His Touch, My Burning Desire

V

ant to get t

nes I'd procrastinate on until the last minute, and group chats that fizzled out b

me Natha

arely holding it together, and the next... I w

e he

he wor

ting to feel

s quieter. Slower. Like an echo that lingered in the corners of my day-while brushing my teeth,

small. That'

a.m. class. No note. Just my exact order, t

ame the

my poetry anthology. Inked beneat

reasons which reason

ourse, los

just smooth," she declared with all the force

. "It's a gesture. A cof

ng you. Not in a creepy way. In a 'I pay attention to what mat

ietly. But spira

g road before. And every time, it ended with me f

Thursday

out of the librar

class. I want to sh

ulse

invited me

excuse-making. I could say I was busy. S

, I typed a

O

Apa

ege place. No pizza boxes.

s inte

books. A turntable with worn vinyl stacked beside it. M

lege guy's apartment," I murmu

tea, calm as ever. "That's becau

ed an e

sixteen. Needed space. Structure. I've been working and

he held himself. The quiet

him. Like a center of gravity I had

alf-covered with a linen cloth. Beside it, a neat arrangement of paintb

n't know who she was at first. Just... someone that lin

ike he was checkin

, he pulled t

topped b

wa

iet storm in the expression. She-I-was seated cross-legged with a notebook in her lap, wind-blown hai

. "She's beautiful. Fierce. But... lik

ice low. "I saw her in a dr

m slowly. "And

aid simply. "Because suddenly, I reme

lled in my che

thought he'd be cool and aloof and hard

ep

erabi

t rush me. He didn't touch me. He ju

d someth

g. Not the poetr

ce he gave m

his wrist, just to feel something real

u showed me,"

mine. "I'm g

ped in something that wasn't quit

The scent of him stayed with me the whole way home. Zo

e that night with just

uth pressing warm

hing be

was

be I was

anted it