"Fancy meeting you here, fair lady" replied Zac in a posh English accent.

"Zac- sorry, but you really need to work on that accent."

"And how would you know how the English talk?" replied Zac in a southern colloquial accent.

"I’ve been to England before."

"Cool- do they really have those big red buses driving around?"

"Yeah, but they’re pretty crappy looking inside."

"It would be cool driving one of those" Zac thought out loud.

"I wouldn’t ride in it if you were the driver" Julie joked.

"Thanks for the compliment Julie." Zac replied sarcastically, "Anyway, you know Issac? He got his driver’s license a few days ago. That means we can go anywhere we like- and no adults!"

"Nick got his license last week too." stated Julie

"Who’s Nick?

"Didn’t I tell you? He’s my brother."

"You told me you had a brother, but I didn’t know his name."

"Oh. Well you wanna come over and meet him?"

"Um..I don’t know...actually yeah… I don’t think my Mom will care. I told her I was going to be a while anyway."

"Come on. I’ll race you there." said Julie

"I never give up a challenge, but I have no idea where you live."

"Just follow me." explained Julie

"But then I’ll lose" whined Zac

"It’s not like you were going to win in the first place." stated Julie, as she began to run her fastest.

"Now that’s where you’re wrong" said Zac as he ran closely behind Julie.

She didn’t see the large branch in front of her and she tripped. And of course Zac came tumbling after. They landed, tangled and laughing their hardest. A few minutes of uncontrollable laughter followed

"Hey Julie. You okay?" , Zac asked Julie after the laughter had died down.

"Yeah, just a bit scratched up on my leg"

To her surprise he bent down and clumsily brushed his lips against her legs. She felt a rush that she had never felt before. The feeling of his lips on her skin made her want to melt right into the ground. She felt wanted for the first time in her life. Not wanted by someone she was related to, but someone who she could want in the same way. Her emotions once again made her feel like she was going to burst.

"Mom always said kisses make it better," he explained.

"Mom’s are always right," she replied still in a daze.

He made contact between his lips and her leg once again, but with more confidence.

"Just to make sure it’s okay," he said.

"Help me up Zac" she asked.

He enclosed her body with his arms and lifted her up, wanting to touch as much of her as he possibly could. Of course this didn’t help any because he was quite a bit smaller than her and they toppled over once again."

"You’re quite the gentlemen aren’t you Zac?" she said laughing

"Yup. That’s me, the smooth operator" he replied, grinning on the outside, but feeling extremely stupid on the inside.

"Come on. This time I’ll help you up." said Julie.

She took his hand and pulled him up. His hand felt as smooth as velvet. As she gripped his hands, she could feel their strength, but also the inner fragility. The very thought of touching his hand made her feel tingly, as she had felt when he had kissed her. Her feelings at that moment surpassed anything she had ever felt before.

They made their way toward Julie’s house, both silent. It reminded her of the time she walked with the mysterious boy. But this time she was confused. Did Zac really mean it when he so thoughtfully kissed her? But how could he? He was only 11 years old, she thought,- he didn’t know about kissing. She was three years older than him. Sure, maybe in twenty years it wouldn’t make a difference, but right now three years was more than a fifth of her life. But when he had kissed her, age didn’t matter, all that mattered was that he was there, and he was touching her.

She wanted to touch him again, but she was afraid. Not afraid of him, but afraid of herself. She had never allowed a guy to kiss her before, nor had she kissed a guy before. But now she had, and everything would be different. For some reason her thoughts at that moment wandered to the mysterious boy she had talked to the day before. For some reason she felt that she had a connection with him. A bond she had never thought about, until now.

Zac had never felt so unsure in his life. What had he done? How could he have kissed her? A girl he didn’t even know. But she seemed okay with it. Or did she? He looked over at her and she seemed to be in serious thought. Issac was the only person he knew (personally), who had ever kissed a girl, even Taylor hadn’t. And never before had he ever really wanted to kiss a girl. Until he had met Julie. He suddenly felt so young, so out of place, so innocent. He didn’t know the first thing about kissing, and all he could think about was the torture he may have caused Julie with his simple gesture that had such a great effect.