The Best of the Brine

"In a Field"

There was nothing between us but the night and the dulcet song of the cicadas.

It was like magic. The grass moved as the wind raked its invisible fingers through it. It swayed from side to side, creating a dark ocean of glinting waves for miles around. The stars were like pin pricks of light in the darkest sheet across the sky. It was as it had always been, a thousand times before. And as it always will be, a thousand times after.

Whoever said that romance was dead? They were wrong. We could prove them wrong.

I pulled my gaze away from the stars. Though they were seductive, they couldn't hold a candle to his eyes. Dark, mysteriously empty, yet full of something I could never identify. That must have been why I always came back to him. Even when we were so close, I could never tell what he was thinking.

The breeze picked up, sending a chill across my skin. I wondered if he was cold as well. His shirt had been lost on the way to the field, and his shoes were somewhere in the distant pond.

"Would you like a blanket?" I asked softly, reluctant to disturb his peace.

His expression remained unchanged, as if my words had been lost somewhere between my mouth and his ears.

The grass tickled at the back of my neck, and I longed for his kisses that had lingered in the same spot, spreading warmth throughout my body. I studied his mouth and admired how white his teeth were and how straight they would always be. Slowly, I slid my tongue along my own teeth, feeling the jagged edge of one that needed repairing. The chip had been his fault, and the memory still brought pain to the nerve endings in my mouth. He had been in the grass, hiding from me. I had tripped over his foot, because I had forgotten my flash light and couldn't see a thing. It had taken forever to find that little bit of chipped tooth; it couldn't stay in the field.

"What are you thinking?" I wondered out loud.

His only response was to remain silent, which perhaps was exactly where his mind was.

My eyes traced the outline of his profile. His cheekbones were so high, his jaw had always been so strong. I propped myself up, so that I could stare down into his inky black eyes. At the angle above him, it always seemed as if he was smiling at me. I liked that best.

Unblinking, he looked deep into my soul. He had always known me like no one else had. At that moment, I wished I could have stayed with him.

"I have to go soon," I cooed into his neck.

The coldness of him tingled against my skin, it sent a thrill to every limb.

Breathlessly, I leaned in, doing my best to keep my fingers away from his body. "You're so lucky that you can stay here."

His face was a brilliant white, like a beacon in the forest of night. I stood up, wrapping my arms around myself to shield me from the pain of leaving him. "You'll be here when I come back?"

Still smiling, he didn't move. I nodded. "I know. Of course you will be. They never look for you at night, do they?"

I walked a few paces away from him, then glanced back. I wondered how many times they had passed by this very spot over these past months and never noticed him there. It was only at night that you could see him. Even then, it was tricky...I had the chipped tooth to prove it.

Some day I would go look for his shoes, so that his feet weren't cold. But to disturb the place where he rested was something I just couldn't do. It was special, it was like magic.

I hated to leave, but the search for his lost shirt called to me. I had to be the one to find it, or the magic would cease to exist. I retraced my steps to the old dirt road until I found my car. Climbing in, I stole one more look in the direction where I knew he was, and always would be.

With him in the field of our dreams forever, nothing but the night and the dulcet song of cicadas could ever come between us again.

Whoever said that romance was dead? I had found a way to make it last forever.



aha!