It was all too strange.

A single stray wisp of hair tenderly tickled her cheek, trailing from her forehead over her closed eyelids to her slightly ajar lips. The blinds rustled in the semi-darkness, harsh whispers in the dead of the night. Pale, crisp moonlight trickled into the room.

It was exactly the time when ghosts came out of their crevices.

There was a buzz. It seemed mis-matched, awkwardly un-called for in the silence. Her eyes shot open, blinked, then squinted as the screen lit up. She bent over the phone, hair brushing her back and trailing over her shoulder. Rachel picked up the phone.

The voice was all too familiar. It reminded her of fresh mahogany and damp parsley on a Saturday morning. 

"Rachel."

Warmth surged up her belly as Rachel closed her eyes and plummeted into a pillow, inhaling deeply.

"Caleb." 

Do you know how it often feels like forever between sentences, when in fact it has only been moments? 

That was how it felt now.  

A strange, foreign smile waltzed on the edge of her lips. Outside the window, street lamps glowed sleepily in the twilight.

"Now, Rach."

She nodded, as if he would hear her reply. Rachel tugged on a pullover and gently padded to the main door. Wind gushed in as it swung open silently, a wordless consent of their secret rendezvous. Rachel could just make out a dim figure behind the gate. Many would have missed it, but she immediately recognized every bend and curve of Caleb's muscular frame. The slight tilt of his head, the sharp turn along his hips, the longitudinal wave of his upper arm.

Rachel unlocked the garden gate. She had meant to put her hand in his' and fall into step with him, as she always did. Somehow, tonight was different. They stood a metre from each other. The air was chilly and suddenly, Rachel shivered as a gush of wind came along, sending leaves dancing down the narrow tarmac road. It played with her hair, lifting it up and twirling it before setting it down to rest again. They remain perfectly still, their breaths billowing into small clouds of fog between them. It seemed all too natural. 

Caleb glanced up at Rachel, a sight to behold before him. Long tendrils of hair wrapped around her shoulders and he could faintly make out her eyelashes in the dim light, fluttering with every blink, as though mating butterflies. He smiled. Rachel was special, and most of all, she was his'. Caleb took a steps towards her. Slowly, she walked to him, their eyes fixed on each other all this while. 

It was a slow dance.

Rachel stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him tenderly, feeling for her familiar spot to hold - this was her territory to own. She gently placed her head on his shoulders, closing her eyes and caught a whiff of Caleb, his skin, his hair; the aroma of home. Rachel could feel the rise and fall of his chest as they remained close next to hers. Her throat tightened and she let out a tiny whimper.

"I missed you." She gingerly whispered.

Caleb drew her even closer to him, silently. Rachel did not need words. She could already hear the faint song underneath his skin.

"I-missed-you-too."

  A teardrop slithered down her cheek and onto his shirt, before being absorbed by the delicate fabric. She tightened her grip, until the both of them fit perfectly into each other, until nothing else mattered besides this caress. Rachel breathed deeply and smelt something different. It was sweeter, more intense. 

It was love.

Caleb swooped her into his arms and she laughed, a crisp melody of a wind chime in a garden. He gently laid Rachel on the soft lawn and lay beside her. She turned, her face fitting perfectly into the crevice between his neck and shoulder. Her lips faintly brushed his neck.

"Are you happy?" He asked.

"When it's like this." Rachel smiled shyly.

"Then I'll keep you with me forever." He whispered into her ear.

She nudged him in the ribs and they both chuckled.

The air was awfully cold.

Gazing up at the star-studded sky at 2 in the morning;

It seemed warm enough for both of them.

__________________________________________