The waves beneath the dock flowed quickly. The wind on this particular evening was blowing slightly harder than usual. It made for a nice breeze that cooled down the day.
The hammock rocked slowly with the wind. Their bodies had been intertwined for several hours as they napped in the afternoon sun. He awoke to a chill from the wind that made his body jump. He hoped he hadn’t woken her up. But the movement of her legs and arms told him he had.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to wake you up”, he said.
She snuggled herself into him even more. “No problem. I didn’t realize we had fallen asleep.”
“Kind of nice, isn’t it?” he yawned.
He could feel her smile next to his chest. She looked up to the sky. Clouds had overtaken the afternoon sun, and the bright light they had climbed into not so long ago had turned to a blue gray blanket above them.
She shuffled to get up, making sure not to tip them off balance.
“No, don’t go. Stay here with me”, he said.
She stood up on the creaky dock and looked out to the water. He watched her from his lazy position. Her long hair was blowing in the wind, and he could see the outline of her body as the wind blew her dress against her skin.
She stood there, staring at the lapping water below. Her body didn’t move. She turned around slowly and looked into his eyes.
“Dance with me”, she said. Her voice was calm, but there was a current of determination infused within it.
He slowly got up and out of the hammock’s embrace and stepped into hers. She held him close. Tight at first, as if she were protecting him. Protecting them. But after a few minutes, her grasp became softer. And slowly, even with no music playing, they swayed back and forth until they were one being, moving in unison.
A drop of water fell on her face. The next fell on top of her head and splashed onto his cheek.
“It’s starting to rain”, he said. He backed his head away from hers to see her face. She looked up to meet his gaze.
“So?”
Her look had changed.
“We’re going to get wet if we stay here”, he said.
As if all of the love and want and desire and frustration and uncertainty and hope and desperation she felt was about to burst out of her, she smiled. And a small tear ran down her cheek.
“Then we’ll get wet.”
