Years

    13 - Summer, cottage.

    The skies were cloudless and blue again, just like it was yesterday and the day before that. The sun was already flying high above, beaming out warmth and increasing the temperature of the air around us. I knew only an hour had passed, since we had lunch up at the cottage, but it felt like hours had passed between us. I could hear the lake water slap against the wooden pillars below me, as I sat on the pier looking out to the other island across from mine. Our legs draped off the edge and our toes struck the surface of the lake. I could feel his hand over mine and my Mickey Mouse beach towel underneath us. We were sitting on it, trying to soak up the water from our shorts. We were drying off after our swim was cut short, due to both of us feeling cramps in our stomachs.

    I heard Thomas sigh beside me and he moved his hand away from mine. I felt the skin between our hands unglue from each other and I could feel it cool over, even though the rest of my body was warm. I looked towards him and saw his head tilted upward, lake water dripping out of his shaggy brown hair. His eyes were closed below his thick bold eyebrows. They suited his Middle Eastern facial features. I admired his newly defined strong jawline and cheekbones which were the results of puberty. Thomas had been going through it for quite some time now, growing taller and taller each year, losing his baby fat and revealing his developing muscles beneath. I should have expected all of this from the beginning because of how much he was into sports. He played soccer in a local house league back down where we lived in Toronto and even though he looked like a running sapling, he was very good at the sport.

    I tore my gaze away from him and looked across the lake hearing the splash of paddles whacking on the water. A couple in a rowing boat paddled aimlessly around the lake, laughing together over some joke. The laughter cut through my chain of thoughts and I finally noticed my whole body was dry from the sun. I closed my eyes and leaned backward until my back hit the crumbling wooden pier, embracing the full force of the sun rays on my body. I heard the groan and creak of the wood as Thomas laid down beside me, and I felt our shoulders touch. He placed his arms over mine and enveloped my hand in his, creating more heat between each other. He had become fully dry as well. I shifted my head over to his right shoulder, trying to find the crook of his neck and collarbone. He moved closer and guided me to my favourite place.

    We sat like that for ages.