The Lake

It was a perfect midnight. The twinkling stars looked like the scattered diamond dust in the sky. The place he took her was a lake which was situated far from her house. The full moon reflected on the lake as if the lake was a mirror.There was a sweet aroma coming from the swaying trees due to the cold breeze which was blowing.

Jessica was awestruck when she looked around . She removed her sandals and walked on bare foot towards the lake taking small strides on the land which was covered with grass.

"I'm happy that you liked it," Austin said when she told him that the place was beautiful.

"Like ? I loved it," She said looking at him and then at the starry sky.

He came closer to her and covered her with his coat in order to make her feel warm in that cold night.

"Thankyou," she said softly and wore the coat he gave her.

He wanted to meet her as soon as possible. After reaching the airport, he directly came to her house to see her. Before seeing Jessica, he just wanted to see her and leave after spending some time with her. But after looking at her swollen eyes, his heart cringed in pain and decided to spend the rest of the night with her to cheer her up.

His heart found solace only when he saw her dimples appear on her cheeks.

She took a pebble in her hand from the ground to throw it in the lake.

"Damn!!" she said when she saw her stone sank at once into the lake without skipping over the water.

Austin who was looking at her, let a laugh out and took another pebble from the ground.

"Look at me carefully," he said kneeling down on his right leg and threw the pebble into the lake.

The stone he threw sank after three skips across the water radiating ripples in the lake and within a minute the lake again looked like a perfect mirror.

Jessica who saw the pebble skipping thrice over the water was amazed.

"That what amazing," she said out loud in awe and her voice echoed in that silent night.

She smiled at him sheepishly and said, "sorry for my loud voice."

But her voice echoed again.

She sighed and walked closer to him and bent to reach his ear.

"Could you please teach me ?" she whispered in his ear.

Her breath tickled his neck which made him stand and take two steps away from her.

He coughed and said ,"go and pick up few pebbles," she did just like he told her to do.

The girl who went to pick up the pebbles didn't see his ear turning pink and she has no idea what she has done just a while ago.

"I found ," she said showing the pebbles in her hand which she found from the ground.

She sat on one leg beside him and threw a pebble under his guidance. The stone sank in the water but there was a difference compared to the first one.

After throwing more than ten pebbles into the water which sank as soon as she threw, he got up from his knee to stand behind her and guide her.

"Hold the pebble in this way," he said and made her to hold the pebble in a way such that the base of the pebble would land on the water and skip.

She threw the pebble into the water and this time the pebble skipped once and sank into the water.

"Did you see that ? I did it," she said pointing her index finger at the lake.

"I did ," he said bending down with hands in his pockets as always when Jessica tilted her head to look at him.

Their faces were only few inches away from eachother.

She got up from her knee when Austin stepped back with a smirk on his face which was unnoticed by her.

The atmosphere turned silent again.

"This feels so surreal," Jessica said to Austin.

"Surreal?" he asked with a quizzical look.

She nodded and said ," yes, You and me coming together to a place like this and that too at this hour. I feel like it is a dream."

"You want me to pinch you to make you feel that everything is real ?" he said, sarcastically.

"No way. I'll never say that ," she shook her head.

"Then how about this way," he said stretching his arms around her waist to bring her closer to him.

He bent a little in order to place a kiss on her lips and she closed her eyes when she felt his breathe.