I'll Be Here

is.” 
    “ Statement ,” I reiterate.  “And it’s like a sentence—a declaration of facts.” 
    Aaron’s head moves between us.  “Huh,” he mumbles and then he turns his attention back to the far-more-interesting toy car.
    I am still chuckling when I look at Alex.  “What’s yours say?”
    He blinks.  “You first,” he says indicating the cookie in my hand with an inclined head. 
    “Okay…”  I break my cookie in half and read the words printed on the sliver of white paper.  “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not why ships are built.”
    He responds much like my little brother.  “Huh.”
    I laugh.  “Your turn.”
    Alex looks down at the small piece of paper trapped between his thumb and index finger.  “What is to give light must endure the burning.” 
    He shrugs and smiles at me sheepishly and when he blinks those dark lashes of his, my heart beats a frenzied concert and I can feel the blood start to move to my neck and face.  The air in the space between us grows heavy and thick with something.  Alex’s blue eyes smolder and move from my head down my body and—
    “Yow!”  Effectively dashing the moment, Aaron’s car has zoomed over and smashed into my foot.  I turn the vehicle around and point it towards the hall.
    “Jammies!” I call out as my little brother follows the battery-operated machine around the hallway corner in the direction of his room.
    “Be right back,” I say as I stand. 
    Alex smiles and I can feel his eyes on my back as I head off in the same direction as my little brother.  I manage to get Aaron cleaned and dressed for bed in record time and when he asks for popcorn after we’ve just brushed his teeth, I think I manage a pretty frightening you’ve got be kidding me look.  He doesn’t ask twice.
    When I get back to the living room, Alex is stretched out on the large area rug with his back against the floor and his knees propped up.  He reaches his arms over his head and once again, his shirt comes up so that I catch a flash of skin.  Holy hell.  He is so gorgeous. 
    Alex turns his head to me and there’s that ghost smile that makes my heartbeat skip.  I settle onto the floor and lay on my back in the same pose as Alex.  The length of our bodies touch and I can feel the fire within me getting hotter.
    “So,” I begin shyly.  “You mentioned a tattoo?”
    One side of his mouth comes up and he raises himself so that he’s half sitting.   Angling his back to me, Alex pulls up his shirt and tucks it under his elbows so that I can view his entire muscular back and oh, what a back it is!  There, just below his shoulder blade dark script is permanently inked under the surface of his skin.  It is beautiful as is the boy that wears it forever.  As I touch the words with my fingers he exhales a long breath.  
    I lose and find myself in the long water
    I am gathered once more
    “I got it when I went to Paris…”
    I listen while Alex tells me about the ten-day long trip that he took with a group of architecture students and a few professors from the university. 
    “I was feeling fairly introspective in the city of love and I decided to put that feeling on my body so that I could carry it with me forever.  It’s from a Theodore Roethke poem.”
    Slowly, I reach forward and run my fingertip over the lines of the poem.  The skin is smooth under my touch. 
    Alex moves just barely—his shoulders tensing momentarily before relaxing.  I watch the careful way that his back moves in and out as he breathes—almost like he’s trying to hold it all together.  With a sudden gust of courage I bend over and I press my lips to his skin, caressing the inked words delicately.  He stifles a gasps and spins so quickly that my heart skips. 
    Our eyes meet and I am filled with a fierce intensity.  Fire pools in my belly as he brushes my hair away from my neck and kisses me there —in that sensitive spot just below my jaw.  It drives me mad and I lift my body towards his conscious of all the places where we touch.  Hips, fingers, shoulders, legs.  His tongue gently circles back towards my ear and I squirm and make an inarticulate moan of pleasure.  Just when I think I can’t take any more of his teasing, he digs his hands into the flesh at my waist and pulls me closer to him and our mouths come together at last.
    I’m sure there are more enjoyable things on this planet than kissing Alex Faber on my living room floor, but at