I stared at the fire flickering inside the metal ring. The flames licked the sides of the logs slowly breaking them down. We still had a while before it would be out. After all, I could just barely see the stars at this time.
I looked around at the people surrounding the fire. I couldn’t imagine being here with anybody else. Jeremiah sat beside me smiling contently at the fire. His blonde hair stopped just above his shoulders; he was beginning to need a haircut and I told him so every chance I got. Hannah sat on my other side. She was talking quietly to Nate next to her as he silently brushed his fingers through her hair. They were a good couple. I remember when Nate told me that he had a girlfriend almost a year ago today. I didn’t believe him, obviously, until I met her. I still have this theory that he’s paying her to act. Shawn and Alexandra sat across the fire from me. They were complete opposites. Shawn was one of the most sarcastic individuals I’d ever met, and I think Alexandra would rather die before she said anything remotely insulting. They were closer to each other than anyone else in our group. They’d been friends since they were in pre-school.
“Ro,” Jeremiah whispered. He wasn’t whispering because he had a secret. It was just so blissfully perfect that no one wanted to disturb the silence. I turned my head to him confused by the look on his face. He was smiling at me like I was a piece of art and his eyes had this twinkle in them. Like he had just been laughing. Maybe that’s something we all get when we’re happy. “What?” I responded, a nervous laugh bursting out at the end. “Walk with me,” he said and stood up.
He held out his hand to help me up and I took it, slowly rising to my feet. He dropped it and we walked towards the street that connected the campsites. We didn’t talk at all and let the noise of the woods talk for us.
We stopped at the playground sitting on the swings. The playground overlooked the lake with the moon reflecting off of it. You could hear the water lapping over the rocks if you listened hard enough. The crickets were louder. They were easily heard, the stars of the show. But the breeze blowing the leaves was always my favorite part. Without that, everything would feel too still, almost lonely. “It’s sort of like music,” I mused aloud. Jeremiah looked at me from his perch and stood up. He held out his hand to me again, but I didn’t take it this time. I furrowed my eyebrows. Did he want to leave already? But it was so beautiful.
“May I have this dance?” he said. Then I took his outstretched hand and placed the other one on his shoulder. He wrapped his other arm around my waist and we just stood like that. Swaying and twirling to the sound of the forest for what seemed like hours. It was my own simple paradise for a few minutes.
Eventually, he pulled away (this time without dropping my hand), “We should probably head back.” I sighed and nodded reluctantly. I knew he was right. It was getting pretty dark, but I just wasn’t ready for this moment to end. He intertwined our fingers and led me back to the road.
We sat back down by the campfire and I went back to staring at the flames. But this time, all I could see was his eyes looking down at me as we swayed