Lovely

22. Capture her expression, take a mental picture

From underneath Kahlo's arm, I was more or less being dragged. "Hurry it up, snail!" He teased anyway. I landed a playful hit on his side as we exited the back door and walked further into the backyard. I may have washed our morning together from my skin, but the memory of it could be seen every time I closed my eyes as if it were painted on the inside of my eyelids. My mother was busy pouring what looked like lemonade into cups, each kid making their way over and claiming the cup they wanted. Even Mark gulped down a cup, but Del was occupied with Theo and his tummy time.

Kahlo's arm flew off my shoulder as I shoved it and took off. I heard him yell "hey!" in surprise before taking off after me. My lighthearted yelps and his loud chuckling drowned out the talking of the others. He managed to catch up to me and tackle me, but curled his arms around me and dove onto his side so it wasn't I who took his weight but he who took mine. I wiggled and laughed, him doing so too, and our position somehow changed into one where he was lying on his back and I on my front with my top half across his chest. I pinched his nose and he thrashed his face away. We both broke out into laughter. A high pitched battle cry cut through the air and I only just managed to roll off of Kahlo before two young boys threw themselves onto him. More giggles could be heard, and soon Kahlo was at the bottom of a full blown dog pile.

Shaking my head with a smile, I made my way over to sit beside my mother. My hand then clasped a cup of icy liquid and it was down my throat before I knew it. It revived me, lemonade was just what I needed to snap all the way back into reality.

30 minutes of more play fighting, lemonade and laughing fits went by, and the crunching of gravel was heard. Max and Celia appeared. All the kids cheered and Max blended into the group, Celia approached where my mother and I sat. "Hey," she smiled joyfully. My mood picked up even more, if that was even possible. Just seeing her made everything feel better. I handed her a cup. She drank. She sat beside me and joined in on watching the others play. "Did you sleep well?" She asked turning to me. I thought back to Kahlo's sheets around me the night before, and his body around me that morning and decided to answer with a yes. But the careless hand she had rested on my knee made it hard to think at all.

The longer it stayed there, the harder it was to do anything. I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't think, I could hardly breathe. And the longer it stayed there, the less careless in became. She stared to grip my knee. Then the hand travelled a bit higher and squeezed. Why was everyone in this town such a tease? I cleared my throat, because of how closed up it was starting to feel, and weakly asked, "d-do you want to go somewhere?"

She smiled, perhaps in satisfaction or perhaps out of complete oblivion. "Yes," she nodded and we both got up. We didn't need to wave anyone off, they were all wrapped up in whatever game they were currently in the middle of. Celia didn't need to ask, where to go or for permission, she knew where I meant. And that was the way I liked it.

We travelled straight through her house, past the stairs, and out of the back door. Her house didn't have much of a backyard, but that was where all of the large, shady trees were. And that's where we needed to be in order to enjoy the sunny morning without melting completely. We could still hear the little ones next door but the sound was fainter, and Celia mentioned the fact that her parents were out and that was the reason why her and her younger brother had wandered over in search of company.

The ghost of a smile clung to my lips as I thought about how fast life sped by. One moment I was holding Kahlo's naked body against my own, the next I was experiencing the comfort of sitting under a tall tree Celia's backyard. She noticed of course.

"Is there something funny that I don't know about?" Oh, how I loved her voice. She could talk about the life of a worm and it would sing me to sleep like a lullaby. "Oh, no. Nothing," I offered, but only smiled more. She saw this and, for a reason unknown to me, smiled as well. This moment of connection pulsed so much joy through me that a laugh slipped through my lips and I didn't even try to intercept it. Celia followed, perhaps for the mere fun of it, and soon we were both on our backs and clutching our stomachs with so much laughter ripping through our bodies that we both thought we wouldn't be able to take another breath. But I liked the sound of that. Moving into the next life, leaving behind a girl laughing with pure bliss as the light of her life lay beside her doing the exact same.

Some time past us by, and we eventually sobered, deciding to lay in the beauty of the moment and comfortable silence. I turned my face to her's to capture her expression, take a mental picture, place it along side my lovely memory of Kahlo. I longed so very badly for it to last forever, her warm eyes on the blue sky, the trail of a joyful tear down the side of her face, the sides of her mouth permanently turned up into a grin. A grin that melted my heart just looking at it. She encapsulated everything peaceful about the world, she was everything stunning about life, she was something I needed to hold onto. So I did.

Reaching across the space dividing us, I blindly grasped for her hand. I found it like someone suffering from unbearable anxiety finds the door leading outside to fresh air, or of someone who is finally hit by the solution to the problem that was eating them up. And Celia immediately turned to me. Her intense yet intoxicating eye contact now on me, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get myself to do anything but stare. She did that to me, evaporated any ounce of intelligence I liked to think myself of having until I was nothing but a lump of anticipation and trembling excitement. And love and desire and everything new and nice. It was then that a thought came to my head, that she was more at home in the front garden among the other flowers.

I guess she understood that I couldn't will my body to make any move, despite how much I wanted it to, and thank god she did. Because soon after her sweet lips were pushed against mine. I was jumping with happiness in my head because the only thing I could do in that moment was the one thing I wanted to do most, and that was kiss her back. The more our lips moved against each other, the sweeter she tasted. I had never done such a thing with a woman, and it was different from my experience with men in every way. She was more gentle, and soft, and fluid. And I worshipped every single second of it. Her hand found my cheek, both of mine were still glued to my sides but hand positions meant nothing when we were, in that moment, giving each other the universe with our mouths