Amour de jeunesse - Histoires de Sexe

Amour de jeunesse

... about being in Duluth, Minnesota in February, you can imagine how much that sucked. My heart ached in empathy for her, and I actually teared up a little. Thankfully the wind was shifting around, so I could pass it off as just getting smoke in my eyes.

Melissa continued her story, about how the people who had taken her in offered her a part time job to work as a cashier in their store. She worked evenings and weekends until she graduated high school, at which point she got a small apartment south of town. She still worked at their shop, but now pretty much ran the place, which the owners were ecstatic about because it finally gave them the opportunity to do some traveling.

As I listened, I became more and more in awe of Melissa. Let's use me as an example to compare and contrast. I'm of average height for a guy, with an average build. Melissa is slightly above average for a girl, with a fit and toned body. My face isn't particularly handsome. Again, very average. She has the heart-shaped face of an angel. I live at home with my parents. I don't pay rent. I have an okay job, but what money I make, I tend to spend frivolously. She has her own apartment, a good job, and is saving her own money to go to college next year.

I couldn't do anything but watch her as she talked. I noticed tiny details that I never even thought to look for on anyone else; How her neck moved when she talked, how she flipped her head to get her hair out of her face, how every time our eyes met, ...

... her smile would get just a little bit wider. I felt utterly unworthy to be in the presence of such a glorious creature.

As the night went on, people went off to their beds in their campers and tents, or one of the four beds in the cabin and it's three season porch. Eventually it was just me and Melissa. She came over and sat right next to me, resting her head on my shoulder and gazing into the glowing remnants of the fire.

"I've missed coming here." She said quietly. "It's so peaceful."

"I missed you." I replied.

She looked up at me and smiled. "I've missed you too."

For a long time we sat there in silence just staring at the red and orange coals. Eventually they were dying away, and we began to see our breath in the increasingly chilly air. Melissa yawned. Even the way she did that was beautiful to me.

"I think it's time for bed." I whispered to her.

She nodded in agreement, and I walked with her to where our tents were. She gave me a tired hug, said goodnight, and went into her tent. I entered my own tent, stripped down to my underwear (I always sleep in just my boxer briefs) and crawled into my sleeping bag. It was one of those big old school ones, not one of those small mummy bags. It had enough room inside for me to really sprawl out, and was plenty warm enough for camping in just about any kind of weather. I'm pretty sure I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I awoke to a rustling in the leaves outside my tent. My first thought was that it ...