James is staring at Sky for far too long. He doesn’t know how to respond to her question. His heart is beating so hard he can feel it in his head and at the ends of his fingertips.

“Well are you going to at least answer me?” Sky says with a firm and definitive tone.

James looks into her eyes. He sees for the first time probably how her eyes the blue has a yellow ring around it and that she has a freckle on her left eyelid. When she is nervous she starts to pull at the fabric on her right side. He just can’t get an answer to form though. He’s nervous of screwing this up. He stammers and scratches the back of his head and breathes a heavy sigh. He backs up two steps and spins in a circle.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to come up with an answer James.” Sky says with a soft and hurt tone this time. Her guard is down and she is allowing herself to feel vulnerable. Which is not something James is used to.

James can feel a small bead of sweat forming from all the stress he is feeling. His breath is shaky and he feels dizzy from the beat of his heart.

“Sky…….Sky it’s not easy. I look at you and I see things. I see where my life could go and that freaks the crap out of me. You scare me.” James says as he is looking everywhere around the deserted parking lot. Any where, but sky’s face now.

“You see things?” Sky ask. “Look at me please. You scare me to. All the guys I’ve been with have left me empty and broken. I have so much baggage, but when I’m with you it seems like all that was small and insignificant. You carry the weight of that baggage like it weighs nothing. So effortlessly. It scares me that maybe you will just drop it all on me and I’ll get crushed worse than I ever have been before.”

James now feeling the heaviness of the conversation looks at Sky and is determined to maintain eye contact and not wuss out. He starts off saying, “Yes, I see things. I see a small apartment because that’s all we can afford. I see a loveseat and a recliner like my old man has that was gifted to us by the sweet old neighbors next to your mom. I see a barely big enough bed for the two us, but that doesn’t matter because we both sleep in the middle with every part of us touching. I see dishes pulling up and you getting frustrated with me because I keep adding to the pile. I see a tired you and a tired me coming home from our crappy jobs to barely cover rent and groceries, but we don’t care that we keep eating ramen 100 different ways trying to make it fancy. I see kids. Definitely years from now and not this minute, but i see kids.” James adds nervously. “I see all of that when I look into yours and you give me that smile.”

Sky’s face turns red. Her heart stammers. Her breathe is heavy and she takes a step closer to James in that deserted parking late.

James takes up the space and grabs her hand and with the other cups her cheek.

Sky says, “once you do this, you can never go back. You understand?”

James swallows hard and breathes in and then kisses her. Pulls back and says “I’m a goner anyways. You already got me.”