I Forgot to Tell You by Charis Marsh Page A

putting his hand on Taylor’s back as they walked.
    â€œSo.” The red-headed boy nodded at Kaitlyn. “I like how they bothered to say ‘bye’ to us.”
    Kaitlyn nodded, smiling awkwardly. “I’m Kaitlyn.” She stuck out her hand for him to shake, and they both started giggling at the weird formality of it.
    â€œMatt. I go to McKinley, too — I’m in the tech club. Like, when the lights go on and stuff, that’s me.”
    â€œSweet.”
    â€œYou’re friends with Taylor?” he asked, sitting down on the couch next to her.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œSo, did Taylor tell you anything about me?”
    Kaitlyn noticed that Matt was also searching the room with his eyes, presumably also looking for Taylor and Zack. “No,” Kaitlyn answered. She swallowed more of her drink. She felt oddly comfortable in this strange house surrounded by people she didn’t know who were mostly a lot older than her.
    â€œOh. Okay. Yeah, she’s been around our booth a lot lately. Zack’s been showing her the mikes and crap.”
    â€œCool.” Kaitlyn couldn’t think of anything else to say, but she didn’t really care. She felt weirdly comfortable on this couch.
    â€œYou want to go somewhere quieter?”
    Kaitlyn considered. Now that she thought about it, the dubstep was getting on her nerves. “Sure.”
    â€œI know where we can go play some games,” he said, standing up and picking up his beer. “Come on.”
    Kaitlyn followed him out of the living room and into somebody’s bedroom. Matt handed her a control and showed her the basics of how to play the game, and Kaitlyn tried to look like she cared. She never played video games. The colours were so bright that they forced her eyes to focus in on them. She was trying to round the corner on a yellow path when she felt Matt’s fingers on her thigh. She pretended to ignore it. He took the controller away from her and pressed his mouth on hers. It was wet, and smelled of beer and mint. She felt his tongue press against her lips, and she quickly pushed him away. “Um …”
    Matt shrugged. “I thought you wanted to.”
    â€œUh … no. Sorry.” Kaitlyn quickly brushed her hair out of her face, trying to stop the blush that she knew was spreading across her face.
    â€œLike, we don’t have to do anything … I mean, I just think you’re pretty hot.”
    â€œUm, thanks.” Kaitlyn picked up the controller. “You want to finish the game?”
    Matt sighed. “Not really. But okay.” They stayed there for the rest of the party, barely talking to each other and focusing on the game until Taylor finally came and found her.
    â€œWere you guys doing this all night?” she asked, leaning against Zack. “Come on, Kaitlyn, we have to hurry up. Zack’s mom is going to give us a ride home.” She jumped onto the bed and blew into Kaitlyn’s face. “Do I smell like I’ve been drinking?”
    â€œEw, no, you smell of really gross mint stuff.”
    â€œGood.” Taylor hopped off the bed and Kaitlyn followed her, picking up her hoodie. They got in the car, Zack and Taylor giggling at nothing. Kaitlyn sat silently on the side, feeling awkward. She felt like she should finish the other half of her cooler, but she also thought it would look weird since they were going home now, so she casually stuffed it in one of the car cup holders and left it there. She felt strangely exhilarated. There were a lot of things to think about. Somebody kissed me. She smiled involuntarily. It wasn’t how she’d pictured her first kiss, and she didn’t exactly think that Matt was at all hot, but it was still pretty cool.
    â€œDid you guys have fun?” Zack’s mom asked too loudly as she headed up the hill to Taylor’s house. It suddenly occurred to Kaitlyn that Zack’s mom had probably been drinking,