Fall Out Girl by L. Duarte

My hands hiked under his shirt. His muscles tensed under my fingers. I breathed in his scent, allowing it to permeate my lungs. He kissed my lips, held me close. I became all sensation. Overwhelmed, pliable. I surrendered body, mind, and soul to the assault of his touch, of his mouth. I allowed all five senses to meld together and become one massive explosion.
    I closed my eyes. A million sparkling bubbles floated across my closed lids. Dandelions wafted through the air. Stars collided. I thought of cotton candy and amusement parks, popcorn and movies, hot cocoa and fire crackling, burnished orange leaves swirling down on a magnificent display, spring blossoms, summer storms, fireflies on summer evenings, the full moon, sunsets, first snowfalls, ocean smells… a spiral of all things nice, swirling on a kaleidoscope of perfect moments, of a perfect life. My body floated like a paper lantern.
    Breathless, Caleb tore his mouth away and pressed his forehead on mine. “I wonder how I survived all these years without tasting you.” His tongue swiped across my lips as he spoke. “It’s like an addiction. Since yesterday, your taste, your smell is all I can think of.”
    Do you want to know the funny things about life? Epiphanies don’t happen when reasoning is heightened, and we actively seek them. They sneak up on us when we least expect. When our senses are submerged and our brain function is focused on a different subject. And then, BOOM! We glimpse a revelation. But then, it’s gone, like a falling star that you rush to make a wish on before its trail disappears in the sky.
    Though I was floored with the emotions battling inside my chest, I was able to capture a nugget from the revelation. I was lonely and helpless, a black dot on an otherwise blank canvas, a lost asteroid spinning endlessly through the Milk Way… and I was a becoming a damn poet.
    I shook my head and pushed Caleb away. I took a few steps, placing a needed distance between us. I needed air, pure and clear of his heady smell.
    I took a few deep breaths. Blood flow returned oxygen to my brain, reactivating the interrupted synapsis. “Make yourself useful and help me with those,” I said, nodding to the bird feeders.
    I grabbed a feeder and walked to the other end of the tree. I needed to compose myself, to restore my dignity.
    Caleb and I hung the feeders in silence.
    “Where did you get these feeders? They’re so cool.”
    “I built them,” I said quietly.
    “Wow, you like carpentry?”
    “Something like that.”
    “You’re like this box of surprises. No, you’re like the moon; part of you is always hidden away.” He chuckled and hung the last feeder. With a warm wind swirling around him, the willow’s leaves wavering against his profile, he looked fierce, handsome, wholesome… and so out of my league.
    I needed to get the hell away from him. I had to leave. Not wanting to leave my footprint on the environment, I got the empty plastic bag so I could toss it in the trash bin. “Well, thank you for the help.”
    “Luna, we need to talk.” Caleb held my arm.
    “What about? Hooking up? No, we don’t need to talk about the fact that you accost me and kiss me every chance you get.” I needed to keep the conversation impersonal.
    “That’s an unfair statement. You’re always responsive to my kisses. Ardently, I’ll point out.”
    “So what? You’re not the first guy I’ve hooked up with, nor will you be the last. You surely know about my reputation. Hence your…” I waved a disdainful hand. “Chasing me.”
    “Yes. You’re right. I know about your rep. But I don’t know you. Not the real you, the one you hide from everybody.” He narrowed his eyes. “But I’d like to.”
    I laughed bitterly. “Are you implying that there’s more to me than meets the eye? So unimaginative. I didn’t peg you for the cliché type.”
    “I know what you’re trying to do, the barriers you keep trying to put up, but I can see right through it