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sshnb5 says...

My whole body cringed as his hand touched mine. I had been dreading this moment all day. Hell, I’d been dreading this moment all summer. I grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door shut behind us. A soft breeze caressed both of our faces. It sent a chill down my spine. We walked slowly, never losing touch with reality. I stared at the ground. For some reason I thought that if I never looked up, then this wouldn’t have to happen. He leaned against the hood of his car. This is where we stopped.

I ran my hands up his arms until they met his face. His lips touched mine.  He was leaving for his freshman year of college the next day, headed for North Carolina. And in one week I would be off to Missouri. I would be out of reach. So this was our goodbye. Standing under the summer moon, surrounded by stars and trees, we reminisced. His hands touched the small of my back, my hips and my tears.

We talked about our summer, all of the memories we had made and what our favorite moments were. We discussed all the different ways we had touched each other’s lives - from the days we spent doing absolutely nothing to the times we went to the beach and everything in between. We talked about the water fight I had organized among our friends, the many times we played Mario Kart or when we went to see fireworks together on the Fourth of July. We talked for half an hour and all the while, his hands never stopped embracing mine.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time. He was supposed to meet his boys for one last dinner an hour ago but he didn’t want to leave. He fidgeted with his car keys. I nervously ran my fingers through my hair. As he put his arms around me, I buried my head in his shoulder. I had not been prepared for him to touch my heart the way he had.

Our lips touched once more and I turned to walk away. As soon as I was out of reach, he opened the car door. Then he shut it. “Josie, come back.” The sound of his words tickled my eardrum and as my feet crunched the gravel, I made my way back to him. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready not to be able to reach out and touch him. So I held on.

I sat on the hood of his car. I was blocking him from leaving, but he didn’t protest. Instead, he let his lips greet mine a couple more times as our fingers interlaced.

“I don’t want to go.”

“Then don’t.”

We stood there, frozen, our bodies still intertwined. As my head rested on his shoulder, I glanced up at the moon. I couldn’t think of any way to stall this moment.

“You should go.”

“Yea. Bye, Josie.”

“Bye, BJ.”

I touched both sides of his face with my hands, touched my lips to his, and then I let go.