She had the palest white skin, her cheeks glowing pink in their porcelain setting. Her hair fell long and strawberry blonde down the sides of her face, tumbling over her shoulders as she moved her head to laugh and smile. Her face looked no older than fourteen. One day she would be stunning.

Her tiny pale fingers touched the cheek of the Asian boy she stood with, who looked not very much older. Their movements were shy yet familiar, and Melbourne Train Girl wondered how long they had been calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. They looked so young. Too young.

Yet Melbourne Train Girl remembers how she felt at that age. This girl reminded her of herself. Pale and slender, with a shy mouth. And Melbourne Train Girl would have worn lilac too.

At that age every akwardly put together piece of Melbourne Train Girl had ached for a boyfriend. Some days she found it hard to think of much else; the rest of the days it was all she thought about. She thought about who he would be, how they would meet, and in tiny, exruciating detail, what their first kiss would be like. What her first kiss would be like.

(It hadn't been that great...he had opened his mouth too wide and she felt as though she were being engulfed by a small octopus)

The first kiss is always easy and wonderful. It is after the first kiss that the first relationship steers out of control onto treacherous and uncertain ground. Decisions are made when the decision makers are truly not ready, and for too many of the wrong reasons. Melbourne Train Girl hopes that this little red haired thing hasn't yet reached that point of confusion. She hopes that for now it will be holding hands and kissing in doorways for so long that their lips tingle as feeling leaves them. Melbourne Train Girl is very glad she is well past that point herself.

The Short Boy was a gentleman. Their last night together it had been very very late, and he had looked very very tired. "You are welcome to sleep here, although my bedroom is very messy..." she had said, her voice not quite managing to cover the shyness he seemed to make her feel. She got the feeling he didn't think she was quite that shy, however. Perhaps it was the look in her eyes as she bit the skin on his collar bone lightly with her teeth, and ran her fingernails down his spine not so lightly.

"A very tempting offer..." he had replied, "but I will have to decline."

He had smiled at her and kissed her once more. A little later he had told her he wouldn't want to run into any members of her family in her house at that time of night.

Melbourne Train Girl can't help sighing when she thinks of that. Almost a week has gone by since he left, but still her inbox sits empty...