That One Kiss
“Would you have wanted me to kiss you?” he asked
Behind the screen, she trembled
Teasing was her best defense
To calm down her beating heart
She typed…
“I let you hold my hand… what did that tell you?”
How could she know?
That the 15 year old boy at camp
The one who had pursued her relentlessly
Had awakened in her stranger fluttering sensations
Throbbing realities of a feeling
She hardly understood
How could she know
That the 45 year old man he’d become
The one behind the screen
Had never forgotten her
Still wanted her
After all these years...
“It thought you wanted to cross the street," he shot back.
“A sense of humor? I don’t remember that,” she countered.
Still unsure…with feelings raw
They joked
Back and forth
A volley of questions
Comments
Cut from the fabric of their hearts
Reconnecting
Picking up where they'd left off
Unresolved questions
Tentative players
In this game
Typing away
Hearts aflame…
“Yes, you should have kissed me...
Now I will never know what it would be like”….
Her fingers flew across the keyboard
Serving the fireball of a comment
That had been searing her heart
All these years
Why hadn’t he kissed her?
Heart pounding…she now waited for his response
The man she never forgot
For a moment
They were back at camp
Summer sun
Sand and fun
Beautiful Mediterranean beach
Sizzling heat
She 13….he 15
What had they known about love?
About passion?
“I didn’t know how you’d react…
I wasn’t man enough."
What could she say to this man?
Her first love?
The one whose hand she had held
Behind her brother’s back at campfire…
After all these years…
She’d found him
After wondering why
She had her answers
He’d never forgotten her
That kiss…..
Hung between them
Throbbing with pain
Trembling with promise
Now driving them both insane…
What would it have been like
That kiss….
Would it have changed....destiny?
Sealed their young love in a forever pact?
Now…they’d never know
A chapter they could not reopen
Perhaps, it was never meant to be
But how those memories had stayed
To haunt them in the night
What might it have been like
Had they shared
That gentle sweet
Wispy and tender
Light as a young lover's dream...
That ONE kiss….
Eileen Manassian Ghali
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