The problem of course is that you may want to play a certain opening, but your opponent may have a very different idea in mind, or simply be clueless as to "book". Have you checked out the study plan for beginners?
http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-for-beginners-the-opening2#tournamentopenings
I know you have to be a premium member to access a lot of the resources they mention, but still worth reading.
Well focusing on a select few openings is the right mindset, the problem is your opponent has some say so as to how the game progresses. If you start 1d4 black could play many different set ups so you would need to be familiar with blacks options and honestly at your level most of the time you will be out of book very early in the game so opening prep isn't where I would focus. Solid development, king safety, and not blundering all your pieces is more important than knowing 20 moves of theory.
Thank you both for the input. I bookmarked the study guide and will go through it soon.
I'm still working through the lessons through the chess.com app. Thanks again.
I recommend you learn a few various ideas of openings that you can put into your games rather than all depth analysis of certain openings. Many people say that beginners shouldn't know any openings. But you should, atleast the ideas of the openings. Other than that, you should work on tactics and get experience by playing.
Probably the Sicilian because it's the most played opening
I don't agree with you Mrhills. The sicilian is one of the most complex and theory-ridden openings.
As White stick with 1. e4 until you feel comfortable with it, then start playing 1. d4 as well.
As Black against 1. e4 pick one of the following:
1. ... e5/c5/e6/c6 and stick with it until you are comfortable with it.
As Black against 1. d4 pick either:
1. ... d5 or 1. ... Nf6 until you are comfortable with the one you have chosen.
As Black against 1. c4 play 1. ... e5 until you are comfortable with it.
As Black against 1. Nf3 just play 1. ... d5. 
The first two openings that every player should learn and play from both sides are the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit Declined. They follow the basic principles of chess to the letter.
Yes, your opponent can play something else. They don't have to play 1...e5 against 1.e4 or 1...d5 against 1.d4, but you can't study it all at once. Learn those two openings first, and use opening concepts to get thru all other responses.
If you're ambitious, you should follow ThrillerFan's advice.
If you don't have that much time for chess, you can try a system opening like the Colle or the London as white, and defences based on ...c6 or ...e6 as Black (Caro/Slav or Queen's gambit/French defence, preferably with an early dxe4).
Honestly, I think learning the siciliian and KID as my first openings didn't do great for my chess. It didn't ruin my chess or anything, but if I could go back and start over, I would learn classical openings and classical development first.
I still don't have a strong opinion on how beginners should learn openings, but that was my experience.
Opening principle solved a lot of opening issues, but you obviously know all of that since you are higher rated than me, so I would say you might be over thinking this. Unless you find yourself blundering in the opening, there's no reason to study openings more. The purpose of your opening study should be to find ways to often enter an equal middle game. If you can do that, there is no need to study openings any more.
EDIT:
I didn't realize you only played one game. What experience have you had with chess before you opened your account on chess.com?
I do have some experience with openings that makes me not like your opening so much, but for the most part you reached an equal middle game, so it's okay (and your opponent made far more opening mistakes than you anyways). I think that while studying openings would help you, it would help you more minute for minute to study tactics instead. There were a lot of missed tactical opportunities in that game. I would reccomending going on a website such as chesstempo.com and created an account and doing excersises there (chess.com is the only chess website I know that makes members pay for unlimited tactics excersises. Both chesstempo.com and lichess.org allow unlimited tactic exercises on free accounts). Because it was your first game it would be silly of me to go over specific moves on this thread, but needless to say I think that cost you more than your lack of opening knowledge.
I'm looking forward to having another player join the chess community.
ThrillerFan is way out of my zip code and I genuinely enjoy his posts but The Ruy requires a boatload of theory (open to correction on this point). I'd recommend a couple of,books--chess openings for black explained and chess openings for white explained. White--e5 is answered with the scotch, c5 gets the Grand Prix attack and if you're playing black, e4 gets the accelerated dragon, d4 gets nimzo/bogo. Again, not gonna quibble with the Ruy but there openings that don't take quite as much time to learn. Just my two cents.
I think you should explore in blitz/online games to see what you like or feel most comfortable with.
When you are the 1000-2300 range all games are decided by tactics so it does not matter.
But as a small word of advice try classical openings/lines for a little bit.
My grandfather taught me the Ruy as my very first opening.
It's a great first choice in that it demonstrates the classical principles of the center and piece development. Just as importantly IMO it shows the parry and thrust of real chess play -- that each move should threaten your opponent or respond to his threats.
Of course, your opponents may not cooperate and allow the Ruy, in which case you'll just have to sink or swim as best you can until you get around to learning other Black defenses.
And the Ruy may not even be the opening you'll want to play in as you learn more about chess and yourself as a chess player.
Nonetheless, the Ruy is a great template for to have in your head for understanding openings and chess in general.
@Xman720 - I've only played one live game on chess.com so far. The rest of my points/ranking has been earned by going through the lessons. I have never played chess before now. I just started learning it a week ago. (I made this account a year ago hoping to learn then but never followed through) It kind of artificially boosts my rank by awarding points upon completion. (It assumes I absorb and memorize the whole thing instantaniously ;))
I find blitz games too difficult: I tried a couple games on ChessCube and it was way too fast. I couldn't even come close to finishing a game. I like chess.com because I can take my time. Do a few lessons then try to apply it against the computer etc.
I've been approaching Chess like how I approached Jiu-Jutsu: learn a couple basics and then repeat them over and over and over and over until it's automatic muscle memory.
Learn a good opening or two and then practice them for 50-100 games. Get comfortable with one or two first before expanding. But I don't think that angle will translate well to something as dynamic as chess.
One thing I've already encountered is that it seems most new players almost exclusively practice white and never play black. Most of the tutorial starts white.
Are there other things I should focus on instead? I read somewhere that new players should practice/study end game with a small material load left on board since that's the most common scenario lower ranked players will find themselves in. Thoughts? (and sources for resources and exploring these)
Also, thank you everyone so far for your input. I appreciate the guidance. I'm in love with chess already and will be teaching it to my children once I'm not brutal at it. ;)
The place to start studying certain things is very logical.
If you find that after you complete your development (I am breathing a sigh of relief that you know what this phrase means and how to achieve it) you are entering middle games where you are at a disadvantage, that's when you know you should be studying your opening more.
If you are making an opening and as soon as your rooks are connected you don't know what to do, then you know you have to study your middle game and your tactics.
If you find you are getting to end games that look equal (equal pawns, equal material etc.) but then losing, then that means you have to study your endgames.
For beginners, studying end games is often not very useful because beginner vs. beginner games rarely terminate in theoretical endgames.
For example, learning the king + pawn vs king pattern here:
The reason why it is not very useful for beginners to study this endgame pattern is because in order to reach such a theoretical endgame both players would have to play a very subtle and mistake/blunder free game. Think about it, each player is so equal that the only difference left over is a pawn.
For players rated 900, for example, almost every endgame will result in a different of multiple pieces or a queen because of the large number of blunders.
But once these kinds of endgames pop up (And believe me, winning the above diagram without knowing the theory is way, way harder than it seems. After the natural 1: ...ke6, anything other than 2: Kg5 draws. It only requires more precision and counter-intuitive creativity from there) because your tactics knowledges starts to allow you to play blunder free games, then that's when endgame study becomes important.
I have no idea where your level is because you have only played one game. Perhaps it would be useful to play 10 games or so and find out where your rating is before continuing whereever your natural chess talent leaves. I am assuming you are a beginner, but I don't really know.
In reference to the above comment, Ke4 and Kg4 both lead to winning positions, the idea being Kf6 Kf4 with a winning position, followed only then by Kg5.
At the very beginning and really until you're an Expert or higher, study tactics regularly.
There are abundant materials in books, programs and websites that provide tactics training.
Start with the easiest ones you can find -- not the Daily Puzzles.
Ditto to Xman on endgames for novices.
You should start with the Ruy Lopez, then the Italian, then the Spanish, and finally the Giuoco Piano. Only then should you consider learning the Queen's Gambit. Unfortunately, some opponents will force you to contend with the Sicilian, the French, the Scandinavian (no worries there), and Hell's spawn the Caro-Kann.
Hm, I would say as White, 1.e4 is fine. I think Ruy Lopez is good, but I guess others aren't so sure for newer players. You may want to try Four Knights if possible. As Black, opinions are quite divided. I would say 1...e5 is good against 1.e4, but if you want to play something else, have at it :) When I started studying seriously some years ago, I went for the Caro-Kann against 1.e4, but to each his/her own. Against 1.d4, I personally wouldn't touch the Indian defenses. I would go for 1...d5 and figure it out from there. Hope this helps :)
I'm in the mindset that I should get extremely comfortable with a small set of openings before I move onto more advanced or interesting plays. "Master of 1, not jack of all trades" so to speak.
With that in mind, what would you recommend for a new player to use for the next couple weeks to get comfortable with? I would expect to maybe get one king-size and one queen-side opening (queen gambit + something reliable for king side etc)
What say you? Thanks for the help!
-t3sk0