A Collection Of Intimate Moments With People I’m Not Necessarily Intimate With

It’s an early summer evening. He met me at the bus stop and has been carrying my chemistry folder while we walk. We reach a metal gate as golden hour arrives, and I sit on top of it looking out over the fields. He puts my folder down next to my discarded satchel and places his hands on my waist as I lean my knees into his chest. We talk and I can feel his muscles moving under his shirt as he laughs.

* * *

We dodge around each other in the bathroom, toothbrushes in hand, trying to stop toothpaste spittle escaping down our chins as we laugh.

* * *

Early morning. Before 7 a.m. I am on the banks of the Thames, listening to music through my earphones and watching the parakeets overhead, exotic flashes of lime-green in the English countryside. He makes me jump as he sits down beside me. I was lying on my back, but now I swing my legs around into the water. We talk about nothing until the others wake up, and later, when it is time to leave, his hand lingers on my waist after we hug goodbye.

* * *

We hold hands and spin on a path in a wood as sleet falls around us. My hands and nose are freezing but I’m smiling anyway.

* * *

The group video call has ended but we’re still texting. I should be going to sleep—I have work in the morning. Instead I am imagining being able to hear the sea from a moonlit cliff, thanks to the descriptions he is writing. He sends me a photo of the full moon, and instead of getting into bed, I go into the garden and gaze up at the same sky, my thoughts as distant as the stars.

* * *

He picks me up around my waist and spins me around the kitchen. Even when he puts me down, I am still giddy and giggling.

* * *

We are running around the edge of a lake. It is pouring with rain, but the humidity and the exertion keep us warm. We get to a jetty hidden from the opposite shore by trees and an inlet. I make a neat pile of my clothing at the end of the jetty and slip under the icy green water. He joins me and we gasp, embrace and swirl apart like currents.

* * *

Some time after midnight on a backstreet. On the walk home we have danced through the spectrum of human emotions. Heightened hysteria, drunken honesty, and raw emotion culminate in him crying into my shoulder. I hold him and treasure this rare moment of vulnerability.