Wherever The Mind May Roam

13 ~ Starry Night

I poked my head around the tree in search of Eddie. He wasn't behind that one, or the next, or the next. I heard him snicker from somewhere on my left and I spun around. I moved toward one of the bigger trees and a branch snapped. He was moving. But where?

Slowly, I moved around the tree. I put a hand against it and kept an eye out, but there was no Eddie, until there was a loud yell and hands shaking my shoulders. I gasped and spun around to face Eddie, who had the widest grin on his face. He pushed some hair off his face and laughed.

"I got you. You lose!"

"How do you do that every single time?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Told you, I grew up in these woods." He jerked his head to the side. "Follow me."

I quickly followed behind him as he led me to a riverbed. The water was slow, but fairly deep, as far as I knew. He just stood there, staring across into the night, where the moon rose above the line of trees in the distance. He swung his arm over my shoulder. "Favorite place to go as a kid. Sunrise, too."

The heat of his skin through his jacket made my heart beat faster. He stood, clueless, staring out at the moon. I nearly moved to put my hand on his opposing shoulder when he made a small sound of recognition and dropped his arm from around me, patting my back once as he did. I made it an important task to continue staring at the moon with seemingly no thoughts in my head.

"Let's go back to my car," he said, not moving. "It's too quiet out here."

I agreed and we stalked through the taller grass to get back to his car. Even staring at the ground in front of me to make sure I didn't trip and fall, his presence behind me was throwing me off balance.

I got in the passenger side and he got in the drivers and turned on the music. The car remained parked while he held a button down and the hood automatically folded down behind us. He pulled a lever and dropped his seat back, then looked at me, waiting for me to do the same. I blindly searched for the lever at my right side, then pulled it and my seat fell back. The fear - the same fear when your chair tips back too far - suffocated me for a mere moment. He laughed as I exhaled.

Metallica blared from the radio and Eddie screamed something over it. I didn't hear much. I looked over at him. "What?" I yelled back.

He leaned closer and my breath caught in my throat. "I said, did you have fun?" One elbow rested on the center console and he leaned heavily on it.

"Yeah," I replied.

His smile brightened and he mouthed "me too" before I felt the gentleness of his lips on mine, his hand on my jaw. I could hear my heartbeat thumping over the loud music. I attempted to hold the back of his head, but the way I laid hurt my arm, and I leaned up, kissing him harder - definitely not on purpose.