Me & Mine

16. Doubt Thou The Stars Are Fire

Max takes a deep breath and sits down, his legs hanging over the edge of the hill. I join him and nudge my shoulder against his. "I'm glad you're not an axe murderer," I say, "but what is it exactly that we're doing here?"

I can see him smile in the dark, his silhouette lit by the faint moonlight. He throws his arms behind his head and lets his body fall backward, down in the soft grass. "You like the night sky, right?" He says, tucking at my arm. I oblige and let myself fall back in the grass. I look up and see only the stars, dancing their eternal dance in the utter darkness of the night. I take a deep breath and relax my body. If magic exists in this world, it's out there, in the glistening stars and the rising moon.

I turn my head and watch Max gaze at the stars. He smiles and turns his head too, our faces almost touching. Our eyes meet and I can feel myself gravitating towards him. All I want is to lose myself in his eyes again, to feel him close, to touch his skin. Yet still there is a part of me that screams to be careful with this one, and that part of me carries Harley's voice. I close my eyes and focus my gaze on the stars again. There are so many – brightly illuminating the sky, as if they were painted on a black canvas. I smile and my mouth parts a bit. There are no sights like this in the city.

Max still looks at me, the corners of his mouth slightly curled upwards, his eyes studying my face. "I figured you would know all about the stars," he says, his voice soft and low, "and I would love to listen to you talk about them."

With every word he says I can feel my skin glow, as bright as the stars, and I'm glad that it's too dark for him to see. I swear that this boy was sent to me with the sole purpose of unhinging my whole existence. God, what is he doing to me?

I clear my throat and smile again, wholly aware that I look like a fool in love, unable to close my mouth or keep my eyes from flickering. Again, this cover of darkness is very welcome.

"Okay," I say, scanning the sky for familiar asterisms, "see those three stars over there?" I point to three of the brightest stars, on a straight line with each other. Max nods.

"That's Orion's belt. Orion was a great slayer of animals and once he fought a giant scorpion. He lost, and after he died Zeus placed him among the stars."

I can feel Max' eyes piercing me. "He placed the scorpion in the skies too," I say.

"Scorpio," Max says, looking up at the stars again. I smile.

"Yeah," I say, "let's see. You must know the Big Dipper!" I point to the famous asterism. "See those four bright stars, forming a bowl?"

Max nods. "Yeah," he says, following my fingers with his eyes.

"And those three, those are the handle."

"Did Zeus need a spoon in the skies too?" Max teases. I chuckle and nudge his shoulder with my head. "It's part of the constellation of Ursa Major," I say softly and he laughs.

"A bear?"

"Yeah, don't you see it?"

"Not in the slightest," he smiles, "people sure liked their imagination back in the days."

"Well they had to do something without the Internet, right?"

A sudden gush of wind chills my skin and I shiver. Caught up in the moment, I have barely noticed that we were both still dressed for a sunny day – me in my skirt and top, he in his T shirt and jeans. It doesn't give much cover against the cooling air of the night. Max notices and softly strokes my shoulder. "Are you cold?" He asks, caressing my skin with his fingers. I sigh and nod slightly. "I'm afraid so," I whisper.