My first affair was when I was sixteen.

It was also my last.

I was in love. She was my first love. But things had got hard. On graduation weekend, me and a classmate, beautiful, intelligent (class valedictorian type) hit it off. We were in a play together. It was love.

But I felt bad.

I told my first love right away. That’s what you do when you’re in love: you’re honest right away about everything.

The hurt look in her eyes…I loved her. I felt empathy, to put it lightly. I never wanted to hurt someone like that again.

Affairs might be “hot.” But they’re too easy. What’s harder, I thankfully learned in that young moment, is being kind, and communicating about the hard things, right away.

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