First Kiss – Mike Fiorito

The first time she came to his house, he had to buy a couch so they could sit somewhere. Recently divorced, he had shed furniture. He’d hoped that they wouldn’t sleep together that night; it would give them something to look forward to.

When they arrived to his place, she went to the bathroom. While she walked down the hall, he ripped the tag off the couch he’d trundled home earlier that day. She moved slowly, like a minx. Her faux Victorian shirt laced with string, gently offered her full breasts. Looking at her rose shaped pink lips, he imagined what it would be like to kiss her. “I can tell you about how compatible we are by using your birthday and a formula I learned from a Horoscope book,” she said. She had a slight lisp when she spoke.

She wrote down the formula and applied it his birthday. They were on the new couch now, their knees brushing against each other. She took his hand into hers to see how long his fingers were; their index fingers drew sparks. He smelled the perfume she wore; it was musky. Like a thick cloud, it settled around him. They held hands now and looked deeply at each other. Suddenly, reaching forward, their lips touched. Her lips were soft and succulent, almost creamy. They kissed and kissed, embracing closely.

They didn’t sleep together that night. He folded up the paper on which she had scribbled the formula. He placed the paper behind a framed picture, pinning it down under the piece of wood that held it together.
Years later, after he’d moved in with another woman, he found the paper, the scribbling was still legible, but faded. It was time to throw it away.

About the contributor: Mike Fiorito is an Associate Editor for Mad Swirl magazine. In 2018, his short story collections Freud’s Haberdashery Habits & Other Stories and Hallucinating Huxley were published by Alien Buddha Press. Mike’s writings have appeared in Narratively, Mad Swirl, Ovunque Siamo, Pif Magazine, Longshot Island, Beautiful Losers, The Honest Ulsterman, Chagrin River Review, The New Engagement and many other publications.