I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

I panic, reaching to put it back on, but he stops me. He takes both
my wrists and bends down so our foreheads kiss.
“Sam, you’ll get sick–”
“I don’t care,” he whispers. His eyes close. He breathes me in,
releasing my hands and cupping my face. His movements are
awkward, unsure, but at the same time impatient.
I plant my hands on his chest. His pulse thrums fast and hard. It
quickens as he leans in, so close that our noses touch and his lips
just barely sweep across mine.
“Sam! Get out of there this instant!” Nurse Ella’s voice rings like a
church bell. If church bells were terrifying, that is.
Sam pulls away, pulling the mask back over his face. He grabs me
by the arm again, dragging me into a run.
“C’mon, c’mon let’s go!” he screeches. We almost trip over each
other and the twigs, somehow making it out in one piece. Together
we sprint, Nurse Ella marching on after us. Sam laughs all the while,
jumping over the paths, through the trees, making sure I’m still with
him.
The two of us skid to a stop right before falling into a puddle of mud,
but the wind has other ideas. The two of us lose our balance and fall
together. The mud sloshes around us, seeping into our clothes. Sam
sits up to make sure I’m alright. Once he sees that we’re both only
breathless and covered in dirt, that smile finally curves his face,
creasing the skin around his eyes.
He looks so happy. Even if it is brief, a cursory tick of an arrow on a
watch, the moment ebbs with rays of light. It makes the times Sam is
lost in his own head, cooped up, staring through glass, seem
insignificant.