robert

robert had inexplicably turned up in our circle again and much to my surprise all the sparks were still firing between us. i did my best to keep it light, but more than once we held each other's eyes a bit too long. 'nothing is there.', i said to my friends, 'it's just familiarity disguising itself as current attraction.' they traded raised eyebrows and skeptical smirks among each other but they let me be all the same.

a few gatherings and dinners had found robert and i near each other and everything seemed easy about it- all part of a particularly good summer and it was fun. we never tried to find each other alone even though as the nights grew hotter and the days elongated into what felt like perpetual twilight my increasingly perfect mojitos were blurring all the clear lines. we drank without caution from a cool, endless, minty, lime-y, spring-fed, rum-soaked stream.

after one saturday dinner party, midnight found me trotting after him with his forgotten jacket in my hand. when he heard my footsteps, he turned turned abruptly toward me and the serious look on his face stopped me dead in my tracks. 'don't,' he said, 'it's not safe.' i took in his words and after a beat i said, 'oh. yes, right.' and i turned back toward the house. he was 10 yards away from me, but i could hear him break into a full run after me. in an instant we were both running as fast as we could, which was difficult because we were both falling apart with laughter.