Watching Clouds

He had been taught how to kiss by the town’s whore, who incidentally was also the town’s most beautiful and sought after girl. She had been three years above him at school and he remembered perfectly the scene of the first time he had approached her.
It was one of those sunny fall days where the light makes everything look like a dream. Edward had been following her for four blocks waiting for her admirers to disperse before he approached her.
“Excuse me Annabelle, but may I lend your ear for a moment?”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Edward. We both go to the same school”
“And so?”
“Right, well I was wondering if I might be able to ask you something?”
“Well then ask won’t you and we’ll see if you can”
He hadn’t been prepared for her overwhelming stifling beauty, he had always known her to be beautiful, yes this went without saying, but standing in her presence with her eyes locked into he’s own, he felt almost as if she had him in a trance and this he had not been prepared for. After a few moments of burning silence she finally spoke.
“Have you forgotten Edward?”
“I was wondering if you might kiss me? Perhaps even several times until it feels right”
“And why would you want to kiss me?”
“Because I have not kissed anyone before and you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen outside of the fantasies of cinema”
“And why would I want to kiss you?”
“Because you are a whore”
A smile crept across her face by this last statement and she quickly looked around where her and Edward stood as if to make sure no one could hear them before whispering.
“I am not really a whore you know Edward. It is just easier for people to not be so envious of me when they can imagine that I must be a scarlet woman, so for this reason I let them think this”
“I think you are beautiful”
“Are you not too young to be thinking about kissing girls?”
“I plan to be a ladies man when I am older, like Dean Martin or Leonard Cohen and so I figured I should probably get started early if I am going to achieve the same kind of status as them”
She laughed at this, but not in the same patronizing way that he’s mother had when he had told her of his plans, but in way that made him think she really believed that one day he would in fact be a world-class lover.
“You are a very sweet boy Edward. Would you like to walk home with me?”
“Very much so”
It wasn’t until she was sure that they were out of sight from any hidden eyes that she held his hand in hers and it wasn’t until a few weeks after their first meeting, that behind her dad’s garden shed whilst they lay beside each other on the sharp grass watching the clouds, she gave Edward the kiss that he had so very much longed for.