It was that favourite summer...
after A levels, before University, when I was truly care free. No deadlines, no hassles, just endless summer days.

At the end of the previous term I had finally plucked up the courage to ask out the girl I had become besotted with for the past 8 months.

We'd spent a wonderful day together, picnicing, listening to music, doing jobs for parents generally enjoying each others company. As was usual, we'd stayed up late snogging each others faces off and it was time for me to walk her the short journey home.

It was 1am. The air was humid. Full of the day's heat. When we arrived, we stopped just short of her house, underneath the street lamp, out of sight of her parents' window, we held each others hands and kissed each other goodnight.

Whilst we were kissing, the skies opened and it started to rain. The rain felt divine as it cooled our skin. We kept on kissing for a few more moments and then it happened. The most beautiful moment of my life.

I opened my eyes, a split second before my girlfriend did. And I saw the most beautiful image I had ever witnessed.

My girlfriend, her eyes closed, lips parted, raindrops beading on her face. All illuminated by the shimmering fluorescent light. It looked like something from a movie screen, except that it was better than a movie, because it was just for me and because it was real. And no one else would see the image I had seen, and no one else could experience what I had felt at that moment in time.

Then she opened her eyes, wished me goodnight, and ran inside from the rain.

And for the first and only time in my life, I wept tears of joy.
( fishsticks, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 20:16, Reply)