space boy; muke

xviii

Luke and Michael sat on the blanket together while under the blanket of stars, laughing and sharing lame stories about stupid things they'd done.

"You actually had a black market for smelly markers on the playground in second grade?" Michael laughed.

"Of course! Every kid loved them, but the principal had to ban them because kids were drawing on their faces with them to smell the artificial smells all day." Luke grinned, remembering his best friend at the time colouring a rainbow across his face, so he could smell like fruit salad all day. "I was definitely the cool kid, bringing the contraband into the school yard." He let out a small laugh.

They sat in silence for a few moments, before Michael broke the silence.

"Look, Luke!" Michael pointed at the sky. "I didn't think we'd see it from here." Luke watched as a streak of light lit up the night sky, followed by another, and then a third.

"What was that?" Luke asked, seeing more and more cross the dark sky.

"It's the meteor shower!" Michael exclaimed. Luke remembered Michael saying something about there being one soon, but didn't think it was anything this spectacular. "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's amazing." Luke replied. "How long do these things usually last?"

"It really depends," Michael replied, digging out his phone. "It's supposed to peak on Thursday, but they can really appear up to a week before, and last up to a week after." He explained.

The two sat, watching the meteors shoot across the sky, one passing every few minutes.

"So what actually is a meteor?" Luke asked. "Because isn't there a meteoroid, too? And there's asteroids and comets, too, right?"

"So the meteor is the light that we've been watching in the sky, but the debris coming into the atmosphere is the meteoroid. It's just the space junk that's flying through space. Usually, unless it's a massive one, the meteoroid usually burns up in the atmosphere. Asteroids and comets are a bit different, though. Asteroids usually come from the asteroid belt separating the inner and outer planets, and comets are like asteroids, but are icy instead of just rocky." Michael explained.

"How do you know all of this?" Luke asked, wondering how Michael could be such a genius at everything.

"I really like it, and I remember things about things that I like." Michael shrugged. Luke reclined down on the blanket, stretching out across the ground, and putting his hand on Michael's, which was resting on the blanket.

"Come lay with me." Luke whispered. "We can stay warm." He scrunched closer to Michael, who was now laying on his back, too. Michael put his head on Luke's shoulder, and nuzzled into the crook of Luke's neck.

"I really like being with you, Lukey." Michael said. "I like being with you a lot."

"Me, too, Mikey." Luke agreed. "You're my space boy."