command than a suggestion. So we did.

I never got those seven minutes back.

I never wanted them.

So, I and 10-12 friends were doing the normal college Thursday night drinking games about five years ago at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It was finals week and all of us were stressed to the max.

Some of us had an 8am final the next morning, so being the "responsible" students that we were, we decided to party in the dorms that night as opposed to going out to the bar. After we had downed a few Pubs Blue Ribbon (because we weren't exactly rolling in the money), we decided to play truth or dare.

I normally am the quiet and reserved type, but add some alcohol to my system and suddenly I am quite the social butterfly. I was game. It's also important to note that I have a personal mantra of absolutely refusing to turn down a dare.

There's just something about the dare in general, I can't say "no." For the first few rounds, I chose "Truth," because I wasn't yet feeling comfortable. "Yes" I have made out with a chick, "yes," I have shown up to mass hung-over. Basically, all the typical questions any college aged (drunk) guy would ask you heard during the first hour. Finally, I chose "Dare."

Tony looked up, chugged his beer and grinned. I almost changed my mind (though I know that's against the rules. I was prepared to beg). "I dare you, "he began, "to strip completely naked, and sit outside reading a book for five min, acting as if nothing is taking place." Remember, I can't turn down a dare, and I was more than buzzed at this point.

Everyone began to yell "Do it, do it." To say peer pressure was high was the understatement of the semester. I grabbed the biggest book I could find (my art history textbook for which I had the final the next morning), and walked outside. Thankfully, it was a warm May night, and not too many people were outside.

I took off my clothes, sat next to a tree and pretended to read my book. I nervously looked at my watch as the seconds counted down. I had about 30 seconds left when I heard someone cough and clear their throat. “Um, Laura?” I was scared to death to turn around, but did anyway. There staring at me was the graduate assistant who was teaching my art history class. You know, the one I was preparing to take the final for the next morning?

“Uh, Hi!” I stammered. I’m trying to learn by osmosis. I heard it’s the best way to prepare. I grabbed my clothes and ran inside before he had a chance to reply. I also sat in the back the next morning, wearing a hat and looking down. I haven’t taken a dare since.

So one day I and an old friend started messaging on facebook. We used to live next to each other many years ago, but our families moved away and we did really keep in touch. We started talking again and eventually started texting. One night while we were texting we decided we wanted to play a game of some sort over text message.

We couldn't really think of anything until I suggested truth or dare. Neither of us was in a relationship and I wanted to play to see if she was interested in going out with me. So we started playing. It was just us answering truth for a while and wed ask pretty deep and personal questions about each other's past relationships or what they looked for in a boyfriend or girlfriend until I answered dare once.

She couldn't really think of anything because it was over the phone so I suggested that she save it until we see each other. She agreed and we continued playing. After a little while, she said she wanted to use her dare. I asked what for. She said she dared me to come see her. So I drove 30 minutes to see her a few days later.

We hadn't seen each other in several years and when we did sparks flew. I asked her if she wanted to continue playing truth or dare because that was the reason I came over she said yes. We both just stared into each other's eyes as we played. I wanted her to say dare so I could dare her to kiss me, but she kept answering truth. So I gave in and answered dare. She dared me to tell her exactly what I was thinking and I replied that I've never wanted to kiss anyone more in my life then I did in that exact moment.

She got a little close and asked what I was gonna do about it. I smiled because she was so forward about it. I stared into her eyes, knowing she wanted to kiss me just as bad, and just lingered in front of her face, only inches away for as long as I could. I wanted to know how badly she wanted to kiss me and within a minute or two of lingering, she grabbed the back of my head and forced her lips to mine.

I've never felt so much energy in a kiss before. That was the beginning, it led onto love and marriage. One silly little game changed my life.