Here's a part of my story...

I started writing this story a couple years back (2, I think), and I was obsessed with it. I had to be writing about it. I was breathing it, hearing it, seeing it, dreaming it... So, I made the decision to step away from it for awhile. There was no way I could progress with this story. Now, coming back to it with fresh eyes, I made a few edits. I like what I've done with it so far, and I plan on making more changes in the future (as well as adding to it because it's definitely not finished). Anyway, enjoy! Feedback is much appreciated.

Moments

I can see the sun just a little, peeking from behind the clouds. It was almost like a child playing hide and seek. You were facing away from me, and I watched you stare out at the horizon. I loved going on walks with you. You enjoyed the natural beauty that was the forest. You breathed it, drank it all in, as if your health depended on it. This was much more than just a little walk. Today, it was a journey; our journey…together. “Together” had a nice ring to it. I would embrace it as I had embraced every other day we spent together. I cleared my throat to get your attention, and you smiled back at me a little startled. "Let's go.” I said silently, gently. You walked over to me and gave me a hug. Your breath was on my ear; I could feel your pulse flying away like birds. Your hands moved down the outer part of my arm, making their way to my hands. As your hands reached my fingertips, you pulled them to your face, breathing deeply. We locked eyes momentarily with matching smirks. Our fingers intertwined as we walked to where we could almost dangle our feet off of the cliff. You were sitting with your legs crossed when I decided to lay my head on your lap. I stared up at you in pure amazement. You had changed so much from the first moment I met you. Or rather, I had gotten to know you better. When we first came to know each other, things had been strange. We were sort of distanced, not knowing much about each other at all. Then we became friends. That's all that was really necessary to get things started. Coming in close contact with you had me breaking into minor cold sweats. Thinking about it sent chills of embarrassment up and down my spine.

I came back to the world to catch you staring at the horizon again. This time a sunset had begun. Once I realized what the time was, I couldn’t help but be shaken with confusion. Had we really been here that long? The sun was at its daily high when we arrived at the drop off. I had gotten lost in the time I had with you, but the happiness that my spirit felt indicated that this was okay. I noticed that you were still staring into the sunset, unchanged. Your breathing remained steady. Right at that moment, I began to lose myself in my thoughts. I could see you in water colors as a work of art. The way your jawbone drew sharply down your face when you clenched your cheeks. The strength exhibited just from your facial structure revealed your personality. Headstrong.  Determined.  A fighter. I hadn't realized that you were staring back at me. You leaned down extremely close to my face. I got so nervous that the only thing I could manage to mutter was, "Can I help you?" which sent us into a boisterous fit of laughter. I sat up and leaned my head on your shoulder. You allowed your shoulders to slump causing my head to droop there as you chuckled at me. "Let's keep going", you said, hopping up. As you stood, you took a deep stretch flexing all of the muscles from your arms, to your chest, down to your feet. I thrust my hands out, gesturing for you to help me up. You grabbed my hand, pulling me into your chest as you lifted me off the ground. Your height was less than perfect for me. I had always dreamed of someone who could tower over me, and well, you made me less than cower in fear. Somehow, over time, I didn't care anymore. As we were walking our hands brushed, but we never went hand in hand as we had earlier. Something about the lightness of our hands touching just made me hold my breath in hopes of preserving the moment.

To my dismay, time did not stop for us. I realized that I could only touch each moment before it dissipated. Time was simply moving too fast. Every moment that I dwelled on the past, I lost a touch of our present. I felt stuck. I wanted these moments to last forever, and here they were evaporating in front of me. Faster than I had anticipated, we made it to our destination. It had rained right over the forest as if in anticipation of our arrival. We exchanged glances and continued to move forward. The smell of the forest seeped into my lungs, and life entered me; my senses never having felt so alive. The greens of the forest seemed so much greener, and the soft dirt like a bed of growth. I hadn't realized that my eyes were closed until I felt your hands on the side of my face, your thumbs rolling over my eyelids. You moved your thumbs so tenderly as if you were overcome with fear of me crumbling right in your hands. You brushed your thumbs over my eyelashes, and I could feel them flicker back down onto my face. Your heart was racing. I had moved my hands to hold your forearms parallel to each other on either side of my face, and through your wrists I could feel the rhythmic pounding of your pulse. I could feel the blood moving up and down your arm through your fingertips and back to your heart. Your breathing, however, was steadier than a sniper's. Your ability to maintain calm was commendable and I could never match it. I opened my eyes slowly so not to startle or interrupt you. The way you were looking at me...was puzzling. You were slightly stooped down very close to me, as if observing me. You finally spoke to me saying, "I can see your spirit dancing behind your eyes.” he continued, "The passion you're emitting is indescribable." I smiled a bit as I looked down then away.

Your hands were still on my face, but you loosened them, allowing me to move my head as I pleased. I dropped my arms to my side. With my hands feeling your pulse, I could already feel my body trying to match it. The musician in me enjoyed keeping in time. I had to stop. This already felt too cliché, although it was quite funny in some ways. Every few seconds I felt my eyes flicker open and closed as a new image of you clicked in my mind. I was taking mental pictures…. Click, save. Click, save. I never wanted to lose this. You were still studying me. Your fingertips glided along my cheek bones, down to my collarbone, to my shoulder where they stopped. I slumped and your hands floated in the air where my shoulders had been. You smirked and lowered your arms to your side, and at that very moment we just looked at each other. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on in that head of yours. What did you think about our adventure so far? How was I possibly supposed to figure that out?! Just as I was mustering up the courage to ask, you spoke. Gently first, then clearing your throat to add clarity, "This is strange; this excursion, this forest, this...everything. I always thought, when I was young, that I would love things right out with such ease. It's just that easy when you're a kid. I thought it would carry along with me as I grew up. But now I've grown to find that one must be accustomed to something before you can fully understand it. With understanding comes that love. With that love comes the fire and passion." I was speechless. I don't remember saying anything in reply to you, but I sense that you heard everything. And that's the moment that everything changed again. Things were constantly changing with you and me. Things were good. We continued walking when it started to rain again.

Oh, the rain. I put my belongings on the soft, wet ground. They landed with a "squish" even though I took such caution in putting them down carefully. And with that, I began to dance. It wasn't a specified routine, but a part-interpretive-part-flailing type of dance. You stood with your hands in your pockets leaned to the side staring at me with this smirk on your face. It seemed like the bullets of rain weren't touching me as the music in my head grew louder and louder, but as I slowed to a stop I could feel myself drenched. The rain didn't seem to faze you at all. You stood there, drenched and motionless, still looking at me. I took a curtsy, and you removed your hands from your pockets for a moment to clap for me, laughing all the while. I smiled and picked up my things as you asked, "Where'd you learn how to dance like that?", as if you knew something I didn't. I already had a response ready. "I didn't. I just stopped thinking, let my body go, and figured out what I knew all along. It's a wonder what the rain can do for a girl." I said with a smile. You smiled. I walked over to you and as we stood face to face, it seemed like the world spun a little slower.

That moment was shattered by a loud clap of thunder, and we scurried off looking for shelter. We were in such a panic that we almost didn't notice the cabin standing there all by its lonesome. We exchanged glances and made a break for it. We both had to ram our shoulders up against the door to get it open revealing a cozy inside. The cabin looked like it was a seasonal home, currently in its off-season, but fully-furnished with the basics: couch, love seat, recliner, etc. We went to separate rooms and changed into dry clothes. For once today we weren't together and it felt okay. I had enough of you in my heart. After changing, we made our way to the kitchen. There was food, none of which was spoiled yet, so we began to rummage. We came to a consensus, and I started to cook. Once I was finished, I cleaned up some plates for us to eat on.  You were in the other room doing God knows what when I was setting the table, but came quickly when I called your name. Strangely enough, I didn't find it uncomfortable to eat in front of you. It was almost as if I had done it a million times before. Mid-bite, I looked up and you had this goofy half-grin on your face. I began to laugh hysterically. Your grin transformed into a confused look and you asked, "What are you laughing at?" I replied with, "Who's asking?" in a smart aleck tone. You came back with, "Inquiring minds want to know." I lifted my hand up and pointed my index finger at you, then leaned forward and touched my finger to your nose. Your eyes went cross-eyed to watch my finger. We both just laughed. The amount of laughter that we shared on our journey was wonderful. We finished eating and cleaned things up to be good tenants of this convenient cabin.  However, there may have been a bigger mess after we cleaned than before. By the time I actually managed to tame the mound of bubbles you created, you were nowhere to be found. I snuck around the cabin in hopes of surprising you. I walked into the living area as quietly as possible to an equally surprising setup. It was so serene.

My eyes grew large is I took in the scene in front of me. My hand came up to cover my mouth as I stared in shock and awe. You came in from the kitchen whistling, and walked around me, continuing to setup. On the floor in front of the couches, you had moved the coffee table out of the way and thrown a mess of pillows onto the floor. They looked like they had been stripped off of various beds around the house. You had obviously brought the blankets with you because of the messy heap next to the pillow mountain. What you returned with was a big bowl of assorted goodies and snacks. You left the room again to return with a stack of movies in your arms that towered over your head. As I scanned the titles I noticed a few comedies, horror flicks, and love stories. "Since we had to wait until the rain stopped, I figured we may as well do something productive with our time." you said so matter-of-factly. After speaking, you continued with your set-up. One by one, you organized the blankets into a stack to make a bed-type formation. You threw all the pillows in a stack right next to us and right as I was going to ask what you were doing, you pushed me onto the stack of pillows and laughed hysterically. You jumped on right next to me, remote in hand, and turned on the television. There was already a movie in, but I wasn't paying too much attention to it. I began to speak, but quickly decided against it. Something about words seemed to ruin the moment. I stared at the screen, not watching the movie at all, merely taking in the images that flickered across the screen.

Once the movie ended, we just sat. First, staring straight ahead, and then turning slowly to face one another. I sneakily grabbed a pillow and threw it at you. It landed with a great thud on your lap as you turned your face into a deep forced frown, pushing your lower lip as far down and out as physically possible. I laughed at you, and rose slowly as you got up and left the room. I began to feel a twinge of guilt for laughing at you as I sat in silence, and alone.

Suddenly there was an intrusion into my thought process. There was music. I began to hear an array of beautiful chords with a solemn underbelly. I was frozen in wonder of the wonderful you. I let the music fill my ears, and it spread throughout my lungs, to my diaphragm, and back up to my ears. I felt lightheaded until I was completely floating to another place. My body relaxed and I drifted into a warm daydream. An entire orchestra surrounded the piece you played. The music was familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. My eyes were already closed because of my dream-like state, but I could feel them shut tighter trying to remember. Once again, I failed to remember and drifted back again. I was back at the cliff from earlier. I saw us sitting. There was comfort. There was connection. There was absolutely nothing I needed to prove to you. I slowly began to drift back into reality. The music was still playing when I opened my eyes. It was like I was opening my eyes for the second time ever. Everything had been seen once before, but seeing it a second time gave me some small hint of verification that everything was real. I moved quickly to find out where you were. The cabin, however small, had many rooms. I made myself pass them up to find you. When I finally came to the room you were in, you didn't notice. Your eyes were firmly set on the 88 keys of this beautiful grand piano. Your fingers danced across the keys like a graceful ballerina with such ease. You continued to play as I made my way over to you. My hands rose to rest on your shoulders with much hesitation. My mind did a very quick risk assessment. Would this interfere with your playing? Would you stop at my presence? Before my mind could finish, my hands were on your shoulders gently resting. You didn't jump or become startled. I could hear you stop the melody you were submerged in, and transition into an ending, though. As you moved your way all the way up and back down the keys, I couldn't resist the urge to dance again. Your music in conjunction with my movement could create a beautiful combination. While my mind had begun to flutter again, you turned around smoothly, sliding your legs around the bench. The hands that had once been resting on your shoulders lifted to allow you to turn around, and still lingered in the air. As soon as your body faced me, you placed your hands in mine and lowered them to your face. You took a deep and slow breath in and planted a small, gently kiss on them. The tingling started in my fingertips, traveled up through my fingers, my arms, making the hairs on them stand erect, up to my shoulders, trickling upward through my neck, up to my mouth making my lip quiver, my nose shake, my eyelashes flutter, and my head whirl. My eyelids fluttered until they finally opened to reveal your face. As soon as my eyes became fixated on you, you quickly looked away. Your eyes averted so quickly that I doubted that you had even been looking at me in the first place. As quickly as you had averted your eyes, you then moved them back on me. My hands had dropped to my side. You rose quickly picking them up, placing one of my hands on your shoulder, and your hand around my waist, "Let's dance." you said just loud enough for me to hear. The beautiful chords you played earlier rang loudly in my ears as we slowly, fluidly moved across the floor. Our bodies were in sync, as if this was a routine that we had been over a million times before. "I never knew you could dance.” I whispered jokingly. "Ha, there are a lot of things that you don’t know about me, darling." you replied. You spun us over to a stereo, pressing the “on” button and play almost simultaneously. In another move, we maneuvered back across the room, swaying to the music. We stood still for a moment, and I lowered my head so that I was looking at our bare feet. I could feel the warmth of your breath on my forehead. All of a sudden, I felt very weak in the knees, and my head began to feel very light. My spirit started to float again, but your voice quickly did a reverse reaction. You were saying something inaudible, even though our faces were almost touching. I wasn't sure if it was my hearing at fault, or whether you were purposely mumbling your words so that I wouldn't hear. I leaned a little closer in hopes of maybe understanding some of what you were saying and being able to decipher the rest. Once I really got to listen to you, I noticed that you were singing. The melody that came from your mouth matched the one on the radio. Your vocal chords produced low, somber tones sending chills up and down my spine. Before I knew what I was doing, I had picked up the tune and began singing in harmony. Still dancing our heads ear to ear, we sang, we danced, and we lived. As the song came to an end, we swayed in silence. The faint noise of our feet padded by the carpet provided a steady rhythm. At that moment, I began to feel very sleepy. It was as if my entire body sensed it and began to send me signs that it was about that time to get some rest. Without having to say a word, you spun me out letting our hands part instead of pulling me back as you would have normally done. "Goodnight, you." I said. You replied with, "Goodnight to you too...you." I went to a room and flopped on the bed, realizing that there were no blankets. This confused me until I remembered that you had stolen all of the blankets and pillows for our short period of movies. As if reading my mind, you appeared in the room I was in and tossed a pillow at me. Then you spread the blanket over me, and with that you were gone. I fell asleep with great ease. It must've been late when I fell asleep because I didn't dream that night out of pure exhaustion.

When I finally did wake up, the sun was already out. I assumed that I slept much longer than I really had, but when I checked the time it was only almost eight and you were still sleeping. No matter how hard it was to resist, I drew the line at watching people sleep. You were very peaceful looking, and that’s all I really needed to know about your sleeping habits. Why be a creeper and ruin such a good time? There was no good answer to that question, and I didn’t find watching people sleep intriguing anyway. More like an invasion of privacy, so with that I moved on. It was much too early for me to eat, so I decided to tidy myself. I took a hot shower, brushed teeth, washed face, and more importantly, tamed my hair. After that was all said and done, I moved to the back porch. There was a big swinging bench, so I gathered my pen and notebook to have some relax time. I sat with one leg hanging off the swing, so that I would have my knee to rest my notebook. As I was writing, I felt the need to document the details of our journey so far. There was so much to think about that I didn’t know where to begin. Once my thought process began working in a logical way, I figured that there was no better place to start than at the beginning. Regardless, I would start the story from the beginning and work my way through like I rightfully should. Before I put my pen to the page, I took another look at my atmosphere. The sun was out, and there was still moisture in the air from the rain. I could smell the warmth. I did a roundabout glance to end up facing down at my paper. I put the tip of the pen to the paper, inhaled, exhaled, and the words came out. “I can see the sun just a little, peeking from behind the clouds. It was almost like a child playing hide and seek.” I wrote carefully in script. I heard two knocks and you came outside to join me on the swinging bench.