lamp

i met shannon right at the end of may this year. we had our first date june 17, 2026. i took her to a hammock cafe. we traded journals and created pages for each other. shannons a poet, so she wrote an excerpt of one of her poems into my journal. i remember how nervous it made me, having said something about a kiss. i cant remember why we were talking about heartbeats, but she brought my hand to her chest for a moment. i have not felt butterflies like that in a very long time. eventually, we went off to the beach and watched the waves for a long while. shannon is really, really, really something special. i didnt feel the need to fill the silence. we could find something to talk about and hold it decently(despite the nerves), but i still felt so at peace just being besides her. we hiked up and down the coast before settling on the sand. after a bit of quiet, she leaned back on her palms and asked if i'd go on another date with her. i really think i could have died then. i pulled out my…