Forest

 Tonight will take forever to end.

You can tell because the jangly guitars of her car music are blending into the darkening sky, because our laughter is the best feeling in the world and all we need, because when I'm staring at the diners and thrift stores flying by I can sense her taking me in and I know she likes it.

Tonight we'll have adventures too vivid to be real.

    We pull into the curving entrance to the lake and I know we're not supposed to be here. It's late- or early morning- and no one, we're told so often, is up to any good at those hours. Probably there's a law against us being here because probably the government thinks we'll come here to partake of illegal narcotics. This is, I promise, not the case.
We're both quiet as the car idles. I want to tell her that I'd be happy staying in this moment with her forever, that I don't need whatever big things are going to happen when she leaves. But those are the kinds of things I can never get out.        
    "Are you ready?" she whispers. "I'm kind of nervous."
    "Let's just do it."
    Layer by layer we peel away our clothes. I think it's easier for me because I've stopped feeling obliged to wear undergarments. In the moonlight, I catch a glimpse of her breasts. They are as large and beautiful as I knew they'd be.
    We open the car doors and feel the night surround our skin in a cool blast of summer and fleeting opportunity. We don't need words, anymore. I'm first to take off and I hear her started giggle behind me. She sprints to catch up, and we stare into each others' eyes, acknowledging the challenge. We race toward the moon, the horizon, and whoops and laughter emanate from us, unbidden. The noise makes a great echoing, and I know the land is voicing its agreement.
    We run until we're out of breath and we fall down because it's all we can do. I look up into the stars, into the big gaps between the stars, and wonder if any of them know that I need them to be there to look at.
    I look at her, and her hair is spilling all over her. I inch my body closer to hers until I can hear her shallow breaths, one, then the next in quick succession. I take her hand and can't believe how warm it is. Then, I stop pretending not to want her.
    I move my body over her and spread my legs around her little waist. Her breasts are still there. I am not ready for her to know my intentions with them. I lower my head and in the quiet we find each others' mouths. It is like, and not like, every other kiss: gentle at first, then more urgent. I catch her lower lip between my teeth, feel her tongue prowling about in my mouth. Everything in me is singing and feels taut like a string waiting to be plucked. With one hand, I begin to rub her breasts and she moans into my mouth like a guttural lament. My other hand is waiting to be deployed and as I feel it make its course down her torso to the place where she, too, is waiting, I know we are both ready. I am in love with my naked vixen and know no other desire.

    Afterward, we lie a long time in the grass. I feel like the sun might rise, soon; I feel like the sun will never rise again. I am trapped, as before, in the body of someone I don't know. But I have made love to a girl, to the entire world, and this brings me peace.