These days, Josiah Duggar and Lauren Swanson are all over each other. But just a few months ago, they had never even kissed.
In the restrictive world of the Duggars, the first kiss is very public — because it"s at your wedding, in front of everyone you know.
Josiah is revealing how he prepared for his very first kiss: he practiced on his hand. See the video:
In the teaser for Monday night"s Counting On finale, Josiah is just hours away from marrying Lauren Swanson.
23-year-old Joseph Duggar is a married man himself.
He figured that he should pass on some advice to his brother about what he learned from tying the knot with Kendra Caldwell.
"As far as the first kiss goes," Joseph says. "I mean, I’m sure you can figure it out"
"It’s not really that complicated," he assures his slightly younger brother.
"I asked her just to stay … kinda as still as she could … and then kind of go with it," Josiah says awkwardly.
"That’s what we did," Joseph replies.
"Either one side or the other," Joseph adds. "But it looks better when the guy goes, I think."
"I don’t think you’re going to have a problem," Joseph suspects.
He credits his optimism to communication, because: "y’all probably already talked about it."
Witha little prompting from a producer, Josiah reveals a little more to the Counting On cameras.
"I was thinking, you know what? I wonder what it feels like," Josiah shares.
To be clear, he"s talking about kissing — not the wedding night.
"So I practiced on my hand," Josiah reveals. "I think practicing on my hand was just to see what it felt like from her side."
"You can’t kiss a tree and expect to see what it’s going to feel like for her," Josiah reasons.
Well … he"s not wrong. Lauren is not a tree.
"So if you kiss on your hand, you can feel … like, ‘Okay, maybe I should make my lips more full,’ or whatever," Josiah continues.
That helped him, Josiah explains, to practice "and kind of think of it from that perspective."
"You’ve got to think about it!" Josiah explains.
Obviously, practicing for something like the wedding night using his hand would be strictly forbidden in the Duggar household.
We suppose that kissing his hand must be okay. We hope.
Still speaking to the camera, Josiah gushes about this major life milestone.
"It is interesting to think this is the first day in my life I get to kiss a girl," Josiah says.
He clarifies that he will be kissing Lauren "right smack dab on the lips."
"I mean, it’s special," Josiah shares. "It really is a special moment for us."
"And I’ll try to make sure it’s not just a peck," Josiah promises. "I’ll make sure it’s good."
Most of us have probably seen one viral video or another of a fundamentalist wedding where the bride and groom had never kissed.
These videos go viral because, well, the first kiss ends up being painfully awkward to watch.
While it"s a shame that the Duggars aren"t raised with real choices and personal freedoms, Josiah has seen a lot of weddings.
At 22, his first kiss was probably a little more prepared than a normal person"s at 12 or 15 or 19 or whatever.
We"ll find out on Monday night"s Counting On season finale!
