Perfect puzzle pieces

Noel paced the airport lobby halfway in a bubble of calm and a pool of giddy excitement. She looked at the arrivals section with the eyes of a hawk. She’d waited for this moment for what felt like 500 years and 3 minutes all at the same time. Within seconds, she was no longer waiting and was running. Running straight into the arms that had always held her like no one else could. She grabbed Maria carefully and sturdily as she jumped up on her. Noel nuzzled into her girlfriend’s neck. She never wanted to let go of this feeling. They held each other so tight that it felt like time stopped and folded in on itself because their gravitational pull to each other was stronger than that of the sun and the moon to the Earth.

What do you call this feeling?, Noel meditated. The feeling that another person’s touch is all your body is ever crying for and now you have her. She’s in your arms and the joy you feel is immeasurable. Insurmountable. Indescribable. It’s just… Good. Cozy. Warm. Like those days where you don’t need a jacket, but don’t need shade and can just walk happily outside. Like the moment you wrap yourself in your biggest duvet when it’s time to go to bed on a winter day. It’s like putting on a pair of new jeans and the fit is perfect even though you didn’t try them on in the dressing room first.

Noel and Maria let go just long enough to look at each other with watery eyes full of every piece of happiness their souls could hold. 7 months apart. 210 days. 5,040 hours counted down on the clock since the day they were separated. They both couldn’t begin to say what they felt. They silently smiled at each other, tears starting to flow softly down Maria’s cheeks. They grasped each other tighter and settled into each other again. Perfect puzzle pieces.

Noel tried to think of what to call this moment. She relented. It wasn’t something she could form into a simple word. This felt like getting the perfect birthday gift without having told anyone it’s exactly what you wanted. Like getting a job on the first try after preparing daily for the interviews and knowing your hard work paid off. It’s the feeling of making a new recipe without needing the cookbook and it still tastes good. It’s like getting to the sensation just before an orgasm and just when you think it won’t happen, it does. It’s being in a long distance relationship after building a life together for 5 years and still feeling like you just saw her yesterday when you’re back in her arms.

It’s the feeling you get when your partner leans on you and you carry their weight without a word. Not out of guilt or responsibility or duty. Just out of friendship and care. Your souls are intertwined in a way that this will always feels natural. It’s the feeling when they pick you up after you’ve had to carry the weight because they know how much that took. It’s being and feeling heard. It’s... Peace. Tranquility. Loyalty. Love. It’s what it feels like to know and be sure and not having to question. It’s security. It’s… this… this was comfort. That was it! That was this feeling. This feeling of home. That doesn’t need walls or windows or bricks or anything in between.

Noel never knew what it meant to take comfort in another person. But now she did. She couldn’t deny it. It was in eveything about Maria. In the way she breathed. The sounds she made. The way she walked. Talked. Touched. This was comfort. Noelle softly rolled this thought over and over again in her head like a good song that you finally learned the words too. As she continued to hold on to this happy realisation, Maria smiled and between kisses mouthed, ‘Thank you for believing in me.’