“Find someone to sing like a canary by Friday Carlin, or find a new job!”

He storms out my office slamming the door behind him. A small smile crosses my lips as I hope that by some miracle the door actually hit him on the ass on the way out.  I look out the window and down to the city below, the streets alive with tourists and natives all trying to get somewhere. From here they remind me of ants; simple creatures going through the motions to simply survive.  But each of these people has his or her own intriguing story, complete with hope and heartbreak, failure and success.  I know I have mine.  I can not help but think how quickly life changes. And with these thoughts I am able to transport myself back again, back to those careless teenage years that seemed so far away.

~

I laid there simply staring at her, drinking up her beauty.  She was so peaceful as she slept.  I gently pushed a careless hair behind her ear, being careful not to disrupt her.  A soft smile graced her lips as I watched her breathe evenly, indicating that she was still asleep.   I wondered what she was dreaming of and if it had to do with me and the night we had just spent together. 

Her movement broke me from my mental wonderings and she stared at me knowingly and asked me what I was thinking about.  She flashed that radiant smile of hers and proceeded to snuggle in closer to me, wrapping her arm around my stomach and resting her leg between my own.  I played with her hair as she laid her head on my chest and I just continued to smile as I thought about how far we had come.  Just a couple of months ago she was screaming at me as she fought with her locker.  Just a couple of nights ago I was kissing someone else in an attempt to fight away my feelings.

 I closed my eyes and savored the touch of her skin on mine and the happiness I felt in that moment. Sometime later I felt her gently stroking my forearm with her fingertips, encircling my wrist then moving back up again.  It was such a simple touch yet it felt like heaven.  On the third trip down she carefully turned my hand and locked our fingers together, She pulled our hands up to her and pressed a kiss into the back of my hand.  And here I had naively believed I could not be any happier.  She laid our hands on my chest and propped herself up on her elbow to look into my eyes.  I felt I could get lost in her deep brown eyes, which seemed to reveal everything to me.  Her strength and vulnerability, her confidence and fear, and at the same time and above all else, how much she loved me.  She searched my eyes, no doubt looking for the same thing.  I watched the relief wash over her as she saw the feeling reflected back at her.  I had yet to speak the words, to mirror back the “I love you” she had spoken before.     But I knew I felt it, and I knew she felt it from me.