At the last second—to his own surprise—he turned away and let her kiss his cheek instead. They stared at each other in silence. He could see the disappointment on her face, but he didn’t know what to do. Every fiber, every cell in his body wanted to hold her and kiss her, but he couldn’t do it. If he kissed her, he would have to leave. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her; he loved her.
Just before 10:00 PM, he kissed her on the forehead and bade her goodnight. His night in the old house was a restless one; he paced the musty floor for hours trying to make a plan and running every possible scenario through his head.
“What do I do?” he asked himself aloud, “I’ll hurt her by not kissing her, and I’ll have to leave her if I do… and what will happen to her when I’m gone?!” He buried his face in his hands. “This wasn’t supposed to happen; I had a plan… how could I go and fall in love with her?” He fought back tears as he replayed the near kiss scene over and over in his mind and desperately searched for an answer.
The next two weeks for Matt were wonderful and terrible at the same time. Julia tried to kiss him a few more times, but he didn’t let her. He knew she wouldn’t put up with it forever, but he wanted as much time with her as he could get. He adored her more than anything in the world, and rejecting her was incredibly painful—not only because he longed to kiss her, but because he hurt her every time he had to turn away. Days passed, and still he could not come up with a solution. Finally, as Matt walked her to her front door after a date, she confronted him about it.
“Matt,” she began carefully, “is there any reason why you won’t kiss me? If you don’t like me, you can break up with me; it’s okay. I’d just like to know.” Her voice was shaky. Matt felt as if his stomach leapt to his throat and his heart fell to his feet.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I do like you—a lot, but… I’ve never kissed anyone before. I guess it’s one of those ‘it’s not you; it’s me’ type of things.” He smiled nervously.
She nodded thoughtfully and then asked, “What are you waiting for?” He stared at her in silence. He had no plan.
“I… don’t know,” he stammered, “I’m sorry. I’m really…”
Before could even finish his sentence, Julia cupped his face in her hands and kissed him gently. In shock, he pushed her away, but it was too late. For a moment, he could only stare at her in a stunned stupor, but he knew time was short. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. He felt her arms drape around his neck, and they kissed; nervously at first, but passionately. After only a few seconds had passed, the walls of reality began to melt away in the same way the white expanse had melted away earlier. He hugged Julia tightly, but he could feel her begin to disappear as well.
“I love you,” he whispered gently as she and everything else faded away. When Julia was no longer in his arms, and all traces of the Earth had dissolved to reveal a familiar empty infinite, Matt fell to his knees and cried.
