Seven Days in June

by Tia Williams

“No matter how perilous the journey, it’s never over for true soul mates. Who doesn’t want a connection that burns forever, despite distance, time, and curses?”

What was it like, the luxury of not hurting?

And I remember that I’m not lonely. I’m alone.

Alone doesn’t care that I don’t shave my legs in the winter. Alone never gets disappointed by me.” Eva sighed. “It’s the best relationship I’ve ever been in.”

Girls are given the weight of the world, but nowhere to put it down.

It was so thrillingly random.

The girl had been irresistible. This woman was something else entirely.

“I know too much,” he said, his words weighted with old pain. The kind that makes a home on the fringes of your thoughts forever.

Shane stared at her, eviscerated. Not lovable. Eva had no idea the effect she’d had on him. How he saw her. How could she not know?

“You burst into my solitude, demanding to be seen. You were overwhelming. Just wild and weird and brilliant, and I never had a choice. I liked everything about you. Even the scary parts. I wanted to drown in your fucking bathwater.”

Oh, he realized. I’m a person who doesn’t know when to stop.

The whole afternoon was delicious—so much so that Shane was already nostalgic for it before it had even ended.

It was like the space-time continuum had hiccupped, and they’d never not known each other.

She didn’t know this was something to need. His mouth traveled, restless, over her skin, down to where she was drenched. Then he sucked her till she shattered, tearing fistfuls of grass from the earth.

The day had left him in knots, and now Shane had a restless, bone-deep itch to be in her vicinity. He wanted to watch her do things, say things. Hold her hand, make her laugh. Fuck her senseless. Give her everything she hadn’t had in so long. Give her the best of him.

“Missing you never ends,”

Because hope was coiling up into her brain, like a snake piercing her with its fangs.

Grow up, she told herself. You know how this ends.

love you,” said Shane. “Dramatically, violently, and forever.”

“I’ve always loved you,” he whispered. “What a coincidence,” she whispered back. “I’ve always loved you, too.”

“I wanna be everything,” he said, his mouth against her ear. “Wanna be the reason you light up. I wanna make you laugh, make you moan, make you safe.”

“I want to be the thought that lulls you to sleep. The memory that gets you off. I wanna be where all your paths end.” He nipped her earlobe. “I wanna do everything you do to me.”

Maybe this was just her burden, to carry the weight of missing him forever.

And maybe that was what real, adult love was. Being fearless enough to hold each other close no matter how catastrophic the world became. Loving each other with enough ferocity to quell the fears of the past. Just fucking being there.