The rain was pouring hard now. I shielded my head with both of my arms as I sprinted the rest of the way to my house and across the front lawn. I was nearly to the safety of my front porch when I heard a voice through the sheets of rain.
"Gemma?" I knew the voice perfectly, but still I doubted. It couldn't possibly be him. He had left for the airport. He was probably halfway there by now. How could he possibly be here, in my front yard, saying my name?
I turned to the voice, and though my eyes were blurred by the puddles of water building up around my cheeks, I saw him standing there-not ten feet away from me. He was soaking wet and holding a handful of small rocks. And his face was full of vulnerability.
I was wet through by now, but I didn't notice. I didn't notice the thunder or the wind whipping my wet hair against my neck. The only thing I could see, the only thing that mattered, was Jess in his worn out blue jeans and his dripping wet T-shirt.
"I thought you were gone," I yelled over the roaring sounds of the storm. I pointed at his house behind me. "I went to your window... "
But there was no time to finish. Because while I was talking and pointing and explaining, Jess was coming toward me, one step at a time, his eyes locked with mine. It happened so quickly, and yet I captured every moment. His warm hands as they cupped my cold, wet cheeks. The curve of his left forearm as I grasped it with one hand while placing the other on his drenched chest. The delicious smell of his breath as he moved in without hesitation. And the creamy taste of his lips as they found their place perfectly between the crevices of my own. The thunder crashed around us. The lightning filled the darkened sky. Water streamed down our cheeks and off our noses and between our lips as we savored this final moment that we had together.
When the time came for us to separate-not because we wanted to but because we absolutely had to Jess opened his eyes with his hands still holding my face and said softly, "Viv called and said you came over." He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine. "It made me hope."
I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him toward me. I knew he was going to have to leave soon if he was going to make his flight. As hard as it was to let him go before the kiss, now it was a million times harder. But as we stood in the rain, holding onto each other with no intentions of letting go, I had to think of Dad's words from earlier that evening. As devastating as it was going to be to have to release my hold on Jess and let him drive away for the next three months, I knew that this wasn't the end. I knew that this was only the beginning of our story.
Some hours after Jess and I had given each other a hundred final kisses goodbye, I climbed into my soft, warm bed with dry pajamas on and my wet hair pulled into a ponytail. I longed to hear the tapping of a rock at my window. But I knew it wouldn't come. I ached to feel Jess's lips against mine just one more time. But I had to be grateful that I had felt that at all. I pulled my comforter up to my chin and stared out the window at the now clear sky. The summer storm had blown over, and from where I was lying I could see a thousand tiny, sparkling stars. After all that had happened-the big things and the small, the good and the bad-I finally fell asleep to the quiet and perfect memory of not my first, but my second kiss.
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