Memorial Day marks two weeks and three days since you went out on your first date. In seventeen days you have been on seventeen dates, all perfect in their own way. Kisses were growing more passionate and frantic, both of you wanting more but not wanting to be the one to make the big move.

It's the night before the holiday and you had just gotten back from a late movie. Jim is standing at your door frame, you are kissing and practically clawing one another. He comes in, never once stopping his kiss and it's you that finally pulls away. You tell him you don't want him to go home, he tells you he snores, you tell him you don't plan on letting him sleep. You are in your bedroom, he is kissing you all over and you can't believe that it's going to happen.

He tells you that he loves you and for the first time you say it back. The words are followed by kisses and moans, petting and panting. He is perfect in every possible way and you feel things you have never felt before. You realize that this is love.

You lay there, side by side, mouth to mouth, whispering declarations of love and amazement. You are holding hands between your chests, your other hand caressing his check, his other hand is brushing through your hair. Neither of you want to let go. He tells you he has wanted to do that for so long, you tell him "me too", the words are familiar but everything else is new.

You make love again and afterwards he falls asleep, smiling and holding you close. You look at the pile of clothes on the floor, yours and his, you realize how right it looks, how right it all feels. You realize that this is how it's going to be from this night forward. You fall asleep somewhere around dawn, his hand still in yours, just as summer officially arrives.