Kid & Little Lady - Against the Night

Against the Night

They fell in love at fifteen.

It had been a fine March on the outskirts of Houston and the land was blooming all around them – in the form of twinges of Spring sneaking up through the weeds and the housing developments that were being bought out by strange creatures from the West Coast. She was one of them.

The mosquitoes were beginning to breed in the swimming pools and parents were rather cautious of their allergic, Californian children whose immune systems could not ward off the native pathogens. They were also very careful because of their children’s ever-changing bodies on the cusp of awkward and delightful. Mothers watched their daughters nervously as some fathers shook their boys’ hands. The thin hair resting beneath their underwear functioned as a well-kept secret, the pendant of an exclusive club. They were leaving behind the days of middle school. Next year they would be freshmen.

They would meet that Autumn, after the sweeping days of Summer, when she learned how to apply eye-liner and mascara, when he learned how to masturbate properly. They waited, collecting their teenage angst and rebellion. Privately, they watched themselves in the mirror, anticipating the sleek, warm kiss of August that would wake them and let them race into the loose leaves of September.

stuff to talk about

Rickey: "Nothing says love better."

People speculate that you can tell how much a person cares about someone by how they watch that person.

Justin would cock his head to the right as he’d watch her sleep, kiss her fingers goodnight.

Marie would stare him down. As if to say, “Yes. I am yours.” She would fly her tiny lashes across the table, distracting him from dinner.

But, sometimes, they would close their eyes and touch each other. Discover the folds of their eyelids, the curve of their cheeks. And watch each other blindly in darkness.

And the smart ones speculate… Nothing says love better.

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bsAlways
(blue skies ahead, always)