When Eric Met Lana
1281 Words
Flashback
The sun was shining bright in the sky as 6-year-old Lana walked to the bus stop with her older sisters. She was ready for her first day of school at Seldan Elementary. She was geared to impress with her purple Little Mermaid tee shirt, hot pink pants, and a Power Rangers backpack. Having moved from a big city to a small town wasn’t as big of an adjustment for Lana as it was her older siblings.
School, however, proved to be quite difficult. None of the kids in Lana’s class took a particular liking to her, and the teacher lacked patience that she was behind the rest. It was at lunch recess that the day turned around for Lana. A light brown-haired little girl with pigtail braids and a unicorn shirt approached Lana with a warm smile. She was so small; it was hard to imagine that she was a first grader.
“Hi, I’m Veronica. Want to play with me?” she asked.
Lana’s spirits had lifted, and she nodded, “Sure! I’m Lana.”
“Lana? That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you, but I like yours better.”
“Do you like to play hide and seek?”
“Yes!”
“Cool! I’m going to get my brother Eric and we can play!”
Two friends on the first day? Lana was excited and happy. Veronica came back with a boy with slightly darker hair, and he was just as small as she was, if not, slightly taller. Their eyes were the same shade of green and his hair was a bit darker than Veronica’s. That was the day Lana met her best friend and her soulmate.
As a small child, Lana’s jet-black hair and baby blue eyes intimidated the others, but Eric was love-struck from the moment he laid eyes on her. He flashed as charming of a smile as a 6-year-old can at her and formerly held out his hand.
“Eric Banks.”
Lana laughed and shook his hand, “Lana Morgan.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Lana. You’re not going to hide very good, an angel like you will stand out too much.”
Lana turned a bright shade of red, “Um, thanks?”
Veronica slapped her brother hard on the shoulder.
“Ow…that hurt, V!” Eric scowled and smacked back at his sister.
“Stop it Eric or we won’t have time to play!” Veronica protested.
“1,2,3…NOT IT!” Lana hollered out.
“NOT IT!” The other two shouted in unison.
“I said it first, V!”
“No, Lana said it first, I said it second!”
“Why don’t you guys just play rock, paper scissors? Best out of three?”
In the end, Eric was it and Veronica showed Lana the best places on the playground to hide. Veronica hid behind the rock-climbing wall and Lana went inside the tunnel slide.
4th Grade
“Gotcha!” Eric laughed as he pulled Lana out of the slide.
“How did you know I was here?”
“You always hide there.”
“Sounds like V and I need to change up our game.”
Eric looked around and saw that they were alone. He took Lana’s hand in his and looked into her eyes, “Hey, do you want to kiss me?”
“Kiss you?”
“Yeah, you know how boys kiss girls on tv. I want to kiss you like that.”
Lana had often dreamed of Eric kissing her the way she’d seen boys kiss girls in the movies. She shrugged, “Sure, we can kiss.”
Eric, feeling like a real man at the age of 9, closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Lana’s. There was no movement, just stood there with their lips together.
Lana blinked her eyes, murmuring against his lips, “Men do me stop?”
Eric blinked his eyes, thinking too hard on it before he shrugged and pulled away as the teacher blew her whistle. Both of them doubled over spitting as though they just ate something gross. “Gross, you had grape jelly on the corners of your lips!”
“At least mine tasted sweet, yours were dry! I felt like I was kissing sandpaper!”
“Let’s never do this again.”
“Never again.”
They both went to class. Lana still liked Eric despite giving her the most disgusting peck on the lips since her grandma Janice. They still remained friends throughout their lives. It was another four years before they ignited their chemistry and broke their vow to never kiss again.
Steve Hathaway was a new kid in the third grade. He and Eric became fast friends. It was his fourteenth birthday party on a cold December night. A crowd of freshly brewed teens sat in a circle to a game of spin the bottle. It was Eric’s turn to spin the bottle. Lana watched the bottle as it spun. She could swear it was all happening in slow motion as the bottle eventually pointed at her.
She looked up at Eric and he flirtatiously winked at her, as though to remind her of the vow they made on the playground that day to never kiss again. Now he had to kiss her, and he wasn’t at all sad about it. Lana felt her stomach drop as Eric’s handsome face approached hers. His breath was minty fresh and his lips were soft from chapstick. Lana was wearing strawberry watermelon lip gloss. Eric pecked her gently on the lips and her breath caught in her throat.
The kiss seemed to end more quickly than it had started. The rest of the night, while everyone was guzzling punch and scarfing Doritos, Lana was thinking about that soft, sweet kiss and how much she wished they weren’t in the middle of a sweaty circle. Her curfew was approaching, and she got up to go catch a ride with Veronica and her mom.
Eric had followed Lana outside. He grabbed her hand from behind and led her around to the side of the house.
“Eric, what are you doing?”
“What I couldn’t do in the circle.” He mused.
“What couldn’t you do in the circle?” Lana asked, trying to play coy.
Eric laughed and placed his hands on each side of her face. His lips touched hers once again. This time, there was no pull back. Instead, they both opened their mouths and his tongue found hers. The air might have been freezing, but Lana was on fire. Eric’s lips were soft, and he took in her lips as though to lap every ounce of lip gloss off them. It brought out sensations inside her body she didn’t know existed. Her mouth tingled with pleasure. His hands found her hair and she placed a hand on his face, kissing him back with every ounce of passion he was putting into it.
A car horn honked as the kiss was broken, “Oh, your mom’s here.” Lana said, she was honestly relieved that Eric was spending the night at Steve’s as the ride home was sure to be awkward. “I have to go.”
Eric kissed her again, making it last as long as he possibly could. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
Lana’s heart was already pounding, and butterflies were rushing through her belly. She nodded and went to run to the car with Veronica. “I’ll call you!” Eric hollered.
“Goodnight!” she hollered as she slid into the back of the car.
- Writer
