it was quiet on the ride to the lake. I sat scraping old nail polish off each of my fingers secretly in my lap as Cole drove. there was a stillness at the lake. our reflection, the only thing that accompanied it that day, or so it felt. I sunk my butt into the pebbles upon arrival, as cole gathered the last few items from the car. he wasted no time. as he joined me, his gentle hands guiding me to stand, his crinkled paper appearing from his pocket. i nodded yes before he asked, we giggled and cried by ourselves on the shore. we sat there all night, and watched as the bats swooped down to feast on dinner over the water. as the sun sunk down, we gathered our film scraps, smooched a little more, and headed into town to facetime our family from a walgreens parking lot. it was the start of everything.