My first kiss with a girl, I expected her to taste like Cherry Chapstick. Katy Perry lied to me, but I guess that didn’t matter since I still liked it anyway. Actually, that kiss was probably one of the most meaningful ones I’ve ever had. Nina and I were never going to make it, but I think she’s the closest I’ve ever come to being fully in love with someone. The hot lesbian sex helped too. 

Nina studied at the university in my town. She came from the middle section of America, had pixie short brown hair that framed her face in seductive little whisps. I first met her in my favourite ice-cream parlous Licc. She was sitting with a transgender girl called Riley who I had worked on some photoshoots with. I was with my friend Jack who everyone thinks is gay, but isn’t gay due to his love of women flesh.

I should explain, in the small, middle class town that I was mostly raised up in; the alternative group, the arty group, the homosexual/bisexuals/transgender/crossdresser group, the crazy group – we all knew each other. We had all worked with each other at one point or another, promoting art work, doing photoshoots or just general events.

Riley waves to Jack and beckons us to sit with them. This is easy to do as the ice-cream parlour only has 3 tables and the other two are taken up by normal people. As soon as we sit down Riley launches into a rant about her latest work and it’s woes, which is funny because Jack hates her. She is very self-centred. As she starts to really get into things, flaying her hands about to show the magnitude of whatever horror her printer had submitted her to.

I steal a glance at the girl she is with. Riley is always with new girls, and 9 out of 10 they’ll be lesbians, bisexual or transgender. The girl is cool and composed, laughing along to Riley’s story. She turns to look at me and I instantly blush which is a first. She’s really, really beautiful. That’s all I can think. Not in a mainstream way, her nose is too big for that, but something about her makes me keep staring.

“Owh my GAWD. I haven’t even introduced you guys! Jack, Nina, Nina, Jack, Harriet, Nina, Nina, Harriet, Jack and Harriet, you two already know each other!” Riley squeals but then quickly goes back to talking about whatever she was talking about. Nina holds out her hand for Jack and I to shake, which we do, and when I touch her i feel a small spark. She’s so cool. She’s wearing a denim jacket, something I’ve never thought could be done well. She’s also wearing a denim skirt, double denim – big mistake. But her leather boots and black tank top somehow make it ok.

Soon, before I know how it happens, we have all finished our ice cream (I can’t remember what I had) and we’re parting ways. I must have been the most dull person ever because all I did was watch her. “She was SO HOT.” Says Jack as we walk far away enough to not worry about them over hearing. We argue a while about if she’s a lesbian or not. I think she is, and Jack thinks she is too, but he doesn’t want to say it because that means he’s got no chance.

After that, Nina showed up everywhere. I found out we went to the same monthly art burlesque show, Dr Sketchy’s. She goes to the university that is a seven minute bike ride from my house. Riley keeps dragging her along to all of her art things, and I start showing up to them too because I want to see her.

I should have known from the start that I was crushing on her, but I had never felt this way towards a girl before and I couldn’t put two and two together. Soon I am seeing her in her dorm at the university to go over art and photography. She is studying sociology and we talk about people’s behaviors.

One day I go over and she’s ill with the cold. I spend the next three days coming over and making her soup. First it’s miso soup, then Vietnamese pho soup with the noodles, then tomato and basil. By the fourth night she’s practically normal and we’re laughing together at the table. The time has really flown and by 1am I’ve decided to go home as it has started to drizzle outside. She walks me out of the dorm and it’s actually a seven minute uphill walk to get off campus and onto the road.

She walks on my right and I old my bike on the left. We get to the top of the hill. This is where i normally get on my bike and whizz down the road, take a right turn and then a left turn onto my street. Sometimes I can even make it to my house without cycling, depending on the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill.

It’s started to rain and I get my bike ready, however she tugs at my arm as asks “Do you like me?”

I think of saying “what do you mean?” but of course I know what she means. I also know that I do like her, even though it’s a completely new feeling. I mean, I’ve been making her soup everyday and still thought she was beautiful with a face full of cold. “Yes,” I’m not sure what else to say beyond this, and I’m terrified. Instead she leans in to kiss me.

My first kiss with a girl is on top a of hill. On one side is the trees and pathways that lead to the university, on the other the concrete road that leads into the city. The light drizzle has turned into proper rainfall, which is illuminated by the orange of the streetlamp we’re standing under.

Her lips are cold when they touch mine, and her lips are kind of chapped. I don’t open my mouth, but my lips are parted enough to taste the rain, skin and chill of the air. Her lips are soft though, softer than any boy I’ve ever kissed. In a microsecond, or maybe an hour, she pulls away and I tell her i’ll be back tomorrow night and then I get on my bike and fly home.

Two days later I have the flu, but I also have a smoking hot girlfriend called Nina.