Imelda had never been kissed. Sure, she had a lot of boys through the years offering themselves up to her, "Imelda, will you marry me?" they all asked; and she ignored them all. But then Héctor came up out of nowhere and completely swept her away. Well, not right away. She thought he was annoying at first. But after spending some time together, listening to him play, going dancing... It was only a matter of time before she was head over heels for the goofy musico.

Now, they had been seeing each other for at least three months; one officially, two unofficially. However, recently, there was only one thing on her mind besides Héctor himself... Why hadn't he kissed her?

It wasn't like they never had any opportunity. They always found time to sneak away and be alone even under Imelda's parents's watchful eyes− all that time in the plaza, sneaking off to watch the sunsets... There had even been a night recently when he came to her window and they snuck out to the edge of town to stargaze. If that wasn't an opportune moment, she didn't know what was! They had been completely alone, his arm was around her, the atmosphere had been right. What was holding him back?

Why hadn't he even made an attempt at the very least? Granted, she hadn't either, but she had long ago made up her mind that she was going to let him take the lead on this one. She had been the one to initiate everything else so far in their relationship; the first time they held hands, their first "official" outing, meeting the parents, and so on. Now it was his turn to take the lead in something. It was his time to step up and prove to her that he was confident enough to be with her.

But good grief! He definitely was not stepping up! Imelda had resorted to dropping hints and getting a little more physical than usual in an effort to prod him in the right direction: "Oh, you have something on your face" she would say as she gently rubbed at an imaginary spot next to his mouth, taking care to let her fingers linger; or always resting her head on his shoulder whenever she had the opportunity; or saying something ridiculous like "You know what I like about you, Héctor? Your lips. They look really soft." She felt so foolish, but she was getting desperate.

She had even taken to "prepping" her own lips all the time with different dyes in hopes of drawing his attention to them. It worked to an extent because he always commented on it, but never took any action. Ugh, what was his deal?

All her frustration culminated to a climax in one afternoon when they met to go for a walk. He took her outside of town where there was a stream forming from the recent rain. They walked in silence for a while, simply holding hands, and Imelda wasted no time in resting her head on his shoulder as she always did. It was quiet, it was peaceful, and they were alone, surely now was the perfect moment to kiss her; so she began her hint dropping.

She heaved a great and thoughtful sigh. He looked down at her. "What is it?" he wondered.

"I was just thinking," she replied airily.

He chuckled. "Don't do that. You might hurt yourself."

She gave him a slight shove and he laughed again. "Alright, what were you thinking about?"

She bit her lip as though embarrassed, but really, she was trying to get him to look at her mouth. "Well, I was just wondering actually... have you ever kissed anybody?"

Héctor looked a little surprised at the question, but then he smirked. "That's a little personal, isn't it?"

"Well..." Imelda moved closer to him, "We are official now, aren't we?"

Héctor cracked a smile and wrapped an arm around her. "I guess we are."

Imelda ran a finger gently over her own lips. "Because I've never kissed anybody before so I was wondering if you had."

Héctor stared at her for a moment as though entranced and Imelda thought maybe she was finally getting through to him. She began to lean closer, ready for him to finally make his move. But he then turned away suddenly, smiling mischievously. "As a matter a fact, I have kissed someone before."

"Wh-what?" Imelda asked, dumbfounded. She had not expected that.

"Sí, when I was about twelve," Héctor continued, "A girl name María used to follow me and Ernesto around everywhere. I think she liked Ernesto more, but when he hardly looked at her, she started focusing more on me. And one day she ran up and just planted a big one on me."

He sounded extremely proud of this and Imelda resisted frowning at the story. Some random girl got a kiss out of Héctor and here she was making herself look like an idiota in order to get him to realize she even had lips.

Héctor did seem to notice Imelda's sudden sour mood and he nudged her. "Don't worry, Imelda," he said, "I turned her down right away. You don't have to worry about fighting María for my affections."

Now Imelda was frowning. She glared at the ground as they continued to march forward. She might not have to fight this María off (not that Imelda couldn't take her of course), but that didn't change the fact that Héctor had already so easily kissed another girl before. And Imelda had never been kissed in her life! All she wanted was to kiss the stupid boy she was so crazy about walking beside her and he couldn't even give her that little thing!

Unfortunately for Héctor, that was the moment he chose to say, "I've learned since then how to properly woo a lady" as he pulled Imelda closer.

It was too much for Imelda. He most certainly did not know how to woo her. He was doing everything wrong! She had never been so angry at him. She pulled out of his grip, flared her nostrils at him, and deepened her frown into a scowl. She jabbed a finger at him. "You− you're just−" she couldn't think of the right word that engulfed all her frustration towards him and she ended up saying, "¡Músico estúpido!"

Héctor looked completely baffled at her sudden outburst. Imelda stuck her nose in the air and began to storm away. She stopped, not quite feeling satisfied; so she turned back, approached Héctor and gave him a mighty shove, sending him tumbling backwards into the stream with a great splash. Now she was satisfied and she marched off in a huff, leaving a very confused and very wet Héctor sitting in the stream.

She got ready for bed that night, pondering the whole spectacle. Héctor had never struck her as a very shy individual. He was a performer after all, plus he had never been shy around her in the past. He always said the most ridiculous things to her that most other men would never say. No, it couldn't be shyness. He certainly wasn't acting shy. He was acting more clueless than anything else.

How could he not realize that after three months of courting a woman, it was usually expected of the couple to have kissed by then, probably more than once. Was he waiting until marriage? Imelda blushed at the thought of marrying him. No, he didn't strike her as one of those types either. Simply by listening to the songs he wrote, one could tell that he was a very passionate individual. There was no way he was repressing his feelings.

The only reason she could come up with and the she kept returning to was that he didn't WANT to kiss her. But that was absurd! Why wouldn't he want to kiss her?

There was a tap at her window. Her head shot in its direction. There was only one person who would be tapping at this time of night. She sighed in annoyance, debating whether or not she should ignore it. Finally, after the third or fourth tap, she slumped over to the window and swung open the shutters, almost hitting Héctor in the face. He took a moment to compose himself, grasping onto the window's ledge. He was just tall enough to peek into her window on the second floor by standing on a lower scaffolding.

"Hola, Imelda," he greeted her with a sheepish grin.

"What are you doing here, Héctor?" she asked with some exasperation.

"I came to talk to you about earlier," he said, "You seemed upset."

Imelda scoffed, turning her gaze away from him. "I don't know what you mean."

"Well, I might be wrong, but a happy person doesn't just go pushing people into streams."

Imelda sniffed indignantly.

"So what's wrong?" Héctor asked, "Was it something I said?"

Imelda didn't answer and contented herself with glaring at him.

"Right. I'll take that as a 'sí, Héctor. You're so smart. Continue, por favor.'"

Imelda was not amused despite the impish grin Héctor threw her way. He pulled himself further up onto the ledge so that his entire upper half was leaning on the window sill.

"So where did it start?" he asked, half to himself, half to Imelda. "You asked me about uh... kissing?"

Imelda stuck her nose in the air. "And so what if I did?"

Héctor gave a shrug from his position on the window sill. "Well, I answered your question and then you uh... pushed me in the stream."

Imelda squinted her eyes at him, daring him to keep pressing. "So?"

Héctor looked a little intimidated by her coldness, but he continued. "Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Why? What did I do?" he asked cautiously.

Imelda scowled at him. "I think you know why," she said huffily.

Héctor did not respond and he looked at his hands. He appeared to be thinking it over, probably replaying every moment in his head in an attempt to figure out why Imelda should be angry with him.

Finally, Imelda couldn't take it and burst out, "¡Ay, idiota! Are you ever planning on kissing me?"

Héctor looked surprised as he looked back up at her. "Of course," he replied softly, his eyes round and sincere.

Imelda refused to be seduced by his goofy boyish charm, that crooked smile, those dimples, his stupid big ears, that floppy, soft hair... NO! Now was the time to get down to business.

She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh really?" she challenged him, "Then what are you waiting for?"

Héctor tilted his head, looking confused, as though the answer were perfectly obvious. "You," he replied simply.

"Me?" Imelda repeated, now confused as well.

Héctor nodded. "You're the one who's always taking charge and I know you like being in control, so I thought 'I'll let Imelda take this.' And since you've been hinting at it forever, I thought for sure, it must be coming soon, but you just haven't gone for it. I've been thinking maybe you were nervous. So I keep trying to let you know I'm all for it, but nothing I do or say has helped. I keep taking you to all these romantic spots, but you just haven't gone for it. Like, what about when we went stargazing the other night? I thought that was the perfect opportunity! But nothing happened."

Imelda peered at him as he spoke. "You... you've been waiting for me to kiss you?"

"¡Sí!" he cried in exasperation.

Imelda let out a laugh and crouched down so that they were at eye level. "That's funny," she remarked, "Because I've been waiting for you to kiss me."

Héctor looked momentarily surprised, but then he smiled. "That's why you pushed me in the stream?"

Imelda nodded, smirking and leaning closer to him. "I'm sorry. That was a little harsh."

Héctor gave a shrug. "Eh, you know. If I didn't deserve it then, I probably deserved it for something else I've done."

Imelda giggled and leaned closer still, their foreheads nearly touching. "Or something you will do," she remarked.

"That too."

Imelda hummed affectionately and stroked the side of his face. "Don't ever change," she said.

He grinned. "Not even in death."

Imelda smiled. Then in an instant, the gap between them was closed and their lips were joined. It started out soft and hesitant, but as Imelda's hands slid into his hair, it grew deeper and more passionate. Imelda was on cloud nine. She had heard great things about kissing before, but never realized how wonderful it actually was. There were no words to describe the euphoria she felt as their lips moved together. She could hardly believe it took them this long to do it. Plus she had been right before; Héctor did have soft lips.

They would have continued kissing for much longer had the scaffolding beneath Héctor's feet not suddenly given way with a loud crack. In an instant, he was suddenly hanging from the window sill by his hands, feet dangling in the air.

"What was that?" Imelda's father's voice echoed through the house, "¡El ladrón!"

Imelda looked to Héctor, panicked. "You'd better get out of here before my papá finds you."

Héctor peered up at her. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Go!" she told him.

With a wink, he let go of the window sill and dropped down to the ground, landing on top of the small shed he had obviously used to climb up to her window. He broke right through the roof with a loud crash.

Imelda rolled her eyes as he clumsily emerged through the door in a puff of dirt and dust. He waved up at her as though he hadn't just completely humiliated himself. Imelda shook her head in exasperation and waved her arm at him, urging him to flee because she could hear her father running down the stairs.

The man himself suddenly appeared in the yard. "¡El ladrón!" he cried, brandishing a frying pan over his head like a weapon, "Thief!¡Vagabundo!"

Héctor hurriedly picked up his hat and scurried out of the yard, ducking as Imelda's father began throwing pieces of wood from the broken scaffolding and shed at him. "¡Vete, chico astuto!" he was yelling at the retreating figure of Héctor.

"¡Papá! Papá, stop! It's only Héctor!" Imelda called down to him from her window.

"Héctor?" her father repeated. Then he scowled into the darkness where Héctor had disappeared. "You keep away from my daughter, el buscarruidos!"

Of course, Héctor was still allowed to continue seeing Imelda after making a long arduous apology to both her and her father for sullying not just hers, but her family's reputation. He also had to agree to fix the broken shed and scaffolding. Later, Imelda's father admitted that he found the whole thing laughable, but had to keep up his reputation as the formidable and intimidating father protecting his daughter's honor.

As for the kiss itself, if someone were to ask either Héctor or Imelda who initiated it, neither of them could answer. "It just sort of happened" they would say. And so it did.