Page 77 of Next Time We'll Fall

“No.” I start laughing hysterically. There was no way I’d be able to last that long. I’m not a monk. “I thought maybe we’d stop right here.”

“Why are we stopped here?” She looks at me in surprise and my throat catches as I once again admire how beautiful she is. She’s like a bouquet of flowers in a gray room.

“Do you remember eighteen years ago?”

“Eighteen years ago? Not really.”

I start laughing as I realize I’ve messed up. I shake my head and slap my forehead because I’m talking nonsense. Sometimes when I’m around her, my brain doesn’t function like it should. Maybe because I’m so besotted by her. If I were an artist, she would definitely be my muse.

“I don’t mean, do you remember eighteen years ago? I was actually talking about, do you remember your eighteenth birthday party? That wasn’t eighteen years ago…” I realize I’m mumbling and so stop.

“Yes. How could I forget?”

“And does this area look familiar to you?”

She looks around, and she shakes her head. “No. Should it?”

“This might not be the exact spot, but do you remember how we danced under the moonlight and stars on the beach on that night?”

“How could I forget?” she says, nodding. “Wait, was it this spot?”

If I’m a hundred percent honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure if it’s this spot, but it feels familiar.

I grab my phone and turn on my playlist, and Frank Sinatra starts singing “Strangers in the Night.” Her eyes widen as I place my phone down onto the sand and then grab her hands as the music floats around us.

“May I have this dance?”

“You may,” she says softly.

I pull her into my arms, and we glide back and forth in the sand under the moonlight, listening to the waves crash into the rocks.

“I can hear a seagull in the distance, and it feels magical.” I make up a song and sing.

“Da, da, da, da, da.”

I hum next to her, and my eyes meet hers.

“Da, da, da, da, da,” she says, singing along with me to the song.

We’re quiet for a few moments, and she rests her head against my shoulder, and I guide her back and forth across the sand, loving the way she fits perfectly into me. My fingers run through her silky hair.

I feel her whimpering slightly, and I stop.

“Is everything okay?”

“You surprised me,” she says, nodding slowly as she looks into my eyes. “I never expected that you could plan something quite so romantic.”

“You think it’s romantic?” I ask. “Happy, gleeful that I did something right?”

“It is. This is really special.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.”

I continue humming along to the song and then reach my hand up and spin her around so that she’s like a ballerina, doing a pirouette over and over again, her hair spinning across her shoulders, and finally, she stops laughing and looks at me.

“I’m so dizzy.”

“Come. I’ll hold you until you have your equilibrium again,” I say.