With Ben

The forest was alive in ways I hadn’t heard in a while. I didn’t want to compare tonight to my first time with Sam, my first time period, but it was hard not to as Ben and I walked hand in hand between the trees, the flowers puffing out their fragrant glitter, the fireflies twinkling and leading us on, the soft hum of insects and night birds creating a melody softer and more beautiful than anything I’d heard at the dance. Ben walked confidently beside me, no longer frightened of what was about to happen but as committed to it, as committed to me as ever.