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The ocean makes its music; the wind does its dance We hold on At first we hold on to one another, but then it starts to feel like we are holding on to so?" Rhiannon asks

"Shhh," I say "Don’t question it"

She kisses me I have not kissed anyone in years I have not allowed myself to kiss anyone for years Her lips are soft as flower petals, but with an intensity behind them I take it slow, let each moment pour into the next Feel her skin, her breath Taste the condensation of our contact, linger in the heat of it Her eyes are closed and le sensation I want to reless than kiss At times, she moves to take it further, but I don’t need that I trace her shoulders as she traces my back I kiss her neck She kisses beneath my ear The tiiddy belief She should be in English class I should be in bio We weren’t supposed to come anywhere near the ocean today We have defied the day as it was set out for us

We walk hand in hand down the beach as the sun dips in the sky I a about the future I aratitude for the sun, the water, the wayhers

"We should do this every Monday," she says "And Tuesday And Wednesday And Thursday And Friday"

"We’d only get tired of it," I tell her "It’s best to have it just once"

"Never again?" She doesn’t like the sound of that

"Well, never say never"

"I’d never say never," she tells me

There are a few more people on the beach now,an afternoon walk They nod to us as we pass, and sometimes they say hello We nod back, return their hellos Nobody questions e’re here Nobody questions anything We’re just a part of theelse

The sun falls farther The teside it Rhiannon shivers, so I stop holding her hand and put et the "make-out blanket" from the trunk We find it there, buried under euy crap I wonder how often Rhiannon and Justin have used the make-out blanket for that purpose, but I don’t try to access thethe blanket back out onto the beach and put it down for both of us I lie down and face the sky, and Rhiannon lies down next todistance fro it all in

"This has to be one of the best days ever," Rhiannon says

Without turning my head, I find her hand with my hand

"Tell me about some of the other days like this," I ask

"I don’t know…"