He reaches inside the cooler and pulls out two cans of beer, handing one to me. I sit on the sand, pop the tab, and take a sip. After taking the blanket from me, he comes to sit behind me, spreading his legs. I lean back against his solid chest, and he drapes the blanket around us.
My head rests against his shoulder, and I stare out at the water, reflecting the moon and starlight. Mike drinks his beer and runs his fingers along my arm with his free hand.
“Mmm, that’s nice,” I say, closing my eyes to his touch. I touch him back, dragging my fingers along his thick thigh.
The fire pops, and embers float up into space. I’m completely at peace. Everything bad that has happened to me no longer exists. None of it matters anymore. Only this moment matters as Mike and I sit by the fire after amazing sex, sipping beer, blanketed by starlight, and soothed by the ocean waves. The surge of love I have for him grows so much that I can hardly breathe. I want to tell him. I want to tell him I feel the same way I did all those years ago. I think this is my one perfect moment that I’ll never forget.
I take a sip of beer and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, careful not to spill my drink. With a deep breath, I exhale. “Mike?”
He nuzzles his nose into my neck, his breath tickling me, pulling a snorting laugh from me, but I don’t push him away. “Yeah, baby?” When I don’t say anything, Mike kisses my temple. “Tell me.”
Here goes nothing. “I feel the same about you as I did before I left for college.” I pull away from him and turn around to face him. After setting my beer can in the sand, I grab his hand and play with his fingers. I try to keep my eyes on his, but it’s hard being vulnerable sometimes. “I love you, Mike. Always have. You’re my everything.”
Mike tugs me toward him and holds me. “Fuck, Den… I feel it too. I really do. And it’s not just the amazing sex we just had. It happened before that. But seeing you tonight as we undressed… I watched you, and you were so beautiful, and I was so nervous.” His fingers slide along my back, soothing me, and I wrap my arms around his waist, my head pressed against his shoulder. I’m feeling stupidly sappy right now. “But you made me feel safe and at ease. You’ve always made me feel like that, even in my lowest moments. You’re my best friend, Den, but you’re so much more than that. I love you, too, baby.”
I snuggle into him, and he wraps his arms around me tightly, bringing the blanket closer around our fronts. “Thank you for taking a chance on me,” I say around a yawn.
“Fuck, baby. If anyone should do any thanking around here, it’s me. You took a chance on me. To trust me after I rejected you and after everything that happened to you? I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
I press my face to his throat, smelling slightly of sweat, sex, and the ocean, and I kiss him with a stupid-happy smile on my face.
We sit in silence, holding onto each other by the fire, and I soon grow sleepy. Sex does that. So does happiness, apparently.
“Look,” he whispers, pointing at the sky as a meteorite plummets to Earth. “Make a wish, baby.”
“It’s already come true.”
My eyes blink open to darkness, and I reach over for Mike, but the space on his sleeping bag is cold and empty. I sit up and rub my watering eyes after yawning. And there he is, hovering over me, and even in the darkness, I can see him smile.
“Hey, sorry to wake you, but I thought you might want to watch the sunrise come up over the mountains with me,” he says, dragging the backs of his fingers along my cheek.
I close my eyes and lean into his touch. “I’d love to watch that with you.”
“Good. I just started a new fire, and I have coffee brewing. It’s cold, so grab your hoodie. I’ve already got the blanket.”
After running a hand through my wrecked hair and getting in a good stretch, I toss my hoodie on and climb out of the tent. The air is definitely cold, and I shiver a little. There’s a slight breeze, too, but it’s clear, with no fog in sight. On the distant horizon, over the mountains, there’s a touch of orange slowly rising, ready to hide away the stars.
Mike is by the fire, pouring some coffee from the press into mugs. He shakes three sugar packets into mine and stirs them before handing the cup to me.
“Thanks,” I say, taking the mug and wrapping my fingers around it to warm them up, before taking a sip.
After he has his own mug, he sits in the sand. I curl up between his legs as we did last night, and lean against him. Except this time, we face the mountains instead of the water. He wraps the blanket around us and kisses my neck.
“Morning,” he says.
A smile tugs on my mouth. “Morning.”
I take another sip of coffee as we wait for the sun. “That was a night to remember, Mike. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect setting.” I crane my head back to look at him, and he leans down to kiss me. “I love you,” I say when we pull away.
“I love you, too. So much. Last night was perfect. God, I can’t remember when I’ve felt so at peace, but it’s often like that with you.”
I smile and turn to wait and watch. “I feel the same. It’s like… everything is right in my world. The stars are perfectly aligned. Is that corny? It’s corny.”
Mike chuckles. “It’s not corny at all. If it is, then I’m corny, too.”
I raise my mug to his, and we clink them together. “To corniness.”
He laughs out loud, the sound rumbling on my back. “To corniness.”
