I fell in love when I was only eighteen. So deeply in love that my entire existence felt like it was set ablaze. At that age, old folk think you're foolish. They'd tell you that you don't know what love is, or what being in love feels like. 'Boy your brain hasn't even matured'.
I know with every fiber in my body that love always comes when you least expect it. When it's authentic, you don't get to pick. It'll come to you. It will make you go against gravity and defy forces you thought stood a chance. Love is the fuel that keeps your desire burning. Love is the chill that slithers down your spine sending signals to your nervous system.
Love for me was a six-letter name, overall, and combat boot-wearing, southern gentleman, named Dustin. Last name Humphrey if we're being so formal. He was no more than twenty years old when we met and was already a hard-working, established man. He ran his pa's farm after Mr. Humphrey had unfortunately slipped earlier Spring time and hurt his back. Being the oldest of the three sons, he was in charge of the cattle and crops.
Nobody knows the real story about how we met except for him and me. It was the night Cindy Horne and I had our last date at Marsh Lake. We'd agreed to have a picnic out the back of her brother's pickup truck. I thought it'd be the best time to call things off with her but Cindy had other plans. The short two months of our dating had been nothing but cat-and-mouse play. She was the cat. I was the mouse. She was a horny teenage girl on the prowl with a mission to lose her virginity. I was just trying to keep my parent's inquiries about girls at bay.
Cindy wore a short-sleeved dress and white pumps. Her brown hair was tied into a high ponytail strung up by a pink ribbon. I warned her of the cool temperatures for that night, but clearly, that played a part in her master plan.
When the first lash of wind blew, she mewled, snuggling closer to me while I ate my ham and cheese sandwich, listening to the radio coming from the truck. She looked up at me with brown fox eyes and grinned seductively, "Trev, don't you think you could warm me up a bit?"
I swallowed my sandwich down with a can of soda and looked at her, "How so, Cindy?"
She sucked her white teeth and sighed, her hand dropping to my thigh. "Trev, I'm pretty sure we could find some way to keep warm." She shifted her legs, the dress riding up her thigh even more until her bare skin brushed against my denim jeans. She kicked her feet back and fro, her small breasts pressed into my upper arm and her hand slowly moving up my thigh. She didn't make me stir. She had no spell over me whatsoever. I was still hungry, slightly cold, very uncomfortable, but not horny. I went to pry her tiny fingers away before she could reach my crotch when she leaned into me and kissed me on the mouth.
Caught by surprise, my shock was muffled by her sloppy kisses. She shifted her body until she could freely saddle my lap. Not wanting to be rude, but firm, I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away. I forgot we were in the back of a pick-up truck and she lost her balance from my lap, falling backward into the grass and dew. She shrieked angrily, her eyes wide and her legs crooked as she sat elbow-deep in a bed of mud. I tried to maintain my humor, but the voice of another laughing in the distance tipped me over the edge.
I turned to see where the laughter was coming from and there he was. Dustin Humphrey stood maybe ten feet away. He was dripping wet, the weather apparently not a matter to him. He was wearing a once white tank top and a pair of jeans that stuck to him like a second layer of skin. He was soaked from the knee down, holding a fishing rod over his shoulder. He had copper blond hair that almost looked gold in the sun. It was tapered across the back and layered in the front, bangs falling over his forehead. He had a pair of eyes that screamed wild and tempting. They were incomparable to any green I'd ever seen. He was far from being a pretty boy, a preppy one at that. He had dirt under his nails, rough knuckles from hard work, a chiseled body and a fresh stubble. He was young and careless at times, but a very smart man.
