Pg. 15

When I woke up, he'd gone. It was the first time he'd snuck in my window. Sometimes he'd come and sit under it and we'd talk. Those times when I wasn't allowed out, those times when I had to sit in my room and hide. Then, if he needed me, he'd come and be patient.

Climbing in my window was new. And it was dangerous. And I loved him for doing it.

But he'd left while I was asleep. I moaned, softly, into my pillow. I turned over. And found him, standing at the door, watching me. When he saw that I was awake, he smiled and put his finger to his lips.

"Shh," he said. "They've all gone out, did you know they were leaving?"

Of course I didn't, it wasn't something I needed or cared to know. And so they'd gone and I was alone in my room with Aaron and he was walking slowly over to the bed, a smile around his eyes.

"Have you forgiven me?" He asked. And of course I nodded. As if there were any danger of my not forgiving him. Which of course there wasn't, and he knew it. He smiled before I even agreed.

He knelt in front of the bed and smiled. "Wanna play a game?" He asked. The butterflies in my stomach took flight and caught fire.

"What kind of game?" I asked.

He smiled. "It's like the skybusting game. Watch." And he closed his eyes and reached out his hand to touch me. He rested his palm on my stomach and held his breath. When I didn't do anything, he moved his hand slowly up, over my top, and stopped at my right breast.

I couldn't move. My breath caught and he opened his eyes. He smiled at me, wistfully, quizzically, and smiled, questioning. But I didn't move, didn't say anything. Didn't know if it would be possible to do either, and it probably wasn't. He took his hand off my breast and climbed back onto my bed. He lay down next to me and fell directly asleep.

All I could do was lie there.