Short fiction: Summer fling

It’s tempting to wish summer lasted forever. That the skies always stayed a purple haze and the cool breeze caressed off the trees behind a symphony of crickets. Their music softly echoing in the near distance like a party but not quite next door enough to join.  The lightness of air made him float in his backyard ignoring the colder darkness and its deeper chords soon beckoning.  His thoughts cast in midair like a baited line hovering before its plummet into an icy river.

All he could think about tonight was the way her glow radiated across the distance. She consumed him and devastated him all at once. His mother had always told him as a little bugger when the one he loved met his eyes he would know immediately. Yet the feelings that reverberated through him morphed from giddiness to downright sickness. She was more beautiful than the brightest sunflower yet made him stomach ache like he had swallowed sour grass.  She kept him up at night, her vibrant shimmering image, more frustratingly loud in his head than the mating bull frogs in the pond behind the yard.

During the day he would wallow at the lack of attention she showed him as if she were only interested in his affection when the sun fell down. At night when their paths crossed she displayed almost another personality altogether. Her beauty was even more alluring, so much so that he knew there were others who coveted her, yet he could believe none more so than he.  Sure he’d heard stories from his friends of her unattainability. He had heard she was too illuminating for a rogue like him. He had a reputation himself and had certainly met other beauties who had probably crossed her path as well, but she buzzed in his head like no others.

Most days he just had to survive. The world had changed since his parents were young. The environment more threatening. Perhaps his desires were a foolish attempt to hold onto his youth the way the dusk held off the night. While the sun beat hotter each summer that passed it felt much colder. The evenings brought the familiarity of warmth and his childhood. It brought back the long games he played with his friends, the trees he climbed upon, and the wet grass he laid in.  At night they hovered near a flaming barbeque or light in the backyard, the laughter of family and friends and crickets all-encompassing.

This day was longer than usual. There were less spots to hide and more trouble to hide from. All day long he could think of nothing but the shade, a breeze, and her radiance. He envisioned the pond and a festival of flickering lights around them.  He knew tonight would be the night he showed her the way he truly felt. No longer would he hide in the day and be teased by her nighttime flirtations.

The weekly barbeque they both were to attend seemed as good a time as any. Their friends would congregate and he would fly in when she was free and make his pitch. His stomach once again felt like sour grass as the night approached and she glowed even more than usual. He watched as several others approached her only to get shot down in a hurry. His instincts told him to turn away but his heart would not allow him. The cool air hit him as he dived into her orbit. The beauty she possessed even warmer the closer he came. As his heart sang and his stomach hollowed he swooped in to whisper in her ear. “ZAP!” The surge ran through his body as her kiss left him cold. He crumbled to the ground lifeless one last glance at the purple sky above, her glowing orb, a giant shoe…CRUNCH….”Damn bug.”