A short love story.

I had never felt happier. Though I couldn't wipe the silly grin from my face, reality still reminded me that there were three very sad components in this moment. First, was that I only had a few weeks left with this man. Second, was that I had only had a few weeks with him. Lastly, was that I knew, without a doubt, that I was madly in love with him.

On this cool summer night, beneath the glow of the full moon and the twinkling stars spread across the endless night sky, I found myself nestled into his strong, warm chest. His arms wrapped tightly around me, I couldn't find an ounce of strength that would allow me to let go of him and walk into the house, though I knew it must be late.

We had just gotten back to my place after a wonderful dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant and a walk-and-talk in the park. That's what I loved most about him, we could talk all day long and never tire of conversation, never run out of things to say. We each had our own strong opinions about every little aspect of life and each of us were willing to speak our minds, and both more than eager to hear the others point of view. Conversation had started this relationship, and it had not depleted in the few short weeks we had spent together.

He shifted his hand from my back up to my head to gently stroke my hair which pulled me back into the present. Into the strong loving embrace of his arms. Both of us sighed in unison. I pulled away slowly and only by a couple inches as to not loose the feel of his touch against me.
Without command my head dropped to stare at the ground. I could feel words wanting to escape from my mouth, but I was not exactly sure what they were. I briefly looked up to meet his gaze, his face was soft, beautiful, and slightly puzzled by my body language. I dropped my eyes back to my feet and felt a lump swell in the back of my throat. I swallowed hard to choke it down.
He caressed my hair once more and softly cued, "What is it my darling?" I swallowed again as another lump rose in my throat, I was still just as confused as he was by what was going on. Without lifting my head I rolled my eyes up to glance at him through my eyelashes. I blinked furiously a few times to clear away the liquid swelling up in my eyes. He patiently awaited my response, with a more concerned look washing over his face. I let my eyes fall back towards the ground and felt my mouth open slightly. Still not knowing what I was saying I heard my voice soft and low, "I think we have a problem, Mr. Perry." I spoke meaning for my words to sound teasingly, but in the current state they came out more serious than I wanted. At this point I must have appeared to have something seriously sad to say to him. He gently placed his finger and thumb on my chin and pulled my face up to meet his gaze. Those eyes, so warm, so vibrant, so beautiful. I attempted to blink away more fluid, only this time the movement forced the warm tears to roll down my cheeks. He used his free hand to wipe the tears from my face, but didn't move the grip he had on my chin, I assumed it was for fear that I would look away again; and I would have.
"What exactly do you mean?" His words trembled, full of fear and confusion. Still lost in my own thoughts and words I began stuttering through my sentence. "Well...." I gulped down another lump, he still stood there patiently as ever as I struggled through my words, my eyes darting around carelessly as his stare seemed too much for me to take in. Clearly I was nervous to spit out whatever it was my brain wanted say. I began again,"Well..."
This time my words came out louder and with more confidence, "You see, I've fallen for you.....hard." I put a strong emphasis on the word 'hard.'
He chuckled softly with relief. My eyes met his and he was smirking; clearly he had expected something much worse after all my emotional battling. He softly placed each of the palms of his hands on my cheeks and a more serious, yet still lightly amused, look washed across his face.
"I'm already three steps ahead of you love."
"Really?" I managed to spit out, sounding more desperate that I would have liked.
"Really." He stated bodly and to the point. "In fact, Ms. Cuskelly, I haven't just fallen... I've fallen so hard I pushed through the ground, circled around, and rained back down from the sky." He giggled again as if he thought what he was saying was amusing and silly, though still very true. "What I mean is.... I love you."
There was no more giddy tone to his voice on that statement. He was serious. I could feel it. He could feel it. The moment was almost too powerful to handle.
"I love you too." I loudly whispered, as if he had stolen my breath.
He pulled my face to his and softly but firmly placed his lips on mine. We stood there kissing for an amount of time that seemed as it would never last long enough. When we finally broke apart he pulled me tightly into his chest again. His strong arms wrapping all the way around my back, almost too tightly. He rested his cheek on my head and sighed. "I've been waiting my whole life to feel like this. I've been waiting my whole life to find you."
The tears were welling up in mass quantities at this point, too much for me to hold back. I softly mumbled, "me too, Luke, me too." And without any other choice I gently weeped in his arms.

We were swaying back and forth at that point, which I'm sure he started to try and calm my nerves. He pulled back and lightly kissed my forehead. His fingers once again drying my tear stained cheeks. "Don't cry beautiful, let me see that radiant smile I love so much." I chuckled at that, which sounded more like I was gasping for air. He always did know how to make me laugh. A big smile swept across my face, and I shifted up on my toes to kiss him again.
"Please stay. I don't want to waste a single minute we have with each other." I muttered selfishly.
"Anything you wish my love." He replied with a sheepish grin. His words warmed my heart. I grabbed his hand and weaved my fingers through his. Pulling him inside the sad reality of time slapped me in the face again. I knew I only had two more weeks with him, and then he would have to leave.
Once inside I turned to him letting a sad expression fall over my face again.
"I don't know how I will survive this summer without you." I pathetically declared.
"We will find ourselves together again my dear, time is only of the essence."
I simply nodded in response, and with a crooked smile on his face. He leaned down and kissed me again.

I knew at that moment that the next two weeks would be the best two weeks of my life. I couldn't believe that I would meet someone else who could woo me like he did. But, I took comfort in the thought that no matter what the summer held for either of us, at the very least we had this time together. This night, this feeling, this love, would last me a lifetime, let alone one summer.