The Meeting - SMii7Y

Giving In

Quickly it became night, and the trees overhead blurred the sky, hiding the stars behind them. There was no light anywhere around, so I turned the flashlight on my phone towards the path and followed it to the pier. Smii7y straggled slowly behind me.

The trees were no longer in the way, and as soon as I looked up, I let out an audible gasp. There were more stars in the sky than I've ever seen, and even the milky way was present in the complete darkness. Smii7y finally arrived behind me and looked up as well.

"Wow," was all he could say as he placed his hands on my arms. His touch sent a shiver through my body. I thought for a moment.

"I should stop fighting," I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked with his eyes still planted on the galaxy above us. I sighed. What could go wrong?

"Us. I should just give in, and see where it goes. I've been protecting myself from love." He didn't say anything else but I could practically hear his smile grow as his arms wrapped completely around me.

For the first time, I let myself fall into him, and absorbed the comfort and warmth he was bringing me. For the first time I didn't hold back my feelings and I finally felt free and comfortable. We stood staring at the stars in that position in silence. After what seemed like forever, we took back out our phone light, and slowly walked back up to the cabin.

Back inside, we talked as we tended to do. I yawned loudly as he told me something about his 7th grade history class. He stopped as he heard my yawn, knowing it was a signal that it was time to sleep.

"If you're giving in does that mean..." He looked toward the single bed.

"Let's take it one step at a time," I told him, while all my muscles tensed.

"Okay, Miki," he kissed my forehead and everything in my body relaxed again. "Let's sleep."

-

I was awake at 8, and to my surprise, Smii7y had beaten me. His hair was wet as he had already taken a shower. His outfit was as put together as always, very meticulous and detailed.

"You're an early bird, huh?" I asked. He nodded, digging through his luggage.

"Anyway," he said, "I have some friends around here that wanted to meet up for lunch. You down?"

"Why not?" I said. All his friends I met before were lovely.

"Perfect." He smiled and continued rummaging through his bag.

"What are you looking for?" I asked, taking a few steps closer to him.

"I think I forgot a toothbrush," he laughed. "We can leave early and pick one up before we meet up with them."

We both got ready and left right away, planning to do some exploring before meeting his friends. We had to drive a little before any signs of civilization could be seen though. Smii7y drove his rental car as I watched the trees fly by out the window. I caught him looking over and smiling at me a few times.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" I laughed, looking him in the eyes.

"Because you're beautiful," he said simply, and smiled as he turned his head back to the road. I was glad he looked away because I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks from the compliment.

We once again drove in silence other than the staticky pop music humming from the car's radio that slowly got stronger the closer we got into town. Finally buildings came into view and Smii7y pulled into a drug store as our first stop. We hopped out of the car and walked towards the entrance. Smii7y grabbed my hand and interlocked his fingers with mine. He was definitely the romantic type.

We took our time walking up and down the aisles, pointing out little gag gifts or anything interesting we saw. Finally we got to the aisle we came for and he grabbed his new toothbrush.

"Why did you ignore me for so long?" He asked, referring to all the messages I hadn't read. He twirled the toothbrush in his hand and waited for an answer.

"You live in Canada," I said. "How are we supposed to be together if you live so far away?" Reality hit with what I had just said, and instead of dropping my hand like I thought he would, he squeezed it gently and said nothing. We didn't continue down the aisles, we just checked out and went back into the car that was hot from the summer sun.

We drove around the small town, looking for anything interesting to do before we had to meet his friends. We ended up at a thrift store and Smii7y made sure to rave to me about all the amazing clothing pieces he found, and consequently bought them. The small shop had taken up all of our freetime, and we were actually running late to lunch now. We hurried to the restaurant we had chosen, and arrived at the same time as his friends.

"Perfect timing," Smii7y said to them as we sat at a table. "Jane, Phillip, this is Miki. Miki, this is Jane and Phillip." They were lovely as I expected and the conversation at the table flowed naturally. They lived about an hour from me, so I could visit them at anytime, as they said, although it was more a polite invitation than a real one. Nevertheless, they were kind and Smii7y was more and more perfect with every word he said. He had the whole table laughing and cheerful. And for a moment, I forgot he lived so far away, and I let myself live in this dream.