365 Days

April 17th 2016

April 17th 2016...

My mind has yet to comprehend the fact that today is April 17th. It can't be.

Oh yes it is. Today is the day of the longest story, the most tragic event of the year, when all hell broke lose.

I woke up and tweeted something comparing life to mountains. Don't ask, I really don't know. After that, Jess and I decided to go outside. It was the very first day I'd officially been staying there for a 'week.' That was announced the previous day.

Jess suggested we go outside. I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt so Jess lent me his cardigan. It warmed my heart how happy that made him.

We decided on walking down by the lake. It was half empty, still from the winter weather and the bottom was filled with muck and dirt.

I jumped down and walked up to the edge where the water began. Jess didn't think the idea was rational so he stayed on the concrete. Once I finished exploring it, I ran back over and hoisted myself back up to ground level.

"Wow" Jess blurted, sounding offended.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I reached my hand out to help you up and you didn't take it" he explained.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't know!" I laughed.

At some point, I jumped down one more time, examined the similar area below sea-level and took Jess's hand when he stretched it out to me. That time.

We raced to the end of the sidewalk until I turned around and realized Jess had fallen. It's the damn shoes, I thought to myself.

"You okay?" I asked as he brushed himself off.

"Yeah" he smiled.

"'Maybe we shouldn't run anymore" I suggested, under the circumstances.

"No way, come on" he said, taking off ahead of me. He always, always, always got an unfair head start.

We walked back in the direction of the house once I unfairly lost yet another race when Jess said something that seriously caught my attention.

"You know our ship name's Jesslie, right?" he said.

"Yeah, I thought that up yesterday" I said, trying to be casual about binge searching YouTube with the name the previous night.

"I thought it up days ago" Jess said.

And now, that seems like nothing. But then, it was everything. I feel so stupid thinking so much of the comment, the idea that he thought of something in terms of our relationship before I did. It was enough to make me love sick.

May Belle caught us midway home and started up conversation with Jess, but mostly me. She suggested we come back outside after lunch, which Jess, who was bitterly complaining about how hot he was, eventually agreed to.

Lunch time was probably my favorite moment looking back on this day. Jess and I set the pan up and made grilled cheese sandwiches for ourselves and maybe even May Belle as well.

As we waited for them to grill, we talked and talked, laughing and fooling around. We were in competition regarding who could flip the sandwiches better. Jess picked me up from behind, spinning me away from the burner, sending me into fits of laughter, unable to hold him off.

After we ate, we stripped into shorts and t-shirts and headed off to the park up by the school. May Belle tagged along, suggesting too late she wanted the whole family to come.