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I don’t feel any questions--only answers No fear, only fullness I kiss him and continue our perfect balance there, let our separate breaths become one breath I close my eyes and feel the familiar press of his lips, the fa is different now We are not just kissing with our whole bodies, but with soer than our bodies, that is e are and ill be We are kissing fro a deeper part of each other It feels like electricity hitting water, fire reaching paper, the brightest light finding our eyes I run my hands down his back, down his front, as if I need to know that he’s really here, that this is really happening I linger on the back of his neck He lingers on the side of my hip I slip below his belt, but he leadsmy neck I kiss beneath his ear I kiss his s this

I have no idea what ti but here And it is h

Eventually my hand slides down his arm and holds his hand We stand there for a few seconds, or maybe a few ently on lips, drained entirely of longing, because everything’s been found

Then we pull away, keeping our hands together We begin to walk down the beach, like couples do Ti," I say And then I cringe despite myself, because this is what Justin would usually call an obvious statement But of course, on this day, in this place, all he does is nod in agree closer to the horizon I think I can see a boat offshore, but it could just be driftwood, or a e

I want every day to be like this I don’t understand why it can’t be

"We should do this every Monday," I say "And Tuesday And Wednesday And Thursday And Friday"

I’et tired of it," Justin says "It’s best to have it just once"

Once? I don’t knohat he ain?" I ask I don’t want to be wrong here I really don’t want to be wrong

He smiles "Well, never say never"

"I’d never say never," I promise him

Company There are other couples on the beach now Only a few, all of them older than us Nobody asks us e aren’t in school Nobody asks us e’re doing here Instead, they see here, that we are right to be doing e’re doing

This is how it’s going to be, I tell myself And then I look at Justin and think, Tellto be

I don’t want to ask him I don’t want to have to ask Too often, it’s s off course

I don’t want this to be fragile, but I still treat it like it is

I’et a little cold I have to remind myself that it isn’t suest we go back to the car and get the make-out blanket he keeps in his trunk So we turn around, head back to where we started Our castle is still there, still standing, even as the ocean comes closer