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Regist.: 12/03/2010
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 OFFLINE | Yay Gypsy! Just to keep your story company, here's one of mine...
We used to swear we'd never grow up, that time couldn't touch us if we all just stuck together. But things changed, like they inevitably do, and it was the end of my innocence that year.
My tenth summer began as every other I could remember, with myself, my two brothers and three of our cousins eating breakfast on the first day after school closed. Up hours earlier than usual, we were shooting each other coded looks across the table and shin-kicks beneath it, stifling giggles until my exasperated mother shooed us out of the house. We were eagerly looking forward to spending our days playing elaborate games of hide and seek, foraging in the woods for sticks to add to our arsenal of arrows, and swinging out over exhilaratingly high drops on our tatty old length of rope. We couldn't wait to once more race down the side of the mountain, and plunge off our secret rock platform into the breath-takingly cold water below, not a care in the world other than having fun.
In time-honoured tradition, our fort was where we headed first. It was actually fairly pretty, seeing as we'd made it in the twisted branches of the rhododendron bushes, but of course I never pointed that out. It was the one thing that was a kind of concession to me not being a boy, with an unspoken understanding that I wasn't to go all misty-eyed over the fairytale blanket of magenta blooms that used to hereld mid-summer. Upturned milk crates dug criss-crosses into the back of our bare thighs as we sat and scuffed patterns into the dry earth with our trainers and makeshift arrows, deciding who was to hide first.
That day it was myself and Evan's turn and I couldn't have been happier. I'd always idolized him, and as each summer passed I found more excuses to be around him. I'd trail behind like a little lost puppy, lapping up any scraps of attention or affection he tossed my way. I knew he was my cousin and, as such, out of bounds, but the fluttery feeling that hit my insides when he smiled at me lately was uncontrollable. I'd spend all spring wishing time would go faster, and every autumn in a gentle mourning, inscribing his initials on my skin in blue ink surrounded by hearts.
We tore out of the den and both pointed simultaneously towards the huge oak tree at the bottom of the hill. Scrambling as fast as we could through the grabbing branches and gnarled roots waiting to trip us up, the loud chanting of descending numbers grew fainter by the second. Skidding to a stop a moment before me, Evan braced his hands and gave me a boost onto the lowest branch, then swung himself up after me and we clambered into the leafy canopy, leaving the ground far behind.
Once we were high enough to be hidden from view we stopped climbing and I squirmed around trying to get halfway comfortable, reckoning we were in for a long wait. This spot hadn't been used in ages and I thought it was funny how we'd both thought of it at the same time. Evan sighed and told me to stop wriggling, that it was flat enough where he was if I wanted to scooch over; I ducked my head to hide the goofy grin of pure pleasure as I sidled up to him, so close I could feel the heat radiating from his arm. We sat there motionless for a while as the sounds of the others starting to search for us drifted up through the breeze-ruffled leaves and the repeated monotone call of nuthatches filtered down. I thought I was in heaven.
His baby finger felt like a caterpillar crawling onto my hand at first. Inching his way up and meeting no resistance, the rest of his hand followed until our fingers were interlaced and my heart felt ready to explode. He tugged gently, taking my hand with his and resting it on his thigh, pulling me off balance enough to lean onto his shoulder. I didn't want to turn my head and look at him in case it broke the spell, but he whispered my name and I couldn't resist; our eyes locked. His mouth moved in to kiss me and I met him half-way, not caring that I'd only ever practiced on my hand before. I don't know how we stayed on that branch. My whole body seemed to melt; nothing existed other than his lips on mine. Fireworks detonated in my head and I couldn't believe this was really happening. Then as we broke contact to draw breath, I watched in horror as his eyes hardened and he began laughing. Shouting down that they all owed him £2 each now, that I'd fallen for it, broke me inside and summers were never the same again.
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A Short Story Thread
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Originally Posted by Maureen Braman-Eckerle:
, jk 