TILL DEATH DO US PART | JENLISA

EIGHTEEN

JENNIE

***

Always

May 16th, 2016

***

I'm not sure where we are going, but as the laughter and screams of happy graduates fades behind us, I settle into the idea of Lisa leading the way. The world blurs around us, fuzzy at the edge of my vision. Lisa smiles at me, and when her hand tightens in mine, I relish in the contentment we share.

It feels like another movie moment, the way her red gown flutters, how her hair spirals in auburn highlights and makes her eyes sparkle almost burgundy. The cap she refused to throw has a tassel that shimmers as she turns to me and kisses my lips. I hold to her tightly, laughing into her kiss, and she is laughing too. I can't put into words how happy I am and how breathless I feel in every moment between us.

But no moment as much as this.

This moment where the lighting is perfect and it tangles in the brown of her eyes and crashes against the white of her teeth as she pulls back and laughs in my arms. It splashes against the tan of her throat, rushes the blush on her cheeks, and blows stardust into my heart. She is a crescendo of navy blue dress and the shimmer of diamond earrings.

And when it seems like it can't get better, it does.

I hold her close, wrangling the sunlight imprinted beauty in my arms. "I'm so proud of you." My fingers find the ropes on her shoulders, the symbols of graduating with honors. I twist the silken cords in my fingers, blue and gold burnished proudly.

Lisa is breathing hard. "I love you, too." She giggles, pulling me back into a kiss that shatters time, and the world drops away because it is undeserving of this moment between us. The moment where she slides her arm over my shoulder and the dangling tassel sways in the breeze while I hold her to me by a gold and blue tether.

While I hold her with my lips.

Always.

"I didn't say that, but I do love you," I tease, breaking the kiss to trace her nose with mine.

She shakes her head, giggling at herself. "I mean I'm proud of you, too." At my eyebrow arch she blinks and rolls her eyes, letting go a breath. "I mean, thank you." Lisa pulls me behind her again, fingers twining hypnotically as I giggle at how utterly adorable and confused she is. The riptide of Chanel falls over me as I move, making every step a litany of here again and never been before. I capture another moment and reclaim it as mine.

When we get to a nondescript doorway, she stops, her hand sliding toward the bright silver handle. "I want to show you something."

I push back a lock of hair and nod. "Okay."

She opens the door, and though she would have had a meltdown over scuffing her first and only pair of Jimmy Choo's in another world, in this one she uses the heel to wedge the door open and hold it for me. I glance up at her, at the warm smile that reaches up into her eyes and softens them. "After you, my love."

I can't help that I swoon a little, slipping into the darkness. "You're allowed to be in here, right?"

Lisa presses her hand to the curve in my back and guides me forward. I pass a large rack of clothing and sequins tickle my skin, balmed by the soft rub of cotton after. "Alumni have open access to the stages and practice rooms." She touches her lips to my neck and in the darkness it's so sensitive.
My breath falters because the flash of Lisa's lips on mine, her fingers in my hair, whips through my mind. "Have you ever wanted..."