When his truck pulled into the parking lot to meet up with us, my hands got clammy and I got that weird feeling in my stomach. We had decided to go to the beach just to walk around. Walk. If it really could be that easy when I was with him. We all piled into one car, him and I sharing the back seat, and being close to him again made me shake. The music was blasting and we had the windows rolled down. When we were on the highway that stretched across the bay I looked out the window and up to the moon. It was a sliver crescent, smiling at me from up above. It's okay, it seemed to whisper. On our way there, we made jokes and played our air guitars to the gross music we were forced to listen too. We would have been fine with an Alan Jackson CD. None of this screamo stuff. Another thing I loved about him: He was a cowboy. About half way there he laid his hand down on the seat, palm up and looked down at it. My gaze followed his and when I looked back up at him he was staring at me. This was it. I took his hand and that same electricity from the night we were camping shot through me only this time it was ten times as strong. I took in a deep shaky breath as he made circles with his thumb on the back of my hand. It was perfect. His hands were worn and rough and made my hands seem like small delicate flower petals. It amazed me that he could build, carve, hammer and fix and then with the exact same hands be so soft and gentle. He could even make my hands feel safe.
When we finally got to the beach my head was spinning. I took my shoes off and looked down at his feet.
"Sneakers?" I laughed
"I'm not the flip flop kind of guy" He responded smiling under the brim of his worn out trucker cap. Perfectly fine with me, I thought. The others walked ahead of us, obviously a plan made far before we arrived, so we began to walk on our own. He took my hand again and it felt like no other hand would fit as well as his did between my fingers. I gazed at the water as we strolled and somehow my eyes wandered to the moon. He noticed me staring and asked me what I was thinking.
"It reminds me of the Cheshire Cat." I stated matter-of-factly.
He laughed. "What?" My answer had obviously thrown him off.
"You know, The Cheshire Cat!" I looked at him. His blank stare made me giggle. "You have got to be kidding me! Alice in Wonderland?" I paused waiting for him to understand. When he didn't say anything I kept talking. "The purple cat that disappears?"
His eyes grew wide with recognition. "Oh I'm with you now!" He looked past me and up to the moon. "How does the moon remind you of that?"
"Remember the part where he disappears until his smile is all that's left, and then that turns into the moon? I dunno, it just always reminded me of that."
He stopped walking and looked at me. "I've never thought of it like that. That's cool." He smiled and turned to keep walking. Inside my chest, my heart was pounding so loud, I would have bet money that he could hear it.
We walked for a long time, joking and having sea weed fights. We walked past the long stretch of hotels and restaurants, and past the pier. Finally I told him we should probably head back. We made an awkward U-turn, and as I began to walk, I realized he wasn't. I turned to see him stopped in front of me, staring.
"What?" I asked, worried I had sea weed in my hair or something. He took two steps toward me and my heart did a complete somersault. He placed one hand on the small of my back and the other on my neck. He pulled me in close our noses just barely touching, and in what seemed like hours but was only seconds later, his lips finally touched mine. I swear if he hadn't of been holding me I would have floated up to the stars. He smelled like fresh cut wood and cologne. His lips tasted like cinnamon. The kiss stayed soft and sweet and he began to pull away, when something came over me. Without realizing what I was doing I put my arm around his neck and pulled him back, kissing him harder than before. He didn't fight it or ask me what I was doing. In stead he put his arms around me and pulled me in tight. We stayed like that for a long time. Pulling away and then realizing we didn't want to stop. I didn't care if people saw, I didn't care who watched. I just wanted to stand on the beach and kiss him forever. Finally we pulled away a final time and he kissed my forehead. Fireworks were going off in my head and I couldn't think straight. I was blissfully happy as we began walking back to the car. When we reached the parking lot we realized the others weren't back yet. He grabbed my arm and began to run.
"Where are we going?" I yelled to him. He stopped in front of a huge sand dune. The grip he had on my hand tightened.
"C'mon." He whispered. I giggled
"Up there?" I whispered back. He didn't respond. He just turned to me and winked. He could of been telling me to run through a field of rabid dogs and I would have done it. We began to run, kicking sand up behind us with each stride. I laughed uncontrollably, one hand tangled with his the other hitting the ground keeping my balance. When we reached the top he dropped my hand and reached his arms up above his head.
"I'm king of the world!" he shouted
I threw my head back and laughed. I moved myself next to him and sat down on the sand. He did the same and picked his arm signaling me to move under it. I did so and he pulled his arm around me. I took in a deep breath. So this is what it feels like, I thought. This is what it feels like to fall in love. I looked up at him and he smiled, so I smiled back. He kissed my head and I wiggled even closer to him. My eyes danced over the water, up the sky and landed on the moon. I smiled. This was the start of something special for us.I wasn't sure how it would go when it would end. But this was different. This was real. And that I was certain of.