Chapter 21 #2
“Are you really going to make a big deal about this?”
“No, I am not.” I turn my head to look back at the sky. “So, what do you look for when you sit out here? Because there’s something specific I look for.”
“Really?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
“There’s something I look for too.”
“What is it?”
“No, you say yours first. That way, I know you’re not copying me as one of your rule-breaking flirt tactics.”
“How do I know you won’t copy me?” I ask.
“Because I’m not desperate like you.”
“Says the girl holding my hand.”
“Fine.” She releases my hand and pulls away.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” I roll her back over and then take her hand in mine. “Don’t even think about it. You’re to stay here, holding my hand until I’m done with you.”
“That’s what I thought,” she says with laughter in her voice. “Now, tell me what you look for.”
“Shooting stars,” I answer.
“Really?” She sits up on her elbow. “Me too.”
“Are you being serious or are you just saying that to appease me?”
“I have zero reason to appease you; I’d prefer not appeasing you actually.”
“Can’t hear that enough,” I mumble as she lies back down.
“I’d spend hours looking up at the sky, searching for shooting stars.
We started naming them every summer. We would go by the alphabet, kind of like how hurricanes are named for the year?
That’s what we would do, and when we found a new one, we’d have to remember the earlier names, list them off, and then give the new one a name. ”
“That’s really sweet. Have you found any this year?”
“I have.”
“What are their names?”
“Well, and mind you, I’m not good at this, but I have Angel, Barnaby, Christine, Diana, Elenor, Franklin, and Garth.”
“Barnaby?” I ask. “Jesus, that’s a terrible name.”
“Told you, not good at it.”
“So if you stopped with Garth, then we need an H, meaning we are not going back into our houses until we see one.”
“That could take all night.”
“I’m in no rush to leave. Unlike you, I’m enjoying my company.”
“What is that like?”
“Cheeky,” I say and then scoot just a touch closer to her. “Okay, first one to see a shooting star gets to name it, and I already have my H name picked out.”
“Don’t tell me. You can never reveal until the star has been found.”
“I won’t.” We both stare up, searching the midnight sky, not a cloud in sight impinging on our view. “Do you ever think about how vast the universe is? Earth seems enormous, but compared to the galaxy, it’s just a speck on the map.”
“I think about it all the time. I think about all the different things that had to happen in order for me to be right here, in this moment. How, in a cheesy way, the stars needed to align.”
“I don’t think that’s cheesy.”
“No?”
“No,” I answer. “I wonder what kind of stars had to meet up and create this scenario between us.”
“Some very drunk stars, that’s for sure.”
I chuckle. “I don’t mind the booze, takes away the reality.”
“But this is reality. Do you want to take this away?”
Fuck, I don’t.
This is probably the most content I’ve been in a long time, if I think about it.
Sure, I have my fun with Rupert vandalizing my dad’s parlor and we’ve partied and done some things that others might not have had the opportunity to do, but this, this feels real.
This feels like I’ve been pulled out of the fog that’s been surrounding my life and I’ve been offered a genuine experience, one that I’ve been craving for so goddamn long.
“I really fucking don’t,” I answer just as she points up toward the sky.
“Oh, right there.”
I catch the tail end of a shooting star cutting across the heavens. “Damn it.”
She chuckles as I take the loss, not that I really care. I can feel the joy in her body language, which means I’d take the loss any fucking day of the week.
“What are you going to name it?” I ask.
I can hear the smile in her voice as she says, “Horace.”
No way.
“Shut the fuck up!” I yell.
“What?” she asks, stunned from my abrupt shout.
“That was the name I was holding on to.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. “No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was.” I sit up on my elbow, looking down at her. “I swear on my fucking dick, that was what I was going to name it.”
“Your dick?”
I nod very seriously. “My very own dick.”
“Really?” For some odd reason, there is hope in her eyes, like my answer is going to make or break this bond we have.
I nod. “Really.”
“That’s…that’s weird, that we had the same name picked out. Don’t you think that’s weird? It’s weird, right? Is it weird that I keep saying weird? Should I say it one more time?”
“At least two more times.” I smile.
“Weird. Weird.”
“Now it’s weird.”
“The weirdest.”
“So weird.”
She smirks and then shifts so she’s sitting up. “Well—”
Here it comes, the bailout.
Her body language is pulling away.
Her lips are quirked to the side, ready to lay down the dismissal when I’m not ready for this to end.
“Don’t,” I interrupt before she can say any more.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t leave, not yet.”
“Why not?” she asks, looking slightly confused, but also intrigued.
Because this is the first time I’ve felt alive in a long time.
Because even though a dare brought us together, this feels real.
Because I want to spend more time with you, not because of pressure from my dad, but because I genuinely enjoy everything about you, even your snarly attitude.
I swallow, my eyes staying connected with hers. “Because I’m enjoying myself and I doubt there have been many times in my life where I’ve felt so content. I’m not ready to say good night to that feeling just yet.”
She swallows hard, her eyes searching mine. “Theo, no flirting.”
Being dead serious, I say, “I’m not flirting. I’m stating facts.”
“Oh,” she says quietly. And I watch as she cutely attempts to process the information.
“So please, stay, just a little while longer.”
It takes her a second, but then, to my surprise, she wets her lips and nods, lying back down.
I take her hand in mine, and together, we both stare at the stars, not saying anything, just enjoying the moment.
Sure, my life hasn’t been as hard as many others’, but I didn’t know you could simply lie with someone and know peace.
It’s as though my life has just had to keep one-upping itself.
Each dare. Each truth. Each fuck. But this? This is rare. This is…good.