The+Kiss

The program was nearly at its end. We only had one more lift before my almost life-fulfilling moment was over. My heart sunk, but I kept a smile plastered on my face as we passed the judges and the audience. He wrapped his arms around me to execute our intricate final lift; I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I had always dreamed of having him hold me - except, I had wanted it to be out of love and affection and tenderness, not just because we had a move that needed to be executed.

 He put me down and we struck our ending pose. It was the kind of position that you would see in a romance movie, where the couple-to-be starts dancing, the girl leans back, and the two lock eyes and kiss. It was excruciating for me - being so close to him, yet not close enough.

 He brought me back up and we took a bow. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Good job." Part of me felt euphoric, like I was floating on cloud nine; that was the kind of affect he had on me. Two simple words and I practically melted. However, another part of me sunk into a depressive funk. Our moment was over, forever. The only way to relive this would be through memories, and that would never be enough.

 We had just started skating towards the exit when the plan rapidly unfurled in my mind. It was risky, but if there was ever a time to follow through, it was now.

 I stopped where I was, about halfway to the exit, and pulled him to a stop. Before he could react, I beckoned him down to my level. He looked at me quizzically but put his ear to my cupped hands. I whispered in his ear.

 "I love you."

 I kissed him on the cheek and scampered towards the exit, running on my toe-picks, blushing and grinning. I looked back over my shoulder a fourth of the way to the exit to see that he was blushing and smiling too. He took a bow, and the crowd started clapping and hollering outrageously. He hurriedly skated after me and took my hand, pulling me off the ice.

 Before I could even begin to worry about the rashness of my actions, he pulled me into a real kiss. My coach looked at us with an amused, crooked smile.

 It was the happiest moment of my life.