The fear of getting caught, The recklessness in water
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.
Nightswimming - R.E.M
. . .
"Why are you trying to climb over the fence?" I laughed, jangling the Tompkins house keys in my hand, at Noah who had already got one leg over.
The cycle to the house had been quite exhilarating, as Noah weaved out in front, calling back for me to pick up the pace as we rode through the town and up to Seventh where the street lighting became scarcer and darker.
I had to pull Noah back, when he dumped his bike on the lawn and plead with him to be quiet and go round the side, where the laundry room door was - the only lock my key had any use for.
It seemed his patience wasn't that great because he'd already started up the large wooden fence before I could get down the narrow path, batting away cobwebs and trying not to fall into the rose bushes.
"Sorry, got carried away." Noah replied grinning, hoisting his leg back over, and dropping down onto his feet. "Door's probably a good idea."
"You need to be quiet, otherwise you're going to wake up the whole neighbourhood." I whispered, slightly concerned that any minute one of the neighbours at the end of the street would be alerted to our plan. "Make sure you take off your shoes before you go into the next room, they've just had new carpet put down."
"Alright." he laughed quietly, slipping them off and preceding into the dark laundry room.
Carefully I closed the door behind us, and felt my way across, dodging the washing machine and piles of dirty clothing. I'd had to pull Noah back again, to stop him from tripping over the ironing board that had been carelessly left by the door to the hallway.
"Good save." he mouthed, tip toeing through until we reached the large open kitchen, the wide patio doors revealing the dim, moonlight lit pool that we had been waiting and longing for.
Searching for the outside lights, Noah told me to leave them off so I fumbled around in draws instead until I found a patio key, pulling them back slowly and letting him slip out first.
Wide-eyed and ready to dive in, he silently gestured for me to get in as he took off his shirt and shorts. Just seeing him stood by the edge of the pool in nothing but boxers was enough to send my beating heart into overdrive, along with the nerves of sneaking into the house.
"Come on Scar."
Struggling to remove my own clothing and covering my stomach with a towel, I paced round the edge, to see which end was the shallowest so that I didn't break my legs jumping in.
As Noah disappeared under the water, the light on the pool streaking across his body I quickly pulled on bikini bottoms and cautiously sat on the edge, letting my toes soak up the gloriously cool water.
"Get in." he whispered again, shaking his wet hair so it fanned out in every direction.
"In a minute." I hissed, flicking water back at him.
"We didn't come here so you could sit there and just admire it."
"Okay, okay." I said giving in, letting go of the side and sinking to the bottom. When I resurfaced, Noah was beside me, treading the water.
Gentle waves lapped and fizzed around us, as I kicked my legs back and launched myself over to the other side. Letting the chilly water slip between my fingertips and across my spine, blissfully.
Noah was now floating effortlessly on his back, arms stretched out, wonderful face focused on the canopy of bright stars above. The light under him glowed and so I swam beneath, to touch it and reach the bottom.
Coming back up for air, Noah asked me to join him even when I protested that I'd never mastered the art of floating.
"It's easy, just align your body like this." he instructed. "Make sure you're parallel to the water."
"Not helping." I stuttered, my head dipping under the water as I struggled to stay a float. "Can't I just look up?"
"It won't be the same, look just hold my arm and steady yourself."
Adjusting my body and stretching myself out as flat as I could, my cheeks low and legs straight I found that I was indeed floating, gliding on the water next to Noah, effortlessly.
"So if you look directly above you." he began, pointing up at a cluster of bright stars. "You can see that one, right there."
"Okay."
"And it looks like just one star right?" he whispered. "But really it's not. It's actually a binary star, in which two stars are linked by their mutual gravity orbit, around a central point of mass."
"It's all going a little over my head Noah." I quietly laughed, feeling my weight pull down and threaten my perfected float. "They just look like the other stars, over there." I said pointing at another set.
"Well what makes them cool is that unlike other stars, the Multiples or Double stars, these pair up, close to each other and are bound together by mutual gravitational attraction. Like those two there, have found each other and paired up to create something extraordinary, something brighter than the rest."
Threading his fingertips between mine he pointed again and said softly. "Those two up there are like you and I."
"Oh." I mumbled, the beauty of his words caught in my throat. Letting the weight of them sink in and wash over me.
My mind was drowning in speculating what he could have meant by it, did he really just compare us to the marvellous stars above, those bound together by mutual attraction. Did it really matter if I ignored the gravitational part and just hoped for the best?
Silence fell over us, as we both eyed the stars, fingers still intertwined, our heads just above the waters so close I could feel the warmth from his cheek and his muscles, firm in his arm as it lingered beside me.
I'm not sure who let go first, but the loss of his hand in mine made my chest heavy, my feet begging to touch the bottom of the pool. I swam back to the edge where there was a small incline, taking the pressure off treading the waters and giving my legs a rest.
Noah eventually joined me, the stars light bouncing off the pool, illuminating his features and the colour of his big eyes.
"You were right, I'm glad we came." I said, letting my body bob up and down softly in the water.
"Best idea yet." Noah smiled as he ruffled his hair, droplets spraying everywhere.
"Best idea." I repeated warmly.
Closing the small watery gap between us in one swift moment, Noah's fingertips caressed my cheek, and I found my own brush along his jaw.
Breath in. Breath out.
Shivers rippled through my entire body, wishing for the oncoming waves to hit because just his touch had reduced me to a trembling wreck.
"Noah." I whispered, feeling my breath come back as he looked into my eyes and brought his lips to mine.
And then he kissed me, soft as a feather and as light as the breeze. With my eyes closed I let his lips pursue mine, his chest pressed close against me and everything and nothing mattered, all at the same time.
.
It was magnificent.
.
Pulling me closer still, Noah caressed my neck, slowly until his mouth was planting small tiny kisses away from mine and across my collarbone. So soft and tender, until our hold intensified as he came back to meet my lips and kissed me harder, making up for lost time. Smooth and sweet, he tasted like sunshine. Like vanilla.
I knew that the touch of his strong hands weaved in my hair, the small smile on his lips as he let me catch a breath and the way he kissed me, like he was creating something brighter, something extraordinary would occupy my thoughts forever more.
"Scarlett." Noah sighed, breathlessly as I slipped my arms around his shoulders, his big wide eyes swallowing me whole.
Again our lips found their way, forming a steady, intoxicating dizzy rhythm that could never be reversed.
And as Noah's eyes caught mine and he planted light feather kisses along my eyelids, I knew that nothing would ever quite be the same again.
. . .