Dear Liz

"What about your chest tattoo?"

I looked down to see some of the dark teal words peeking through my unbuttoned plaid shirt.

"It didn't hurt as bad as the one on my side," I said as I rubbed the tattoo she was asking me about. She smiled.

"That one's my favorite." I stopped rubbing it and looked down again, smiling as well.
I smiled because she liked all my tattoos and even had a favorite. I smiled because she said that like a five-year-old who was talking about her favorite type of candy or her favorite doll. I smiled because…well, just because she was there, really.

"What about you? Have any ink on that lovely skin of yours?"

"Yeah," she said smiling mischievously, "just not somewhere I can show in public," and she jokingly wiggled her eyebrows. She then proceeded to giggle when I raised my eyebrows and then I laughed.

What a tease.

This was our last night together before the band left to tour next morning. That's why we had opted for a small gathering instead of a party –that would have to wait until we got back.

I had to be home early to have things finished for the next day and when I thought that I still had to finish packing i was tempting a headache to develop.

"So…tour starts tomorrow. Are you excited?" she asked. Packing and waking up early aside, I was rather stoked for it so it was no wonder that a grin appeared on my lips. How could it not?

"Yeah. I mean, I'll miss home and all," I refrained from telling her that I would, specifically, miss her, "but seeing new places and being able to play for so many different people is just…it's great." I finished, turning to look at her as she pouted.

"Aww…I'll have to go back to smoking alone at parties." My laugh was the last noise made before we became silent. Those moments of silence were never awkward, they were almost essential. They gave each other time to think, to find the right words to say next or –in this case– the right actions.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye, discreetly. I took in her appearance, her profile; her lovely and slightly turned-up nose, her rose lips, her beautiful brown eyes that glowed with the street light, her messy blonde hair that cascaded down, adjusting it's shape to her shoulders and breasts –that weren't exactly bad, either.

I noticed that, at some point, she had turned to look at me so I did the same, with a smile that she returned. Her cheeks were tinted with a soft shade of pink and I wondered if mine were too because, the silences may have not been awkward but that situation sure was.

Either way it seemed the right time to do it.

I looked into her eyes and saw…anticipation, perhaps. Her lips might have been slightly puckered up, or I may have been imaging it all.

I opted for a kiss on the cheek…sweet, simple and more appropriate.
As my lips got her closer to her skin I braced myself for the feeling that was sure to come. I almost wanted to retreat from the shocks her atoms were sending all through my body.

Her face was a few shades closer to red then and I wondered if mine was mirroring hers.

"What was that for?" she asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow. The arched eyebrow was what is what slightly threw me off. Wrong move?
And what was that for? Because I'd miss her? Because I liked her? Because I was curious? I simply shrugged and left it at that.

I got up and looked down at her. "I better go now; big day tomorrow. I'll see you in a couple of weeks." What kind of good-bye was that I never knew but she just nodded and I began walking away. I mentally punched myself a couple of times and only stopped when she called my name.

I stopped on my tracks and turned to look at Liz, standing up in front of the bench where I left her.
I water for her to say something. To do something but she stayed there for a while, making me think she was going to do what I didn't dare. Making me believe that kiss on the cheek wasn't that bad of a move.

"Take care" is what she said. I remember first thinking 'That's it?' but maybe that was all I needed for now. I smiled and watched her do the same. I saluted her before getting on my car.

Even though touring was one of the best things in my life, it was always tough leaving good ol' Arizona.

That next day, however, had been the toughest time of them all.