Prompt 3 Week 13: Loosely holding hands, not even aware of doing so, but, still, skin touching skin....

                Snow White lay still, her ebony hair framing her porcelain features, until the Prince kissed her. His love had saved her. Her Knight and Shining Armor. Her one and only.

                Scarlett was helpless in Rhett’s hands as he told her, “You should be kissed and kissed often, by a man who knows what he’s doing,” and she had never been kissed like that before. He was the love of her life, her drug.

                Harry told Sally that men and women can never really be friends because one of them always wants more. For years, she tried to disprove him but fell hopelessly in love with him instead. Best friends turned lovers, soul mates. A spark they had been fighting for years that couldn’t be contained any longer.

                Oh, the movies. They bring you to tears, get into your heart, and set your romantic expectations high. Too high? A cynic would say so, someone who has been disappointed time and time again only to blame it on pop culture’s love for sappy romantic comedies and great love stories where women are saved by the man of their dreams and there’s always a happily ever after. They’d say “love like that doesn’t really exist, that’s why nothing ever works out. You think you’re gonna get some movie romance and when you don’t, you’re devastated. Most people wouldn’t even know love if it hit them in the face; they’re too busy looking for something they’re never going to find.”

                Maybe. But the happily ever after of life is a lot longer than the average two-hour romantic comedy and in between the hard times, picture-perfect movie moments are the glue that keeps love alive.

                “I like your necklace,” he said.

                We were standing a few feet apart waiting for the night to be over so we could go home. We hadn’t had any customers in a while; it was cold and rainy, people didn’t want to come out. “Thanks.”

                He stepped closer and gently placed his fingers around the chain to study the beads. It was long, an assortment of colorful, jewel-toned beads that didn’t really match. It fit me perfectly, my favorite piece of jewelry.

                I couldn’t breathe, he was too close. My stomach turned, I felt like I did the very first time I held hands with the hottest guy in the seventh grade. I was hot, unsure of myself, but I liked how he felt so close to me, not touching me at all. I stepped away; I didn’t want him to sense what I was feeling. I was in love with him.

                Our first kiss was like a chemical reaction, an explosion. Better than any movie I had ever seen. It set the bar pretty high, there was a lot of room to crash.

                I waited.

                And waited.

                Waited some more.

                The downfall never came. My heart didn’t get broken. The love didn’t die. Our movie didn’t end.