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He’s relentless with all of his exploration, and I’ But I just can’t stop And now I’et my mouth back on his skin, any skin I can reach, andhim closer, and I’ve found my way back to his otten?

Did he get better at this? Did I?

Because iving out My bones don’t work anymore It’s as if he’s pressed some sort of secret on switch, and I’m at the mercy of my body--which likes his body quite a lot and desperately wants to drop to the ground and let Lennon have his wicked ith ht here in front of God’s Voice I absolutely would, too In thiswildfire of feelings and sensations, and I can’t put them out

Oh,I seriously can’t breathe I think I need to learn how to pace h

I try to steadyHe abandoned you He hurt you

The sound of approaching hikers intensifies s

I pull away from Lennon

He pulls ," I warn

"Zorie," Lennon says, his hand roaain I don’t want to be ene You and ht for us, if that’s what it takes We’ll figure soether Tell ive in and agree, but then one of the hikers laughs--they are way closer than I expected--and it fractures the moment, a proverbial bucket of icy water over all our shared war a lot of the sa, e decided to take the Great Experiain?

Do I want to?

Has what he’s revealed changed how I feel about last fall?

Why can’t Iwith uish on his face is unathering hi distance between us

"I’m sorry," I say "I justIt’s a lot at once, and"

And I can’t function like a nor

He nods "I know I understand"

"Lennon--"

The approaching hikers surge onto our plateau It’s a group of college-aged boys Their laughter scatters hts and puts an invisible wall between Lennon andtoward our backpacks All the emotion disappears fro unreadable

I want to screa hih every detail of what just happened I want to stop thinking

But I can’t do any of those things, so we return to the trail in silence, both of us deep in thoughtnever closer, never further apart