Secret Desires

35: The Night Sky

        The crackling of the fire mixed with the chirping of crickets did something to me. There was a peace in the air that felt like I could never get it anywhere else. I felt safe here. Maple Creek has become a second home for me. It's been a place where I could escape the profound mess that was my life. I'm not sure I could ever truly hate it here. If I lived here, I think I would be satisfied. But I think I would miss the convenience of living so close to everything.

       But if I was never able to come back here, I would miss the night sky. On nights like this, when there wasn't a single cloud out, you could see the stars in all their glory. They told stories older than time, each star gleaming and trying to shine brighter than the next. And I had no words to describe the beauty of the moon tonight, though, none were needed it seemed. The moon, in complete and utter silence, spoke for itself in its luminescence.

       "Fucker." I stifled a laugh. Layla blew out a breath of air as she glared at the marshmallow on the end of her stick. It was burnt and melting into the fire.

       "What is that?" Dallas asked. He was sliding a perfectly toasted marshmallow onto a graham cracker. "Your fourth one now?" David tried to hide his low chuckle with a cough as Layla glared at Dallas. It was indeed the fourth marshmallow she has burned. David offered to toast hers for her after the second one. I offered after the third. Dallas was only interested in seeing how many she could burn before the bag was empty.

       "Shut up," she hissed at him. I handed her the bag, trying not to smile as wide as I was. My lips trembled when she looked my way.

       "I'm not laughing," I told her. She rolled her eyes, snatching the bag from me. David couldn't hide his laugh this time. She gave him a look that promised violence. It only seemed to amuse him. I was amused as well. Layla was so little compared to her older brother.

       "Just lemme do it for you." He held his hand out, reaching for the bag. Layla stared at him as she shoved her hand into the bag and impaled a new marshmallow onto the end of her stick.

       "I'm capable of doing it myself," she grunted. Dallas placed a piece of chocolate atop his marshmallow before topping it with a graham cracker half. Before taking a bite, he looked over at his sister and gave her a smug little smile.

       "Clearly," he taunted. Layla chose to ignore him, rotating her stick and focusing way too hard on such a simple task. We all were enjoying this a little too much. It was just the four of us out here. We were a short walking distance from the house, not too close but not too far.

      I'd noticed this area before but never really cared to see what it was. This was where they would all come to sit around a fire pit, though I hadn't witnessed them do so yet. The chairs and benches taking residence here didn't match at all in style or color. But somehow, they all seemed to belong. Nothing felt out of place.

       It was a cozy little area. There was a heavy lockbox stocked with throw blankets and campfire equipment beside a tall tree. I, like Layla, had one of the blankets covering my legs. It was a little chilly tonight, but I didn't mind. I wished that they would do this more often. I'd never really done something like this before. It was such a simple thing, but I was enjoying myself. Even though we were all just sitting here, talking about absolutely nothing, I felt happy doing this. It would have been nice if the others wanted to enjoy this as well, but no one else was interested.

       Drew wanted to watch her show and Dani said she was tired. And I wasn't sure what their parents were doing but they had gone somewhere off the ranch after my mom left.

       My mom had stayed a long while before finally getting up to leave. Claudia had offered her to stay the night, but my mother said she needed to go home. I wasn't entirely sure why she needed to go home. We could have shared a bed here, I wouldn't have minded. It's not like we haven't done it before.