The last time

6: Her

At this point I'm honestly not sure which story to tell. There are so many beautiful stories from our life together. I think maybe now I'll go back to that first night we kissed. It was December 2016 and the only night that snow fell that entire month, we wouldn't know that until morning though. It was a crowd of the usual suspects. Danny and I, along with Marley, Kenny, Jack, and Rich. Marley was going through a breakup that at the time felt like the end of the world, and was in need of a pick me up, so naturally I sent Danny a message to see what he was up to. Drinking at his dads, the exact answer Marley was looking for. We headed over. This would be the first time I'd see Danny after the start of college and a lot had changed for both of us. He was in the very beginnings of a relationship with Rochelle and I was two months in to dating a sweet, thoughtful boy named Nate. Neither of those facts changed what happened when Danny and I first saw each other that night. People grow and change so much when they leave for college. Danny's hair had grown long and mine was cut short. We both dressed differently than the other remembered and each of our faces had taken steps further from childhood and closer to adulthood. I remember the hard muscles that engulfed me in a hug when I first saw him that definitely hadn't been there before, the just beginnings of facial hair that was better kept than in high school now covering more of his face than it once had. He was beautiful. The night wore on and we drank more and more. So much so that Danny felt he needed to walk me to the restroom whenever I'd go to ensure I wouldn't cause any trouble. More than one of those times, I definitely caused trouble, but only because he was with me. My arms hooked around him in the laundry room that I'd once kissed his cheek in. I leaned in close and whispered something in his ear that I can't remember but know I shouldn't have been saying. In my defense, Nate and I hadn't spoken more than to send one merry Christmas text that whole month and I didn't know Danny had been seeing someone. I don't know how many times he was able to walk into that laundry room with me and detangle my arms from his but I should point out that he avoided the inevitable for a valiant span of time. Eventually though, we kissed and when we did, we kissed hard. He leaned into me and I leaned into his washing machine for support. This would surprisingly be the only time we ever kissed in that laundry room. I couldn't tell you when the kiss ended but eventually we were back in his bedroom with everyone else drinking mikes hard lemonades. I saved the caps to the bottles we opened after we got back. I guess intoxicated Natalie knew that was a night she wouldn't forget, even if the next day came with a mix of stress and secrecy.