She laid her head down on my shoulder, gently bridging the
distance between our two bodies. I fought the urge to close the last inch
between us, to smell her hair, to brush a kiss across her crown. But I remained
still. I could hear her declaration just the day before echo in my head,
“We’re just friends”.
The universe is full of mysteries but never had I
encountered one as confounding as the woman sitting next me in the sand. She
had decided on the spur of the moment to make the long drive from our hometown
just to come visit me. Normally, I sat
on this beach alone and I was glad that she had chosen to be at my side--if
only for one night.
There we sat one boy, one girl, two just-friends people silently
staring out to sea, pretending that we could see the divide between the dark
ocean and the midnight sky. I know now that we were really just staring into a
romantic idea of what could lay just beyond. My senses felt heightened while I
watched the waves as they arrived on the shore, a faint trim of white flashing
quickly just before receding back into the darkness.
This was our relationship. We were best friends; although there was always something more lingering just out of sight, maybe hidden in that dark divide between the depths of the ocean and spaciousness of the sky that we were now staring at.
As if reading my thoughts, she chose that moment to look up
at me. Her large hazel eyes brimming with contentment and I swallowed hard at
the message I saw so clearly--if only for a tiny second--in them. She was so
close. She smiled brightly as she burst from the sand and dashed towards the
sea. Her hair loosened and stretched out behind her in the darkness. I watched
with the wonder that a person has at seeing a caged bird set free. She splashed
into the water, lifting her dress more as she waded deeper in and for a moment
I was awestruck.
The sight of her willed my body into action; go to her,
dance with her, snatch her up before the moment faded into reason. I climbed to
my feet and with every step I took; I became aware that the universe was
opening to her, to me, to us.
I waded into the water; she was still now, staring out into
the nothingness as the waves lapped against her thighs. She had known without a doubt that I would
join her and her body swayed in a way that welcomed me. I closed the remaining
distance between us and she leaned back into me. Her hair tickled my nose as
the back of her head came to rest on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her,
my hands inching their way slowly across her hips. She breathed deeply, inhaling the
intoxicating smell of the sea. Her breath caught for just a second before she
exhaled and the last of her resolve disappeared as she sank fully into me. I brushed
a kiss just below her jawline and she arched her neck in response. My hands
held tighter to her hips while my lips took advantage of her exposed shoulder.
We released all fear and reason in that moment, casting it out to the hungry
sea.
We danced there to the sound of the waves crashing, our
bodies touching, our souls embracing, with the darkness hiding us both beneath
its generous cloak. The whole of the universe seemed to be captured in that
moment, on that beach, between heaven and earth and the breaths of two people—if
only for one night.
