I I saw Payton after I got back from Sweden. That time of year late summer trying to be fall. He went to a neighboring high school. We had met once before barely just enough for him to remember my name. When I saw him again he said we should hang out. There was a tone to it not overt but enough to suggest something might happen something we would not name. I wasn't sure of myself then. At seventeen I don't think anyone really is.
II He picked me up in the afternoon. The smell of his cologne sharper than it needed to be. He said he knew a place. We drove to the cemetery in Excelsior. It was quiet. A little cold like the season wasn't finished becoming itself. We parked behind a line of trees. The branches above us thinned out just enough to let the light in.
III We moved to the back seat. He leaned in. I didn't stop him. He touched me. I let him. Not because I was sure. Because I wanted to be. Afterward I watched the trees in the side mirror. They didn't move.
IV He drove me home. We didn't say much. I said that was good. He said yeah and smiled. We never spoke about it again.
V I didn't think much about it after. I still liked girls. Went on a date with one the next week. That thing with Payton it happened. It didn't explain anything. But I remember it.
VI Sometimes I still think about the moment after when I looked in the mirror and the trees were there and still as if nothing had happened or everything had and it just wasn't their concern.