Twenty-Eight Stamps [#Wattys2017] || ✓

the t w e n t i e t h letter

Dear Hunter,

I remember how we just stopped and sat down and looked over the pond. The way the water rippled due to the soft breeze. It would have been a pretty sight, if it weren't for the Dr Pepper cans and gun wrappers and paper plates strewn across the grass.

Do you remember how I looked at you, and you weren't looking back, and how when I turned away you looked back at me, and we continued in the cycle for a while? It was funny, and we both laughed for a while, and I remember the way your shoulder moved against mine as your laughter shook your body and lit up your eyes and your smile.

Your smile is the most beautiful I've ever seen. The way it starts at the left corner and then spreads across your mouth to the right, and when it's a genuine smile you get this brightness in your eyes, this spark that is so infectious you'd find yourself smiling back even if the apocalypse was in full swing. There was nothing I loved more than to be the cause of that smile.

For a while I contemplated putting my head on your shoulder. I did it. Do you recall what you did next?

You kissed my forehead. I remember the way your lips felt against my skin, how I wanted them to touch every inch of me, how I felt electricity spread through my body causing me to lift my head and look back at your wary expression. You apologised, and I told you it was okay, and then...

And then you kissed me. At first it was sort of forceful, but as I began to kiss you back it became slow and loving and for a moment I genuinely believed I was in heaven. Then you pulled back, tucked my hair behind my ear and asked me to be your girlfriend.

When I got home, I pinched myself so hard I left marks on my skin, because I didn't believe it had really happened. But it had, and it was the most beautiful reality I had ever been a part of.

Clearly you didn't feel the same way. Or maybe you did, and you left me for some other reason. Either way, something went wrong, because you're not beside me right now and I'm not beside you.

It hurts, Hunter. It really does.

All my love, always,
Maia.