The moon shone through the blanket of night, lighting our path to the river. My nerves were instantly calmed by the familiar chirp of the crickets and trickle of the water. The water sparkled and gleam, as if purified by the glow of the moon.

I was still unsure about what I was doing here…With him. We’d only known each other a day, and I’d said yes to a late night meeting by the river. I felt excited but doubtful. There were so many ways it could go wrong. But when he took my hands in his, my mind went blank, putting my uneasy thoughts at rest. I was only focused on what was happening now. He looked at me with his kind blue eyes that glimmered with wonder and hope. I wondered what he saw in my eyes. Some say eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. Could he see how I felt about him as clearly as if it was written on my forehead?

I involuntarily stopped breathing, and it takes me a few seconds to realize it was because he was leaning toward me so our lips were no more than an inch apart. I didn’t know what to do. I’d never been so close to a moment like this. I’d never kissed a boy. Would it make my heart leap out of my chest or my stomach flutter? Would it feel dead and awkward? Where were my hands supposed to go; his neck or waist? Was I meant to keep my hands where they were, resting in his?

He seemed to sense my uneasiness to the situation because he whispered, “Don’t move.”

As soon as I felt the warm breath of his whisper tickle my lips, I was in a trance, and then I felt warm lips on mine. Naturally, our hands fell apart, and his moved to cup my face. Mine decided to rest around his waist, casually. He kissed me thoroughly, and I comforted myself by thinking that I couldn’t be doing that bad if it felt this good. Kissing him was like taking a breath of fresh air. I had been renewed under the pale light of the full moon by his captivating kiss.

After pulling away, he looked at me with new curiosity and interest rather than uncertainty. I hoped he could see the same in my eyes. One of his hands was still fitted to the curve of my face, and he stroked my cheek with his thumb. I caught myself smiling uncontrollably, and when he smiled back, I couldn’t help but blush. He took my hand and led me down to the water. We stopped just at the edge riverbank. With a wicked grin, he tickled my sides, forcing me into a fit of laughter and squeals. He then grabbed me by the waist and lifted me off the ground. I giggled as my bare feet swung out in front of me, and he spun us around. He pulled me down in the grass so we were side by side.

“This is perfect,” I sighed, looking up at the starry country sky.

He propped himself up on one elbow to look at me. “Dance with me,” he grinned.

I laughed, “There’s no music!”

He stood, offering me his hand. He pulled me up, close enough to him so that he could loosely wrap his arms around me.

“Sure there is,” he said. “We got the river and the crickets.”

He tugged my arms around his neck, “And this.”

I gave him a look of confusion, and he chuckled. He started singing the chorus to old country songs, swaying us back and forth. Even though his voice was off-key and he purposefully made it sound goofy, his eyes remained serious as we looked at each other. I couldn’t help but laugh and lean into his shoulder like we had done this a thousand times before.

We stayed like that for I don’t know how long, even after we ran out of songs to sing, so we danced to the music of nature.