Summer Rain

XXV ~ Falling Petals

{Champagne Kisses - Jessie Ware}

....I count every kiss, 'til I'm finally sleeping, this love supreme, that's why I'll always give in...

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June 29th

        There is a point which we all must face the reality of everything being somewhat ephemeral. Ephemeral things are short-lived occurrences which are vibrant and burn brightly.

        In the drought of that summer as the sun-scorched the earth with such a powerful force, I felt the pang of the reality that everything comes to an end. My family was becoming less and less of a solid entity, fading into the ether before my very eyes. I knew that my ties to the family I had always been surrounded by were to become memories of a life I lived before I wandered into the world like a child, barefoot and helpless, learning to walk on my own.

       It was both a blessing and a curse that nothing was to last forever. It was both lights at the end of a tunnel and a dark shadow in my life, and it made me treasure everything. I let it dissolve into my skin as it overwhelmed me, so I would always know that this life, this moment, this feeling was real and that it actually happened. So when my heart would beat in days to come, it would beat stronger, faster and more loudly than before with the weight that it would carry. The weight of that summer. The weight of all that I was to gain and all that I was to lose.

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        Each step filled my muscles with a burning love for the small infinity in which Elliot and I co-existed. Each twirl, each breathless moment between us as he held me against him before the music parted us sent me into an ecstasy I was becoming slowly addicted to. The fluidity in our movements was spotless, and the tension that filled the room as his hands held my body so assuredly made me crave more. Sweat covered our skin lightly, but we were so completely lost in each other during the dance, it wasn't until the music stopped that we realised where we were, the walls of the dance studio coming back into focus as the night sky made the lights in the studio brighter.

  "We did it." He held me close to him, both of us breathless and tangled together.

     Then I realised what his words actually meant—the dance. We had finally mastered it. We both smiled ecstatically, relieved that we had finished learning the routine in time for the competition. In the euphoria around us, I wasn't even worried about the prospect of dancing with him in front of anyone.

    "We did, didn't we?" I teased, pulling him down to my lips, kissing him unapologetically as his hands that held me with a dancer's strength moulded and formed into arms that held me like a lover.

     Before I completely lost myself in the taste of his lips on mine, he pulled back, forcing my raging hormones to calm themselves.

    "I have a surprise for you." He whispered, placing his forehead against mine as we breathed together, the electricity between us becoming harder and harder to suppress. Excitement took over as I wondered what the surprise was.

    "What is it?" I smiled brightly, my cheeks hurting from the constant happiness I felt when I was around him, but I wasn't about to start complaining.

     I had been a bundle of nerves all day since my altercation with Benjamin, and with my family literally falling apart. I should have been a complete wreck. Instead, I was breaking out of my shell and finding my feet not only planted firmly on the ground but planted in dancing shoes; I found it extremely easy to get used to wearing.