"You are the worst boy, Theodore Laurence."
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For centuries, humankind has used the stars. Whether it be for navigating across unfamiliar oceans, for preserving myths and legends of great heroes who were bestowed a spot in the heavens by the gods...
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JO AND LAURIE galavanted through the fields of Concord, running their hands through the waist-high grasses and hopping over rickety old wooden fences until they came upon a magnificent sight. The emerald hill they stood upon sloped gently into town, where the spires of the church and tendrils of smoke from chimneys poked out from treetops. The morning sky was tinged with the softest shades of pinks and gold and the clouds that spotted the horizon looked like soft spun sugar. They paused briefly at the hilltop, staring down at the entrancing view. They had come here for years, walking the same path and seeing the same view form the hilltop every time, but something in the air felt different, like the tranquility and peacefulness or childhood was about to be disrupted, so they should take in the view while they could.
Jo sighed as she and Laurie strode through the grass. "Meg married, Amy off to Europe, Charlie meeting some uncle that could take her away from us, and now that you're a graduate, you'll be off on a long holiday— I'm not good like Beth so I'm angry and I'm restless."
"You don't have to stay here, Jo." Laurie's voice was low, like he would scare her off by speaking too loudly.
"Why? Should we run off and join a pirate ship?" Jo turned to Laurie with an amused smile. Laurie fell behind her, pausing on the hill as he smiled softly and frowned.
Jo's smile disappeared, replaced in an instance by a terror. "No." She insisted. She knew what words Laurie was waiting to say, she knew what would happen when she denied him, and for a single second, she hoped her ardent objections would make him forget about this nonsense and they could go back to romping through the trees like children.
Laurie followed after her as she turned her back and stomped up the hill in an angry huff. "It's no use, Jo. We've got to have it out."
"No, Teddy." Jo shook her head. She refused to look at him and shook her head again. The thing she had feared the most finally came to fruition. She loved Laurie— she absolutely loved and adored him— but not like this. Laurie was her brother, her best friend, her confidant and partner in crime, but even from the depths of her heart she couldn't find it in her to love him in the way he wanted.
Desperation laced Laurie's words as he followed after her. "I've loved you ever since I've known you Jo. I couldn't help it and I tried to show it and you wouldn't let me, which is fine, but I must make you hear me and give me an answer, because I cannot go on like this any longer."
"Teddy, please." Jo pleaded.
"I gave up billiards, I gave up everything you didn't like. I'm happy I did— it's fine— and I waited and I never complained because I figured you loved me, Jo. And I realized I'm not half good enough and I'm not this great man—" Tears gathered in Laurie's eyes as his jaw clenched to keep his lips from shaking. He regained the little composure he had and turned away from Jo sullenly.
