Play With Me

closest tree, I climbed over the fallen trunk and
settled down next to him. Neither of us said a word.
    Gazing at the
small pond for quite some time gave us the chance to silently make up. When the
concert of frogs turned the evening into a romantic night, I rested my head on
Tony’s shoulder and let out a sigh that seemed to have stuck in my chest since
the last time he’d climbed out of my window.
    His arm wrapped
around my shoulders, his cheek pressed against my brow. It was like all those
many times when I was in his arms before, utterly content, completely safe. Just
this time I felt no tingle in my gut. No butterflies. No joyful heart-pounding.
Like all the excitement had faded out of me.
    In a way I
missed it. In another…not. I knew why the feeling was lacking now. He’d hurt me
on a level that was beyond repair. But somehow even that was okay. Things
changed. We were growing up. And I couldn’t hold it against him.
    “Sorry. I didn’t
intend to ruin your summer with being the master of ass-land,” he said in a
very calm voice.
    I let that
apology hang in the air for a few minutes.
    Finally, I
scooted out of his embrace, lifted my legs to the trunk and hugged my knees to
my chest, facing him. “Why did it never happen with us? The couple thing I
mean. I’ve spent more time in my life with you than with anyone else. We cuddled,
we played, we talked. We did everything together. Why did we never kiss?” Amazing.
One might think I’d knocked back half a bowl of wine cooler to babble so free
from the heart and not blush one bit.
    Tony rubbed the
back of his neck, giving me a tight smile. “I don’t know. Maybe hanging out was
too normal for us.” He licked his bottom lip. Swinging one leg over the log, he
sat astride and grabbed both my ankles in front of him. “At least it was for
me. I kind of took you for granted. Your love for me was permanent. Why should
I have worried about losing you?”
    Because Ryan
Hunter came along while you were busy with someone else. “Yeah, why should you?”
    “The thing is I
never knew how much it would hurt to see you kissing another guy. You made me learn
that lesson the hard way.”
    “You know I
always wanted you to be my first.” And the last for that matter. The fact I
could tell him this now had me wondering how far I really had distanced myself from
him, emotionally.
    “That ship has
sailed away, I suppose.” He angled his head with that typical sheepish smile. I
still loved him for that, if nothing else. Suddenly he held my ankles tighter,
moved my legs apart and scooted forward. When he let go, my thighs rested on
top of his. We were sitting in a very new, very intimate position. His
face was so close I could count the lashes on his lids.
    I realized he
was a breath away from kissing me. And suddenly I was smiling. “You aren’t
really going to do this, are you?”
    “Why not?” The
smirk didn’t totally vanishing from his lips. “I think for the sake of all
those years I granted you the larger part of my comforter when you fell asleep
in my bed, we should at least give it a shot.”
    I didn’t know
what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything at all. And then Tony broke into
the last inch of my personal space and kissed me. Slowly. Sensually. Like I’d
always wanted him to do. He tasted perfect. Warm, sweet, natural…everything I
expected it to be. His hands covering mine were a gentle caress.
    When I drew
back, his warm blue eyes searched my face. Sweet dimples appeared on his
cheeks. “This is not going to happen again, right?”
    A sigh escaped
me on a soft laugh. “Why do you think so?”
    He brushed his
knuckle along my jaw. “Because a kiss from me obviously fails to make you
shiver like one look of Ryan Hunter does.”
    I laughed again.
And this time I felt my cheeks warming slightly. Yeah, just thinking of Ryan
did that to me.
    Tony shifted
back on the log, and I resumed my curled up position. With my cheek resting on
my knees, I watched the vanilla moon creep up above the lush crowns of the
trees. Next to me, Tony fished out his phone and his fingers flew over the
keypad.
    “What are you
doing?”
    “Texting a
friend.” When he was done, he tucked it back into his pocket.
    Minutes ticked
by as we gazed at the sky together. Although peaceful and relaxed, the
situation felt awkward. For both of us. Like no one knew what to say right now.
Not something that happened very often between us. Relief swamped me when he