The Longest Night, The Best Night

Memory is a funny thing. It’s never consistent, never completely reliable. Some things I hardly ever remember, while others come to me in bits and pieces and remain incomplete like an infuriating puzzle. But then there are memories that stick with me, moments that I can picture so vividly as if no time has passed at all. That one night with you is one such memory.

If I close my eyes now, I can still picture that night in my head so clearly. I remember every second of it, from the moment we met up outside that restaurant to the time we said goodbye outside the cafe hours later. I remember the look on your face when you saw me coming towards you, the sound of your laughter as we talked and teased each other over dinner, the smell of your perfume as you sat next to me at the cafe when you showed me the recent photos you took, the enigmatic smile you gave me when we said goodbye.

All these years later, that night with you is still one of my most cherished memories. I’ve never had that kind of experience before or since. It was the longest, best night I’ve ever spent with anyone.

We didn’t really do much aside from eat and drink and talk into the wee hours, but it was night filled with possibilities. To me, that’s what made it so exciting and so memorable. I remember how fun and easy it was to be with you. There was no pretense, no act, no expectations. It was just you and me, enjoying each other’s company. It was our very own version of ‘Before Sunrise’.

Anything could have happened that night. I could have taken the initiative and done something definitive about the romantic tension that hung in the air between us. You could have kissed me. We could have been honest and told each other how we really felt. It could have led to something more…

But it didn’t.

That night remained the single best night we spent together. The romantic tension dissipated and now, years later, we’ve drifted apart. And I guess it’s for the best. Sometimes, it’s just better to let things take their course. Maybe that’s all we were supposed to be… Maybe we were only meant to be there for each other at that specific moment in time.

I think that’s what makes that night so memorable. It will forever remain to be a night of possibilities, a pure moment of happiness preserved in our memories like an artifact encased in amber.