23...

As the two of them got closer to the door, the girls hand moved from his forearm to his hand. Frank barely had the time to register the pleasant heat in her grip, had just begun to take in the near electric charge he felt when their fingers touched before they were outside in the near summer air.
It was full blown night into morning, but still oppressively warm outside. Drunks milled about the dying lawn with red plastic cups gripped in their desperate hands. The seedier guests of the party could be found out here and Frank felt immediately at home. The mystery girl led Frank towards the right side of the house and let loose his hand.
“So how do you know Mary?” he asked.
The girl was lighting a cigarette and looking slyly at him over the lighter's flame.
“You don’t recognize me?” she asked through a mouthful of slow moving smoke.
He shook his head with a slight smile while she brought the lighter to the tip of his cigarette.
“Oh that’s right,” she said in a low, sultry tone. “You weren’t invited to Mary’s lesbian sex party.”
“The bitch never invites me to those.”
She laughed easily and took another drag from her smoke. He loved this feeling, this easy flirting and give and take. There was something about her that Frank took an instant liking to, something in the air that danced between them.
“My boyfriend lives downstairs from Mary. Lou?”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, no, I think I’ve seen you around.”
He focused on her fully and she daintily opened herself up in an antique photograph pose. She batted her eyes, and man, that impish smile was going to be the death of him. He carefully reached out, as if afraid to spook her away, and lightly touched her hair.
“It used to be lighter than this? No?”
“Yeah,” she said with an appreciative smile. “I’ve changed to match my darker side.”
Frank nodded as if he knew exactly what she was talking about, as if her words carried some gravity far weightier than any other could appreciate. He glanced down at the cigarette that was nearly gone.
“I’m sorry, what’s your name by the way?”
“Alexis,” she said with a small curtsey.
Frank laughed lightly, turning his head to face the sky.
“What’s so funny?” she asked in a way that was not the least bit self-conscious. Something within him turned on ticklish wheels and tied him tighter to her. He looked back down at her.
“I don’t know. Your name just seems to fit you perfectly.”
She dropped her cigarette to the dry earth and stomped it out with languid movements. She tilted her head up to him and slightly away, some fiery power dancing in her eyes.
“You don’t even know me.”
Her voice was open and even, young and alive. It brought an invisible finger down the length of Frank’s spine.
“I suppose not,” he said with a tilt of his head. “But still.”
She smiled with a brilliance that wanted to crack the sky. And before he even had a chance to take that in, she leaned up and kissed him quickly.
“It was nice finally meeting you,” she said over her shoulder as she skipped back towards the front door of the house.
He watched her go and his eyes went wide when he realized he couldn’t breathe. It was fucking ridiculous, but he couldn’t breathe. That kiss, that simple mere brushing of lips was as chaste as a baby, but it still somehow made him woozy. He suddenly looked around a bit bashfully, actually blushing. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to record forever that brief instant when their lips had touched.