We sat around the small breakfast table, eating chocolate chip cookies and drinking a glass of coke.  Josh sat with his back toward the wall, and with me to his right.  Shelly kept glancing at me sideways and smiling a sneaky grin.  We talked about what we had planned for the afternoon, and what vehicle we would take down to the river.  Johnny offered up his Jeep, and I offered up my truck, since we wouldn’t have room in the Jeep for all six of us, tubes, drinks and camping gear, in the event we decided to stay at the river that night.

After each of us eating a half dozen of Molly’s Chocolate Chip cookies, we all wandered back outside, the basset hounds following close behind.  Shelly wanted to ride with me, and asked Josh if he minded riding with the guys.  He had no problem with it, and climbed into the back of the Jeep.  Johnny hollered, “Better hold on tight, it gets a little rough” and laughing all the while.

Josh grinned over his shoulder at me, and I smiled back.  Shelly and I finished packing up the truck, climbed in, rolled down the windows and turned up the radio.  Dierks Bentley blasted from the speakers as we headed off to a well worn path behind the house.  We bounced through mud holes, and jostled ourselves over huge bumps in the ‘road’, and about an hour later came to a clearing with an old fire pit, and flat well packed land.  As we came to a stop we could hear the rush of the river not to far away.  The sounds of the woody area rushed in at you, birds singing, bugs buzzing, and squirrels and other critters chittering.  I took a deep breath, and just started laughing.  Everyone stopped and looked at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Why are you laughing?” Josh said.

“Can’t a girl just laugh in the middle of a clearing in the woods?”

“Sure you can, as long as you’re not laughing at me.”  He flashed that disarming smile at me, I almost walked up to him and kissed him.  Right there.

“Get to work unpacking the truck.” I ordered as I smiled devilishly at him.

We all unloaded the truck, started a small fire in the fire pit, set up the tents, just in case.  Grabbed a cold soda out of the cooler, grabbed our tubes, and walked down to the river.  The sound of the river flowing was an instant relaxer for me.  It was such a soothing sound, and the feel of the water against my skin as I stepped in, was refreshingly shocking.  Josh followed close behind me, watching everything I did, to make sure he did it all the same way.  I plopped myself into my tube, close to the bank, in the shallow water, and pushed off to the center of the river.  Josh, Shelly and her brothers followed close after.  We floated lazily down the river, after a while, we all joined up in a chain.  I was in the lead, Josh behind me, Shelly behind him, and her three brothers fighting behind her.  we all just floated along, chit chatting and enjoying the sun.  After floating for about two hours, we came to another clearing, with an inlet of water that was deeper than the rest of the water.  I hopped out of my tube, into the deep water and swam to shore, everyone following suit behind me.  I casually tossed my tube up on the bank, and then swam back out to the calmer water.  The guys threw their shirts up on the bank, and I tossed my tank top up there.  Josh swam over to me, and splashed me playfully.  We all relaxed as we swam around, and splashed each other.

I, thinking I was being rather sneaky, swam up behind Josh and tried to dunk him under water.  He spun around and pulled me in close to him, pinning my arms to my side.  There we were, face to face, nothing between us but my lime green bikini top, and a pair of cut-offs.  I could feel his heart beating in his chest.  I could see my reflection in his eyes.  I could feel the warmth emanating from every part of him.  Our lips were barely an inch away from each other.

“I think I want to kiss you.”  He whispered, but it seemed so loud in my ears.

“I think I want you to kiss me.” I whispered back.

Everything around me seemed to go silent in the span of an second.  The air stopped moving, all I could hear was his soft breathing, and the beat of my heart in my ears.  He leaned in that last little inch and kissed me.  It felt like fire under my skin at the feel of his lips on mine.  It seemed like the world tilted and stopped.  What seemed like forever later, we both came up for air.  All my senses rushed back to me.  I could feel the warmth of both of our bodies, the smell of the trees and flowers, the sound of birds, bees and critters.

That is where it all really began, right there in that little pool of water.  My heart skipped a beat, my head grew light, and my eyes saw nothing but Josh.  The rest of the day and night were a blur.  I was so caught up in everything that was Josh, it seemed like my feet never touched the ground.

*                                        *                                      *

I finished my shower, and dried off, and ran a brush through my wet hair.  Looked at myself in the mirror.  I saw a beautiful girl with a confused heart and a beaten soul.  Where do I go from here.  Guess we will see….

More to come….