My Best Kisses: Episode 1 — New Heights

A limited series on my favourite real-life snogs.

“Bet you rue the day you kissed a writer in the dark” — Lorde

We know that life isn’t like the movies, especially when it comes to romance, but we still hope for main character moments for ourselves. Scenes that offer that glowy satisfaction — when the light is golden, a serendipitous connection forms, and you sense your life story leap forward in just a few seconds. Well, I find a good kiss is one of the most potent ways you can make cinema reality. And rather than watching through salty fists of popcorn and a liquid retina display, you get to experience all the sensations in 3D, drive the tale onwards, and retell it at dinner parties forever.

Here’s the first of my best kissing scenes.

New Heights

After moving from Melbourne to London I’d completed some solo adventures and decided I was ready to inspect the local dating scene — keeping my mind open, calendar guarded, outfits simple and expectations low. I pursued the profiles that made me laugh, or sounded interesting, and put aside anything superficial, but that meant that I was entering a pub in Shoreditch to meet someone on a Thursday night with not much ready attraction.

Our hello-hug sent a surge of nerves through my puffer jacket about how the next hour or so would go, but I left those thoughts at the bar as we transported our pints to a table outside. He had actually brought his dog which was a gorgeous way to break the ice, but it turns out we didn’t need the help.

The kindling of only one or two date questions was all it took and we were off. The coloured bunting was flapping and we were rattling away about all the things we shared a love for, and even discovering mutual acquaintances. He was kind, curious, and creative, and had me tripping over my words laughing. The sort of man I could throw all my wild anecdotes at without hesitation, and was delighted to be interrupted by because it was always additive and stimulating. Soon the conversation was populated with so many tantalising tangents that I realised I never wanted to leave his company, so when the outside area closed we moved our second pints and tired dog inside.

It’s during the second drink that you usually start to feel the decision looming — do I want to kiss this person? By this stage I was 80% affirmative. The bants were in attendance, was the chemistry fashionably late? Hoping to have my questions answered by a cosier scene change, instead we found ourselves scraping metal chair legs along a dusty floor in a bright, empty, basement bar. The dog didn’t seem to mind, curling up under the table, so we curled our hands around fresh pints and continued chatting. Then height came up in conversation.

“Well, how tall are you?” he asked, flicking a frown at me, but before I could answer he was rising out of his seat to measure up. Oh gosh, this was the incoming 20%. I followed suit.

Holding eye contact, we stepped to the side of the table, and gingerly moved forward towards each other without a word. The sleeping dog didn’t even stir. Looking up at him, I prepared for the lip lock, but instead he blurted, “Oh you’re not even that tall.”

I wondered if I had misread and all we’d be doing up here was actually comparing centimetres, but decided to hold fast. I kept my body still, drawing his gaze into mine.

“Your eyes have a little orange in them,” he remarked, dreamily.

I smirked just enough without parting my lips and he looked down at them. Gotcha. He leant forward a little, then further, gently closing all of the space between us.

Everything slowed, and any questions about chemistry were drowned out by the sweet tingling forming at our lips, fanning outwards. He only had a hand lightly resting on my waist, but I felt entirely in his hold.

“Well, we know that part works,” he concluded, as we oozed back into our seats. “I didn’t even know that was going to happen when we stood up. Then I looked at you and just told myself, ‘Be brave, be brave.’”

I laughed but didn’t say anything, just moved each of our pints out of the way and slid forward on my elbows to kiss him again.

Lighting 1/5

Performance 4/5

Script 4/5

What would you rate this kiss?