It was the middle of the night when I heard the knock on my door. I was already in my pajamas, and I really didn’t feel like answering it. But when the knock came the second time, I groaned, standing up and walking to the door. As I opened it, I sucked in a breath.

It was Jesse.

Jesse had been my best friend for about three years. We were there for each other through thick and thin, and he always stood up for me, no matter what. When the others would call me weird, stupid, retarded, he made them stop. Until yesterday that is.

Yesterday, I was eating lunch when Bryce and the rest of the jerks who always teased me had came up and called me all the names in the book. They were even worse than usual. I tried to take Jesse’s advice and walk away, but the pushed me back down. I searched for him, pleading with my mind that he would come stop them. But when my eyes landed on him, all he did was look away. Tears streamed down my face as he walked away, leaving me in their hands.

And now he was standing at my door.

I quickly tried to slam the door shut, but he was too strong for me. Jesse pushed it open all the way and stared down into my eyes. I hated the fact that he was taller than me, because I always had to look up at him. I scowled, and crossed my arms.

“What do you want you jerk?” I hissed. He winced.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Jesse whispered. His eyes were tearing up, and that caused me to do the same thing.

“For what? Letting them insult me? Letting them hit me? Where do you think I got this black eye?” I asked furiously, my voice rising. He moved inside, closing the door. He knew my parents weren’t home, they worked the late shift.

“I swear to God, if I could go back to that moment and change everything, I would. I didn’t think they would hurt you,” he said softly, reaching for my hand. I pulled it out of reach, beyond hurt.

“You always help me. I mean I know I said to let me go a little, but seriously? They were obviously getting to rough that I couldn’t stop them and all you did was sit and watch.” I sat down on my couch hard, and watched as he started pacing, like he does when he’s upset.

“Listen, they threatened me, ok?” he yelled. We both stared at each other in surprise, and he sat down in the chair across from me, his head in his hands. I hesitated, then spoke.

“That’s all you had to say. I would rather have them hurt me than you, -”

“They didn’t threaten to hurt me,” he whispered. I started.

“Then how -?”

“They threatened to seriously injure you.” he finished, barely making a sound. My mouth dropped open. I watched him take a deep shaky breath, then start to explain.

“I could live with myself if they hurt me. That’s not it. If they hurt you to a point where you had to go to the hospital, I would never be able to live with myself.” He twiddled his thumbs, still staring down. I stood up, and walked over to him. I took his hand and pulled him up. Then he did something I never thought he would ever do.

He kissed me.

As his lips met mine, my mind shorted out. It was as if he was taking a mind eraser and scrubbing out everything I’d previously been mad about. It was short and sweet, but also seemed to last forever, filled with all the words he’d never said. When he slowly pulled away, I kept my eyes closed.

“Lizzy?” he whispered.

“Mm?” I said, real intelligent like. Jesse chuckled to himself.

“You can open your eyes now.” He chucked my chin gently, and I opened my eyes to see his perfect face staring down at me, the green eyes I’d come to love suddenly brighter than they’d ever been, like two emeralds. I smiled up at him.

“I know, stupid. I was trying to commit that moment to memory.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, still smiling. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down so I could whisper in his ear.

“Because that was my LAST first kiss.”