Just then, Carlos reminded us of his presence when he moved his arm in between us and pointed at the pressure gauge strapped around his wrist. I stared at Carlos’s hand and then at Ethan in confusion. He smiled before letting go of my arms. I watched with wide eyes as he pulled his parachute and was shot up to standing position as Carlos and I continued to fall.
It wasn’t until Carlos pulled our parachute that I realized what he was trying to signal me to do. We were pulled up to standing position and began to float the rest of the way down to the ground.
“Did you have fun?” Carlos asked, now that we could finally hear each other.
“That was incredible,” I yelled in a rush.
“You did great! And it looks like Ethan thought the same thing.” I could hear the amusement in his words.
I laughed and thought about our kiss. While it’d been completely unexpected, I realized that it was exactly what I’d wanted—what I’d needed today.
As my thoughts delved deeper into the memory of that kiss, another flashback broke through my consciousness.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he guided me up a grassy hill.
“It’s my special place that I like to go when I want to feel happy.”
My arm still throbbed in pain from earlier tonight and I thought about my father’s outburst. It was happening more and more frequently now. “I can’t be out for too long. They don’t know I snuck out of the house. My mom might check to see if I finished all my homework before bed.”
“Don’t worry. I just wanted to show you something. It’ll make you smile.”
Finally we got up the hill and found ourselves on the edge of a flat, grassy meadow lit up by moonlight.
He ran to the middle of the clearing where the grass was still soft and undisturbed.
“Come here and lie down next to me.”
I looked around the serene meadow and realized why he must have enjoyed this place. There was a line of trees that surrounded the half of the perimeter that faced the neighborhood. The opened half of the perimeter overlooked the small stream that ran through the far end of the neighborhood.
I walked over and lie down next to him.
“Why are we lying down?” I turned to face him.
He reached between us and grabbed my hand. “Look up there.” He pointed to the dark evening sky with his other hand.
A gasp escaped my lips when I saw what he wanted me to see.
Thousands of bright, brilliant stars glittered the sky as far as the eyes could see.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, it is. I come here when I’m sad about something. It reminds me of how magical and big this world is.”
I smiled and then giggled. “You sound so grown up.”
“Well that’s because I’m fourteen and you’re only twelve,” he teased playfully.
I frowned and turned my head to face him. “Are you going to stop hanging out with me when you start high school this Fall?”
He turned his attention away from the stars and met my gaze. “No of course not. Besides, you just live next door. You can always come over to hang out.”
“But what if you get a high school girlfriend?” I asked tentatively. “She might not want you to hang out with me. Sandy said that you’d have a girlfriend soon.”
“Don’t listen to my sister. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“But she’s a year older than you. She’s already in high school.”
“I won’t have a high school girlfriend.”
“Really?” I didn’t believe him, and I felt a numbing pain tighten my chest.
“I won’t,” he held my gaze, “because I already have one.”
The moonlight shimmered against his eyes as he looked at me. I wasn’t sure why but I felt nervous. He’d never looked at me this way before.
“Who’s your girlfriend?” I was scared to know the answer. Was it Mary Jane from next door? Or Susie from down the street? Or was it the pretty girl from his eighth grade class, the one that looked like she could be on the cover of the magazine, Seventeen?
Suddenly, before I knew what was happening, he leaned his face toward me and kissed me.
I felt a rush of happiness run through my body as I moved my lips to kiss him back. His soft lips were sweet and gentle as they explored mine, and I felt my heart soar with glee as he gave me the answer to his question.
He was right, this place was special, and it did make me happy. This was where I experienced my first kiss.
The impact of the grassy field against my feet brought me back to the present. I blinked, trying to let my newest memory sink in. I touched my lips, reveling in the memory of the two kisses I’d just experienced.
“Did you have fun?” Ethan ran to my side as Carlos removed my harness from his gear.
I nodded, still unable to talk. Unable to forget the intensity of our mid-free fall kiss, my eyes stole a lingering glance at his full lips.
“So you survived.” Ethan pulled me into his arms, and I gladly allowed myself to sink into his warm, hard, and inviting chest as his arms seemed to engulf me.
“This moment deserves a picture,” he said when he pulled away. “Carlos, do you mind taking a picture of us.” He took out his phone and handed it to Carlos who was gathering up the gear.
“No problem.”
“Goofy or serious picture?” he asked me.
I laughed. “Goofy.”
“Good call.”
After we made our silly faces for the picture, Carlos handed the phone back to Ethan and gathered up his gear. “I’ll be inside if you guys need me,” Carlos said as he walked away.
“Thanks, Carlos,” Ethan and I said in unison as we watched him go.
“So how was that for five minutes of your life?” Ethan beamed at me.
“That was just five minutes?”
He nodded with a laugh. “Yup. It’s about sixty seconds of free fall and four minutes in the air once the parachute is deployed.”
“It was really amazing. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more alive than I had during the free fall.” I beamed up at him and felt my stomach flip.
“Was that before or after you kissed me?” He flashed me a devious grin.
“For the record, you kissed me. Not the other way around.” I scrunched my nose and made a face at him.
He chuckled. “If believing that helps you sleep better at night, then let’s go with that story.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“Now let’s not fight on our birthdays.” He swung his arm over my shoulder and leaned down and kissed my forehead. I looked up at him and smiled, and for a moment, I thought he’d kiss me again.
But he didn’t. He just looked down at me with a glowing smile. “Are you hungry? I’ll take you to one of my favorite restaurants in Philly.”
“Okay. That sounds great.” Happiness filled me as I met his deep gaze, and I knew I couldn’t deny the seriousness of my feelings for this man anymore. With his arm over my shoulder, I sank deeper into his chest and wrapped my arm behind his back as we walked to his bike in the parking lot.
There was an undeniable energy between us, and I felt my feelings for him deepen and intensify with every passing minute I was with him. I smiled at how intimate this simple moment between us felt, and I wondered if he felt the same way. And as I stole a glance up at him, I realized that there was nothing else I wanted more than for him to feel the same way.