Let me be the type man who plants a field of flowers so you can be the type of woman who picks them.

I try not to react, but I must fail because Gabriel turns to look at me. “The world needs both butterflies and lions. One is not better than the other. They're both beautiful and brave in their own ways.”His hand covers mine as it fiddles with the blades of grass. “Ava.” I look up. “I do not wish you were a lion any more than I would have wished her to be a butterfly.

I'm a poet who has lost his words." He looks across the street, but not before I catch the dull glint of shame in his eyes."Where did you lose them?" I ask, gentling my tone.He turns back to me. When he speaks, his voice is so small that I have to lean closer to hear it. "The same place I lost myself.

We’ve gotten to that stage all soulmates reach of speaking in broken phrases and incomplete sentences, our connected and all-knowing minds filling in the blanks left by redundant words.

Our eyes are closed, but even without seeing, they’re only for each other.

We kiss with our eyes closed but our senses open, infusing the spaces between with the elements of the other.

And suddenly I realize that all those books and movies had gotten it wrong.When you find your souls reflection in another, you shouldn’t be aware of anything other than their body, yours, and the space between.You shouldn’t be looking for someone whose kiss causes you to escape reality by transporting you to another time and place. Look for the person whose kiss grounds you firmly in the moment, whose arms hold you safely in the now.

We are forever changed, forever united. From almost-us to always us.We kiss with our eyes closed but our senses open, infusing the spaces between with the elements of the other.

I would lose him a thousand lifetimes over if it meant I got the chance to love him a thousand times. And have him love me back. If only for a little while.