I remember it all in graphic detail. We were sitting by the fire. There was nobody else out there on the hill, just the two of us talking about school. Out on the lake, the sun's colours reflected the warm summer day coming to an end.
"Haha, I know! Math is so annoying!" I exclaimed.
"I wish I could burn my math book!" He said smirking. We both smiled and looked at the warm blazing fire. Neither of us said anything. We just sat there staring into the hot coals covered by the bright flames. Such a perfect moment. His deep blue eyes gleamed with the light of the fire. He broke the silence.
"The last song is on... Do you wanna go dance?" He asked. I nodded and smiled.He took my hand and we walked up the steps. I recognized my favorite song and could't help but grin. But when we entered the softly lighten room, my expression changed. I was somehow confused. Everyone was tightly hugging and kissing. Where I lived, we didn't have this at dances or parties. Suddenly, I felt it inside of my stomach, just when he placed his hands around my hips. My stomach was filled with butterflies, or dragonflies, maybe even fruit flies. I wasn't sure. I only knew that it was filled with some sort of flies. Circling round and round as I put my hand around his neck. We started up just holding each other with, like, a foot in between us. But somehow, after a minute or so, we ended up closer than I'd expected. We were tightly hugging, just like other people in the room, closer than I'd ever thought of being. I rested my head on his chest and let the moment linger.
We swayed slowly for all of the song. A few times a long the way, he hugged tighter. These were the moments when I felt the most butterflies. This was the last thing I'd imagined for the night. But it was now happening. I could hear his heartbeat, and my head was so close to his chest. I even caught a whiff of his Cologne.
The song started fading away, and I could feel him pulling me close. The lights that before were dim shone really bright. As part of my summer camp's tradition, I got my camp t-shirt, that I'd left elsewhere, and we exchanged shirts, then he put mine on.
"Do you wanna go outside?" He said smiling. Without being able to pronounce a word, I nodded. He took my hand and we walked out of the room and approached the fire. This time, instead of staring at the fire, we looked at each other.
But as I felt us leaning closer in, I heard someone yell:
"Guys! you aren't supposed to be out here! The girls need to go now!"And that was the end of the moment. We walked towards the camp vans.
"Thanks so much for tonight. It was awesome" I said grinning. He smiled back at me. "But I need to go now, thanks"
I hugged him, and he hugged back. Real tight.
Then, I ran to the camp van. When I looked back, He had disappeared in the crowd of boys bragging about their dates. It was late already. Under the bright moonlight, I inspected his shirt. Navy blue with a white D at the top left corner. My cousin Rex, came from behind and said: "Hey! I see you actually got a shirt! Great Job, Ingrid". I pretty much ignored her. I was lost inside my mind. I wanted to keep talking to him, to know him better. The only thing I new about him was that his name was James, he was from Vermont, and he hated math. That was helpful. We sang our camp's goodbye song and I got into the van. We slowly moved away from that place. Where the unimaginable had happened to me, Ingrid, the socially awkward kid. As we drove away I fell asleep in the car.
A week later, I ran to check the mail. I found nothing from my parents, as usual, But I found a letter with my name on it, and no return address. I opened it, and started reading the messy handwriting. The note was pretty empty. All it said was:
Hey Ingrid.
Meeting you was fun. It was really cool. And your t-shirt smells pretty good.Thanks a lot for that night.
Hope you had fun too. Let's keep in touch please.
-James.
P.S. When we were by the fire at the end of the night, I intended to kiss you.
Thanks!
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