I'll Be Here

from my eyes.   
    Alex steps in front of me, his wide shoulders angled against the wind and his long-fingered hands braced in his pockets.  He’s a good five inches taller than me and I have to look up at him.  He’s shaved and I want to touch the smooth skin around his mouth.  I take a deep breath.  “I’m not sure what the right answer is.”
     “The right answer,” he says considering me with lidded eyes, “is no .  But I am decidedly biased so you probably shouldn’t trust me.”
    In response I smile and give into temptation.  My hand comes up and I run my fingers along the side of Alex’s face.  His eyes close and his mouth parts on a sigh.  When he tilts his head into my cupped hand I stand up on my tiptoes and place a feather light kiss on his warm lips.  At the feel of my mouth his blue eyes flare open and I can see the desire there.  And I know that is exactly what he must see reflected in my own gaze. 
    Strong hands find my waist and pull me in.  No longer hesitating, his mouth crashes into mine and the sensation of our lips moving together is so overwhelming that I release a moan into his mouth. 
    I wind my arms up around his neck and press my body against the length of his.  I can feel that he wants me as much as I want him, and all I want is him.  His tongue slides along the inside of my upper lip and I open my mouth further to take him in fully.  Alex draws his hands across the curved lines of my body stopping when he reaches my face.  His palms are flat against my cheeks so that the tips of his fingers rest behind my ears where they graze the soft hairs at the base of my neck.  When he pulls back and looks at me, his bright eyes are smoldering. 
    “Actually,” he whispers, his mouth snaking forward to sweep his hot tongue in a trail from my neck to my collarbone.  “That answer was even better.” 
    ***
    “Oh my God!” She squeals into the phone.  I actually have to pull it away from my ear.
    “Seriously Laney, will you chill?”  I’m laughing.   
    “Give me every detail,” she insists.    
    I start to talk but there’s a muffled noise and Laney cuts me off. 
    “Wait,” she commands.  “Colleen wants to hear the story too so come down to the record store and tell us everything.”
    Why not?  It’s Sunday and Mom, Jake and Aaron are out.  I don’t have any homework except for a couple chapters of reading and I can do that later.  Plus, there’s no chance of seeing Alex.  When he dropped me off last night, he told me that “unfortunately” he had to head back to school early and wouldn’t be able to see me today.  I liked that he thought that not seeing me was unfortunate.
    As I fell asleep last night with Ferdinand tucked into my side and the grey-blue starlight pressing against my windows, I let myself think about that night two years ago when things went so topsy-turvy.  For the last two years I’d been telling myself—no, making myself believe that all those feelings I’d had for Alex weren’t real—that it was just a magnified crush and I’d only imagined that it could ever be anything more. 
    But after our incredible kissing session, my mind began to catalog all of the things that had drawn me to Alex in the first place.  And I can’t say that the memory of all the places that his hands had been and what they had made me feel didn’t make me want to scream into my pillow in delight.
    I practically skip out of my room.  I decide not to change out of my pajama pants because:
     a) If it weren’t for the small yellow ducks embroidered along the leg cuffs, they could pass for pink workout pants.
    b)  I’m too hyped up to bother. 
    c)  I kind of like the ducks.
    Grabbing my car keys, I just slip on a pair of flip flops near the front door and pull my hair into a loose and messy ponytail. 
    The record store is just around the corner from my favorite coffee shop.  I park my Honda in an angled spot and pick up a mocha cappuccino before heading to the record store.  I step off the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding a grumpy looking elderly man in a ratty jacket and I think that I hear my name being called. 
    “Willow!”  Louder this time and in a recognizable voice.  My heart squeezes.
    I look down, second-guessing the decision to keep these pants on.  Yellow ducks glare back at me.  I run my hands back over my hair but decide that it’s a lost cause.   
    Dustin’s smiling as he jogs to catch up in a pair of