We were both 16, and had been dating for about 3 months. November 22...I remember, because it was one week exactly before my 17th birthday, and we had just gotten home from an early birthday dinner.
We went back to my dad's house to watch a movie in his basement (it's like a second TV room). I had picked up some condoms on the way home, just as a joke (we had been best friends for years, and loved to joke around...hey, when you're sixteen, condoms can be frickin' hilarious). We started messing around like usual, when we got the bright idea to slip one on, just to see what it would be like. One thing lead to another, and before we knew it, we were well into the act. It was in NO way planned, and we'd never seriously discussed when it was going to happen (she always had a fantasy of it being candle lit with rose petals...she always liked the whole "knight in shining armor" imagery), so we ended up not finishing. We were both virgins with VERY little previous experience of any kind (she actually had none), so a few days later, we discussed it to decide if it "counted" (hey, in high school, you question things like that). We decided yes, in deed it did.
After three years of love, devotion and talks of "forever" (what a magical word that is, when you're 16, 17, 18, 19 and the reality can't set in) we had some of the best sex of our relationship only a few weeks ago. However, despite my plans to finally buy her the diamond solitare she so badly wanted, it would be the last time we slept together. She ended things on Thanksgiving, after touching my heart and my life in ways better than I could have ever dreamed. I've since accepted the single life, and she's moved on to someone new, but she'll always hold a very special place in my heart, both as my first and as one of the best friends I've ever had (and probably will ever have) both before, during, and so far, after our years together.
At that time, it was perfect, and I still wouldn't change a thing.
Now having recounted that, I believe I'll go listen to some sad country music and smoke cigarettes while living out every "lonely man trying to move on" cliche in the book.
