Change of Heart by Jennifer L. Allen

destructive pattern we started four years ago when we shared our first kiss…right here on this dock.
     
    There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the stars twinkled brightly, despite the bright moonlight nearly drowning them out. The water gently flowed by in the creek and the crickets chirped, providing the perfect soundtrack and the perfect backdrop to our night.
    Our parents were out of town at a banquet; they’d be out all night, trusting Decker and I to keep each other company and to keep each other safe for the evening. Sleepovers between Decker and I weren’t uncommon, and there was never any reason for our parents to think it was inappropriate. We were best friends from the age of six, practically raised as siblings.
    Decker and I crept out onto the dock with some candles and a bottle of wine we stole from his parents’ wine cellar. They had seven of the same bottle so we figured they wouldn’t miss this one.
    Things recently changed between me and Decker. He’d started looking at me differently. I know I grew boobs and all, but I still played baseball like the best of them. He didn’t like it when other guys talked to me at school and told them to back off. But he wouldn’t talk to me at school like they did, either. I didn’t think it was fair, but Decker said he’d always look out for me so I just had to assume he knew something about those guys that I didn’t.
    “Have you kissed anyone, Casey?” Decker asked after we spread out the blanket and sat down cross-legged at the end of the dock.
    I laughed. “No, Deck. Guys don’t want to kiss me.”
    “That’s not true,” he said.
    “Then how come I’m seventeen and I’ve never been kissed?”
    He looked down at his hands, fidgeting in his lap.
    “Decker?” I asked sternly. What did he do?
    “I may have threatened a few of the guys on the team.”
    “What?! Why? How?” I couldn’t believe he did that. No wonder guys never talked to me, let alone kissed me. I knew I was plain and all, but still. There’s someone for everyone, right? All those guys that talked to me and he chased away…
    “None of those guys are good enough for you.”
    “Shouldn’t that be for me to decide?” I cross my arms over my chest, downright pissed off now.
    How dare he?
    “I’m sorry, Case.”
    “Hmmf.” I stared off into the water, ignoring him.
    Decker sighed. “You know what? I’m not sorry. I don’t want you kissing other guys and that’s that.”
    My eyes snapped back to his. “Excuse me?”
    “You heard me,” he said, looking down at his hands again.
    “Yeah, I heard you. That’s a bunch of crap, Decker. You can’t just run interference all my life.” If I wasn’t sitting, I would have stomped my feet.
    “Wanna bet?”
    I rolled my eyes. Arguing with him was useless. He was the most stubborn person I knew, next to myself of course.
    “Whatever, Decker.”
    He sighed again. “ I want to be your first kiss,” he whispered, so quietly I barely heard him.
    “What did you just say?”
    He looked up at me. “I said I want to be your first kiss.”
    “What? Why? Decker?” I didn’t know what to say. Where was this coming from? Decker wants to kiss me? Why?
    “Because when I think back to my first kiss, I want it to be a happy memory. And Casey, all my memories with you are happy ones.”
    I felt tears well up in my eyes. Well, if that wasn’t the sweetest thing Decker Abrams had ever said to me. And I’d be his first kiss, too? Gorgeous Decker Abrams has never kissed a girl?
    He groaned at the tears. “Don’t cry, Case.”
    “Happy tears, Deck. Happy tears,” I smiled at him.
    He grinned that boyish grin I loved so much that always got him out of trouble…with me and every other female in his life.
    “So you’ve really never kissed a girl before?” I still found that hard to believe, but Decker had never lied to me before.
    He shook his head. “No. I wanted it to be special, you know?”
    I nodded, “Yeah, I know.”
    “So can