No Wish Upon A Shooting Star

Pedestrians spilled out onto the sidewalk, tugging on coats to protect themselves from the cold autumn night. She stood impatiently beside her boyfriend as he exchanged farewells with his family that had came to watch him perform in the county-wide chorus festival.
     "You did very well tonight Dustin," commented her boyfriend's father, his voice revealing itself in a gray swirl of fog against the night sky and the soft ebony lights of the parking lot.
She had no coat to bare, and her legs and back were exposed by her ripped skinny jeans and red flannel featuring a keyhole in the back.
She had decided to never wear her outfit in front of Dustin's family again.
She could not tell if the Holland's were just teasing her about her clothing or if it truly offended them. She knew that Dustin's family was religious, but she did not know how much for she never talked to her boyfriend about religion because she was not religious herself. She tended to stray away from hot topics, unless it was the store.
Her train of thought came to a sudden screeching halt as she realized that farewells and social niceties were nearly over. She gave his touchy grandfather an extremely awkward hug— one that had arms scrambling to be on top of the other and heads that nearly collided like rams during the rut.
Moments later she was thankfully walking to Mrs. Holland's car with Mrs. Holland and Dustin walking beside her as they navigated the various parked vehicles.
     Dustin was seventeen- one and a half years her senior- and had both a license and a car. But tonight his mother was driving and his car was parked in the warmth of his garage.
     Alice opened the rear passenger side door and plopped inside, moving food containers that contained an early dinner of Denny's off to the side to make room for herself.
She did not like it when she found herself looking at Dustin's shoulders. The view was nice, but she would rather have him sitting in the back seat beside her than sitting in the front passenger seat where was close, but oh so far away.
     As they pulled away from the school she internally pouted until the rustling of his jacket caught her attention. A moment later, his arm was bent back and resting on the seat beside her. His fingers searched hers, found them, and then held them.
     The handhold was awkward— their hands were palm-to-palm— but it meant a lot, especially when his finger moved up and down, brushing against her ripped skinny jean clad leg.
     She was grateful for the darkness. It hid her delighted smile.
The car ride was a mundane one. They spoke about this and that, rumors about the school district in which Dustin and her went to school and Mrs. Holland worked at as a school nurse, and funny things such as Dustin as a child. Alice herself was mostly quiet though, as she often was. She was tired and she gazed out the window more than she engaged in conversation.
The lights of the small rural town of Cattawinn dimmed as they departed across the river. Below them, the water was dark and seemingly unmoving. The fall leaves were not visible under the slim sliver of moon in the sky.
Alice stared at the moon which seemed closer tonight, and she wondered how big it would appear if it were full instead of nearly new.
A streak of light whipped across the sky just left of the moon like the quick slash of an artist's paintbrush and was gone.
"I think I just saw a shooting star," Dustin commented, his voice filled with a hint of awe.
"I thought I was crazy," she admitted, "but I think that I just saw it too."
"Make a wish," Mrs. Holland said, glancing up in the night sky as if she could catch a glimpse of something long gone.
Neither Alice nor Dustin replied other than by squeezing each other's hands in their awkward handhold.
They already had everything they had wished for.

This is a true story, all events did occur but all names were changed to keep my true identity hidden.
Thank you for reading.
Please vote, comment, message, follow, and check out my other stories.
-Occult