text: It is a warm humid summer night abuzz with the sounds of crickets and the occasional passing car. As we sit at the kitchen table listening to music and drinking, he begins to tell a story. The story is lost to me as I study his features as he speaks. The slight curve of his mouth as he smiles. The redness of his cheeks. The light twinkle in his eyes as the kitchen light catches them just right. He begins to laugh, and I snap out of my trance. He notices and asks what's wrong, but I only reply that something in my mind had distracted me. He laughs again and simply brushes it off as he does. The drinks begin to take their toll as I feel myself slipping into the calm relaxed state where the world seems to pass by without a thought. We sat listening to the music and the crickets of the night. It all seems so perfectly still. The song changes and suddenly without a thought I spring up. He seemed surprised by my sudden action as he sat in his chair. I quickly grab his hand but he first resists saying he can’t dance. I say I can’t either and continue to insist and finally he gives in. He stands and comes to the middle of the kitchen with me. At first, we clumsily dance to the beat but slowly find a rhythm. What seems like an eternity we dance to the music. We dance with all our heart and soul. Sweat slowly drips from my brow and I see he has also begun to sweat. It is in that moment I realize we are now dancing mere inches from one another. How had this escaped me? How had the world seemed to blur so suddenly? I stop and admire him. He has his eyes closed as he continues swaying to the beat of the music as if in perfect harmony. His cheeks are red and as if he had sensed something wrong, he stops. Slowly opening his eyes, he looks at me and blushes even more. All I can think in that moment is he is the most beautiful person on the planet. As we stand so close, I can feel the heat of his body. The music was almost silent over the beating of our hearts. I looked into his eyes and saw something. Something primal and unstoppable. In that moment I raise my hand to his face and as it laid upon his cheek, I feel a rush as if lightning had coursed through every fiber of my body. I know he felt it too for a look of shock appeared on his face. He closed his eyes and in that moment I moved closer. As I closed my eyes and our lips brushed, it again felt as if lighting had coursed through my veins. His lips were soft, yet his stubble was prickly. He did not react. He stood perfectly still as if petrified. I pulled away and he had opened his eyes. He just stood there silently staring. I stepped back and felt as if I had made a mistake. A feeling of pain and regret washed over me like a tidal wave. I felt ashamed and I began to turn to walk away but then I felt his hand upon my wrist. He stopped me and as I turned, he smiled. He moved closer and this time he kissed me. This kiss though was different. It wasn’t soft but firm and forceful. It was a kiss born of a primal passion and desire. In this moment, the music stopped, the world stopped, and it was as if the very heavens were fixed upon us. The kiss lasted a mere few moments but for me it lasted a lifetime. All the feelings of pain, regret, and shame washed away. As we both pulled away, I looked him in the eyes and saw tears rolling down his cheeks. I too quickly realized that I had begun to cry as well. These tears though were not of sadness but of pure happiness. In that moment, I knew I made the right decision, and so did he. We choose to have faith in one another and feel love. Once more we pulled each other into a passion fueled kiss. Moments passed and finally we collected ourselves. I gently took his hand and lead him to the living-room where we sat on the couch side by side. He laid his head upon my shoulder and we sat there for a time, both thinking. Finally, he broke the silence and said, I have waited for you to do that for what feels like a lifetime. In that moment we both began to laugh. We had waited so long for one another and now we finally took that leap of faith. I laid my head upon his and we sat there for a long while. As we both faded off to sleep within one another's arms, I remembered something and whispered it under my breath... journeys end in lovers meeting.