Anything But Mine….
Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone. ~Author unknown
He stood at the end of the pier, the slowly sinking sun turning his hair to spun gold. He turned at the sound of her footsteps, his eyes the warm, clear blue of the cloudless sky above. "Didn't think you'd come tonight," he murmured as a slow smile bent the corners of his mouth. "You said you had a lot to do before leaving tomorrow."
"I do," she blurted. "I mean, I was going to but decided it could wait." She toyed absently with the end of her ebony braid. "That's not important. This is."
The smile broadened to a grin as he turned to face her fully. "Is it?" He gave the braid a tug and laughed at her startled jump. "Funny but I thought you said this was just a silly way to pass the time. Was I mistaken?"
She shifted foot to foot but kept her gaze steady. "No, I was." She moved closer and rested her elbows on the railing. "There's nothing silly about this."
Calloused fingers encircled her wrist and then slid down the back of her hand to twine with hers. She savored the touch and the warmth, bending to rest her cheek against their clasped hands. "Why can't we stay right here forever," she said softly. "Freeze this moment and live in it."
He laughed, breath catching on the lump in his throat. "Because you have to go and I have to stay, Katniss. It's not fair but it's what has to happen."
She tilted her head to look up at him, eyes misty with unshed tears. "I could come back….maybe on weekends or you could come to me. We could try, Peeta. This doesn't have to be all there is. It doesn't."
Hope, elusive and ephemeral, flared in his eyes for a blessed brief instant before fading. She looked away, daubing at wet cheeks with a rough hand. His following after was gentle, regretful and she couldn't stop herself from leaning in…prolonging the contact for one second more. "We could spend what time we have left sad that we didn't get a few minutes more, bitter that it couldn't go on, crying because it's not fair….or we could accept it, take it for what it is, and not waste a second of it. I know that I love you, Katniss. I think part of me will stay here with you always."
"And that will be enough?" She asked.
"Not enough," he took her hand and raised it to his lips before placing it on his chest right above his heart. It thumped out a reassuring rhythm against her palm. "Never enough. But it's what we get and I'll take it. I'm greedy, Katniss. I want every damned second."
They stayed twined together as they watched the sun tip over the horizon. It sent out one last burst of light before giving way to the encroaching dark…a heady mixture of purple, pink and orange that unfurled like skeins of silk across the sky. The waves kept time as the seconds ran one into the other. Finally, he felt her stir and looked down to see a smile tugging at her lips.
"What brought that on?" He wondered aloud. "The smile, I mean."
"I get it," she confided. "What you meant when you said you didn't want to waste it. I know what you mean."
He couldn't stop the question that tumbled out, "And?"
She turned in his arms, rising on tiptoe to brush his lips lightly with hers. "I think we have a lot of memories to make before my plane leaves. If this is what we get, I want to make the most of it."
He reeled her back in, pressing a kiss to her forehead before finding her mouth with a kiss that left her wide-eyed and breathless. "Then that's what we'll do," he muttered against her lips.
"That's what we'll do," she repeated.
Their fingers threaded together as he led her laughing into the balmy star-strewn night.