My feet trudged through the mud. It was still raining a day later, but I didn’t mind. I was well prepared this time. My jacket hugged my chest tightly and my umbrella barely missed the tree branches as I marched to the creek that night around eight o’clock. My plan was to stay there for as long as I could, and after the long day of four-wheeling and hunting, I believed that everyone would have fallen asleep by the time I’d come back.

            As soon as my left foot hit the sand after the drop off, I felt arms around me. I looked down at them, recognizing the pure white skin and long, skinny fingers. I tensed with a wide smile before they released me.

            “Put down that umbrella, silly. It’s embarrassing. I thought you liked the rain.” I didn’t, but in a desperate attempt to please him, I closed it and dropped it at my side. He stood next to me now, taking my hand and crossing the creek in front of us without a stumble. I, of course, tripped every step of the way, but he held onto me, no matter how hard I’d almost fallen. When we’d reached the other side, he looked at me and I studied his eyes. Coffee brown and full of mystery. However, something about them were oddly calming and familiar. I felt as if I could have stared into them until the rain stopped, which seemed like it would be eternity until then.

            His voice scratched against the low breeze as he told me to sit. I sat with my back against the large tree and my legs folded underneath me. I must have been smiling like a total idiot because the next thing I felt was a finger against the corner of my lips. When I’d directed my attention to him, he quickly twitched away and sat back against the tree.

            We talked for a while. It must have been hours because the sun had well dipped beneath the horizon a long time before he gestured for me to step into the water with him. He rolled his pant legs halfway up his calves, and I did the same. Using his hand to fish through the water, he pulled up a small lilypad floating in a sharp corner of the creek. He carefully carried it with both of his hands back to where I was. I inspected it, noticing a small flower budding on the top. He lifted the flower from the pad and set it in my hand before replacing the rubbery green in the water. The bud was a dark shade of green, from what I could see in the dark.

            “It’s a lotus,” he informed me, very sure of himself. “It’s closed right now, but it opens in the sunlight.” He came closer, running a finger across the bud as if nurturing it. “The Ancient Egyptians believed that the lotus flower brought the sun.” I held the bud in my hand as gently as I could while trying to think of something to say. “I was hoping it would remind you of me, maybe.”

            My eyes begged to tear up, but I wouldn’t let them. There was a certain something in his voice that persuaded me not to. Delicate and childlike once more, he closed my fingers around the bud and led my arm to my side. I slid it in my pocket. He hadn’t released me, and so I moved first. His fingers slid against my wrist until they touched mine. For a moment, I hesitated, but I successfully wove my own fingers into his. I watched the water rush against our ankles. What caught my eye was a twitch of his foot as he stood on his toes and brought his lips to my ear. No one was around, but he whispered to me as if what he was saying was the biggest secret in the world.

            “I like you, JR.”

            Every bit of blood in my body slowed to almost a stop as I felt his shallow breath against my ear. He lifted his hand from mine and placed it on my shoulder as he brought the soles of his feet back to the rock he was balancing on. I made the mistake of yawning, and he insisted on having a seat again. I knew I would fall asleep, and before I knew it, it was morning.

---

           The sand had dried and blown over me in the early morning. I looked to my side. Ren was gone from where he was when I’d drifted from consciousness, but I could still feel his palm in mine, his voice in my ear and his eyes against mine. I rose from my spot, rubbing at my back as I stood. Tosunnie must have been worried sick about me, if dogs could have gotten that worried, or worried at all. I picked up my umbrella from where I’d left it the night before, and hiked back to the cabin.

            I held my hand against my pocket. I grinned like a maniac. Anyone that would have seen me then could easily label me as insane or erted, though I had no reason to be either. I brought my free hand to my cheek and touched my ear. I wish I could have still felt his breath there. I shivered at the very thought of him being so close. It was almost unbelievable, everything he did and said. I still held onto the thought I’d had two nights before that there was some sort of angelic aura that surrounded him. The more I thought on how a being like he was possible, the more difficult his existence was to believe. I knew I felt him. I felt him and it was incredible.

            I carefully opened the screen door to find the kitchen empty. I searched the cupboard for a pot of sorts and filled it with water, setting the bud in the bowl with the small piece of leaf still left against the very top. I left it on the counter out of the way so no one could knock it over, and retreated to my room to find Tosunnie whimpering at the foot of my bed. His cries turned to pants and small yips of joy quickly as I plopped onto the bed without changing my clothes. The umbrella fell against the wooden floor, and my puppy curled against my chest just as soon as I rolled over. A whistling breeze rolled in through the window, and I could almost, if not actually, pick out the scent of him. I grinned as I closed my eyes. Tosunnie’s tail smacked against my arm, but I ignored it. I drifted into an uncomfortable but peaceful sleep, quite unable to shake Ren’s words from my eardrum.