"Something about the moon with the trees around it," Tyler said, laying next to me in the tree house as we stared up at the sky, "It just doesn't look the same anywhere else." I smiled, "Yea." And he was right. It was beautiful, really beautiful, the kind of irreplaceable, iridescent loveliness that simply can't be ignored, even by the people who claim to find nature boring. And it was even better, having Tyler here to watch it with me. The clouds around the moon were small and frail, not like the thick ones that moved around it like waves during the winter. "I can't believe I'm back," he said, after a moment. I smiled and looked over at him, "I can't either." He looked over at me, smiled, and took my hand, and we looked back up at the stars.
I had imagined moments like last night since the day I met Angela, never really expecting them to happen. Sure, we'd slow-dances badly at the school dance and laid together on a stranger's trampoline, but even in the moments when it had seemed like we were an Us, like she felt about me the way I did about her, it was never in cement. Now, though, I could glance over at her and every smile she sent me was one of affection, not just of courtesy, not just being friendly. Jake and Milly sat in the backseat now as we drove down to the strip mall to get Milly new clothes. My mom had given her a huge wad of money, how much I didn't know, to make up to her the fact that in the process of moving, she managed to misplace an entire box of Milly's clothes, forever lost. Milly was ticked, but the money helped a bit. I had to take her since she only had her permit, not a license, and of course Jake was coming since Milly would be there, and Angela came to be with me. Just the thought of that, she's here to be with me, had me smiling as we pulled, finally, into an open parking space.
He tucked his fingers in between mine as we walked down the street, Milly and Jake ahead of us. Milly was peaking into each store and Jake was trailing slightly behind her, laughing at everything she said. It was so nice, to casually hold hands as we walked, to feel his hand tuck my hair behind my ear like he'd been doing it forever, like it was normal for us, to be expected. And really, it was. Even before, he'd always nudged me, poked me, caught my hair between his fingers, giving it a little tug. Teasing me, in a way that could be affectionate, but didn't have to be- so that he could touch me without showing, necessarily, that he had feelings for me. Now, though, when he did those same little things, those same little playful tickles, they were, undoubtably, doting. I giggled as he nudged me when we walked past a street performer, and he winked at me and took our hands, connected, and swung them wildly, pulling my body along with them as I laughed uncontrollably.
She wasn't short, not really, but she wasn't tall. Five five, I think. But though she wasn't too short, she was definitely slender. She had curves, but they were the kind of delicate little curves you would imagine on Tinker Bell or a mermaid. When I swung our hands, with enough force, I was able to swing her right along with them, and she giggled like a child as her body was thrown back and forth by my single hand, and I couldn't help but smile at her giggles, couldn't help but laugh at her smiles. She was like a sunflower, and I could practically feel her blooming.
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