The night air was cool, the moisture that usually was spread throughout it wasn't as prominent as most sticky nights. Fireflies drifted with a purpose throughout the darkening night, sending wisps of flourecent light through the night. My pathway to my garage and driveway was of clammy cement, I kicked off my tevas, my feet longed for the smoothness. I looked over my random wildflowers and bent over to pick a Violet. My feet kept on moving, though my brain had gone numb. My mouth was parched, and a bowling ball was in my stomach. The song was rewinded, then played again, I knew who I'd see when I rounded the corner and faced the driveway. I absentmindedly pushed my damp hair behind my ear, my knees seemed watery and fragile. Too delicate to walk on this hard cement, I wanted to stop and sit, and think. It wasn't fair, he had the whole trip, whether he took a plane or drove to think about what he was going to say. You had years to think about that, my conscience voiced. I fiddled with my violet, and walked slowly, my toes slowly scraping the cement with every step. One step in front of the other. Left. Right. Left. Right. The corner was two steps away from my feet, one. Now let's see how brave you are.

Kris ran around to the window on the east side of the house, trying to see who had come. She knew that Lane had known who it was. As soon as she heard 'Yesterday' she had known. But it wasn't a song that Kris had known that she'd had as a favorite. She always skipped it whenever she put in the red album from the Beatles. It was just something that she'd always done, but never explained. That was Lane's way of saying that it was something that she couldn't deal with, one of her worst traits. Looking out the window she saw an old, coal colored thunderbird. She could barely make out the back half of a boy, his light, corn colored blond hair was back in a loose ponytail, he was leaning against the car, periodically reaching back into the car to fool with something. There was a huge golden lab in the back, with his head sticking out the window. The dog was clearly confused. 'His master must be pretty upset about something' Kris' thoughts wandered. She longed to get a better seat, but that looked to be pretty impossible with the only wasy to clearly see them was to go into the garage, where they could just as clearly see her. Kris sighed, brushing back her unruly red mane. She slowly walked to the kitchen, her feet making soft plops on the natural wood floor. She reheated her cocoa and sat at the kitchen table, picking up her tarot cards. She closed her eyes as she sipped the warmth that still tasted good in the summer and began to play with the large cards. Good luck Laney, this is brand new to you honey.

Taylor was leaning against some old black car, I caught a friendly but distressed face of a golden lab, his honey brown eyes concentrating on Taylor. He'd changed a bit. A little taller, he'd put on around five pounds, it looked good, he was still a little too thin the last time I'd seen him. In the darkening evening light, he looked a bit more tan, more brown. His eyes raised to mine, and I almost dropped the forgotten violet. Those eyes burned. I felt my salvia gathering in my throat, and quickly swallowed. My toes had completely lost their feeling, I felt as if I was losing my sense of balance, I stepped back to catch it.

"Hi." My simple word came out as a whisper.

"Hey." He reached inside the car and turned off the tape. The dog immeadiately started licking him as soon as he reached inside. He shushed him off. His eyes went to the dock behind my house. "I missed you."

"Did you drive? I mean, from Tulsa?" My words sounded fake, I already knew the answer.

"Yeah." I stepped to him, my legs regaining more feeling.

"Thank you." My lips grew pursed, I didn't know what else to do, there was so much to say, I didn't know how to start.

"Lane, I'm sorry. This hasn't stopped since you left, I can't go back to when I didn't know you." I knew what he was speaking of. "I can't stop this, and I need to clear this up, this cloud has come down and I can't...I just can't.." His face grew small and frusterated. I stepped in.

"You don't know if it would've worked if we'd tried back then."

"Yeah." Silence came. His dog looked at me, then Taylor, not understanding the ice and tears that were between us, he woofed to him. Taylor smiled and put his hand on the dog, who began to bathe it with slobber. His voice came so softly I could hardly hear it. "You really hurt me, I told you I understood." He paused to lift his eyes from the lab to me. "I didn't. I thought if it was real, then it'd survive."

"It has." I whispered, my vocal chords soft. "I ran from you because I didn't want it to barely survive, I wanted it to be constant. And I knew it couldn't be just then."

"You left me."

"I had to." My head tilted to the side, not wanting to deal with that.

"I thought you were going to stay, I thought I had you." I didn't reply, he needed to get this out in front of me. "I thought that could've had relationships like what we had. Technically it was a simple, one night stand, yeah it was. I couldn't believe it happened so quickly, you were there, then you ran. I see it as running, you were scared. Lane, all I want to start with this again, to see if it would work, that's it. If it doesn't, then maybe I'll be okay with it, and I can continue with life, but I doubt it. If it does.." His voice drifted, I was lost in his sea of blue. I stepped closer to him, and embraced that same figure that I had dreamed of for so long. Every aspect was still there, his arms held me tightly. I smelled his same, Taylor boy smell. I laid my head on his shoulder, his black teeshirt soft against my hot cheek. His embrace was warm, lighter now, less tight, he put his hands in my still damp hair and laid a gentle kiss on my wet lips. We let go.

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Oklahoma Oooookay." I said in a still weak sing songy voice.

"You'll come?" His voice was as grateful as the smile he gave me.

"In two weeks, to see how that goes." Just as I finished, he grabbed me in a bear hug. "Ack! Okay! Okay!" We laughed together, the sound was so comforting.

"You actually watch musicals?" His eyebrow comically rose.

"They're really sexist, the old ones, but I love 'Oklahoma!' I have the tape inside."

"Ever since you found out I was from their?" His tone was joking.

"No, don't flatter yourself there pardner."

"Well I reckon I don't have to, 'cause I got all them pertty youngin's screamin all over tha place fer me." I softly punched his stomach.

"They're a lot better then when you first came out, you actually get a bit of total silence every once and a while."

"Really? We have these serious ear plugs that block out everything, so basically we can't even tell."

"They've started to act their age finally, and you guys don't even know, that's hilarious." His dog let out a left out woof.

"Hey meet Julian." I stuck out my hand, which Julian sniffed, then licked.

"He trained?" Taylor looked offended.

"Of course, you think I live out in the woods or something?"

"Well, I do. Let him out then, I used to have a dog, so we still have some dog stuff saved."

"What happened to it?"

"Got run over. We'd only had it for a couple months."

"And you didn't get a new one?"He seemed puzzled, as if it was the law or something.

"Didn't feel capable, so we have some Puppy Chow, or whatever."

"That's okay, I got one of those 20 pound bags in the back."

"So, you wanna come in?" He smiled at my question.

"Yeah."