There was a comfortable silence between us. Whenever someone mentioned a "comfortable silence" to me, I never really knew what they would mean until now. It wasn't always looking into his eyes, or smelling his scent, but the pure presence of his soul that would send shivers down my body, while butterflies were also going crazy inside my stomach. I felt hot and cold, energetic and calm, it was like there was no in between with us.
And then he said something...
"I feel so calm with you, like I've never felt before I think. Like one of these trees above us without a care in the world. It's almost like they all have souls, just dancing in the wind above us, I think that's their music."
I felt his eyes on me and looked at him to flash him a quick smile before turning my head up to look up at the stars past the trees, out of nervousness. I took a deep breath and began to talk to him. "Did you know that trees are actually sophisticated living beings?", "How do you mean?", he had asked me with a genuine hint of interest, as I heard him turn to me and saw him rest his head on his hand in the corner of my eye.
"Well," I said before taking a deep breath, "trees have minds in a way that they use to make decisions everyday like us, they have families and friends that they show love and support to through their roots which are sometimes connected. They support their sick neighbours and fight off predators as well as communicate with each other through their roots. It is said that their roots have highly sensitive brain-like structures that grow in connected networks." I said then looked at him.
He had his eyebrows raised at me and his lips were slightly parted. I couldn't read him like I could usually read people, and I was slightly terrified of his thoughts in that moment, thinking I had messed up and said something stupid. I flashed him a nervous grin for a moment before looking back up at the stars.
When talking to him just a few seconds ago, looking up at the stars had calmed me down. But now, my heart was beating ten times faster and I wished it would slow down, although it didn't. I touched my chest as I noticed it moving up and down faster now, trying to stop it from heaving. I could feel his eyes dart towards my moving chest. "What's wrong, are you okay?", he asked, sounding worried towards me. "No I'm fine", I said looking at him, "my heart just skipped a beat I think", trying to divert the attention away from my heart beating rapidly due to his piercing eyes glaring wistfully at me. Then he asked me something that I least expected.
"Can I hear it? your heartbeat." I looked at him surprised for a second. "I'm sorry, forget I asked." he said regretting his previous question, "No, it's alright, you can," I said giving him a reassuring smile. "I dont mind, I mean, if I were to let just anyone feel my heartbeat, it would be you". With that said, he placed one of his arms behind my back and wrapped the other around my waist as he rested his head on my chest. I was hesitant at first, but with one swift motion I placed my hand on his head and began to play with his soft bed of curls, intertwining each curl in my finger after another.
My heartbeat began to slow down after a while and I felt calm again. We didn't talk much after that, maybe we were bored or just tired, but we spent the rest of the night embracing each other while looking at the trees and the stars.