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The air was calm, humid, but the wind had settled. The moisture settled on the ribs of leaves, and moistened the bark of trees once barren and crackled. As Toni walked through the forest, her feet felt the soil beneath them. She remembered how her feet had sunken into it the first time Shelby had kissed her. As she made her way through the thicker trees, she reached an opening, where the trees’ path became wider, more open. She looked out from behind the ferns to a stream. There, Shelby stood, running her hands through her hair, glistening in the golden glimmer of the afternoon sun.
Toni gulped and made her way towards the stream. She stopped for a moment, completely in awe of Shelby’s beauty. Shelby’s eyes flickered, and she smiled when she saw Toni in her peripheral.
It didn’t matter that they’d been on the island for about twelve weeks now. Toni’s heart still got caught in her throat at the sight of Shelby’s lips, or the way her hair met her clavicles, or the way the sun sparked the green parts of her eyes that only she’d seen. She inched closer to the blonde by the stream and wrapped her arms around her front as her cheeks filled with a warm blush.
“Hey,” Toni said shyly, pressing her head against Shelby’s back.
“Hey, you. Were you starin’ at me before, or did those trees grow eyes all of a sudden?” Shelby asked, turning to face Toni.
“I was ju-
“Come here,” Shelby said, pulling Toni’s chin to hers, kissing her. Toni groaned softly into her mouth, as Shelby’s nails wrapped around her waist, pulling her in closer. Shelby pulled away, but kept her forehead against Toni’s, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“You know you look beautiful like this. You’re so beautiful,” Shelby said, wrapping her hands around the nape of Toni’s neck, her hands entwined with the hairs that lay on her neck.
//
“I made us something,” Toni said, pulling Shelby by her hand.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” Shelby asked.
“Look,” Toni said.
She pointed to a bed made of larger leaves from the trees that had canopied over them beneath the lychee tree. It was upheld by branches and tied together with many strands of longer blades of grass from the forest floor.
“I figured, we should have our own place. Where it’ll just be us.” Toni said.
“Toni, I love it,” Shelby said.
“Yeah?” Toni asked.
“Yeah,” Shelby said, her smile beaming, as Toni scooped her off of her feet and lay her on the bed.
//
As the night approached, the air got cooler, and sounds from the depths of the forest echoed louder against a vulnerable silence. Shelby and Toni lay, their legs intertwined as stars began to freckle the night sky above them.
“I’m so fucking lucky,” Toni whispered, biting her lip, as her eyes began to water.
Shelby held Toni close to her and felt her heartbeat. She caressed her hair and kissed her head softly.
“The night I was alone on the beach with Leah,” Shelby started, “I was talkin’ to the stars about you,” Shelby said.
Toni turned, her eyes were puffy from the salty tears that now tattooed her neck.
“You were not,” she said, her lip quivering.
“But I was. I just told them that I found this girl and she makes me feel like I’m the only other one and the planet and just asked them, please, don’t let me lose her. After searching for so long, I can’t lose something that could be so good,” Shelby said, as she began crying tears of her own.
Toni dropped her hand from where it had been resting across Shelby’s chest and wrapped her fingers around Shelby’s.
“I love you,” Toni said, turning so her eyes met Shelby, who had already been facing her.
“Sorry-
“I love you too,” Shelby said, her eyes twinkling like the stars that floated above.
“You. You do?” Toni asked, her voice breaking.
“Yeah. I do.” Shelby said, running her thumb across Toni’s lips.
As they kissed under the moonlight, two shooting stars crossed one another, disappearing behind the layers of brush, and the mountains that resided so far away. They knew at that moment, that they were in fact two shooting stars, bonded, that resided in the arms of one another, beneath a world that seemed ever the more distant.