𝐟𝙪𝐥𝐥 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 ┃ 𝐥𝙪𝒌𝙚 𝐩𝙖𝒕𝒕𝙚𝙧𝙨𝞸𝙣

Chapter 13

Climbing into bed at my Grandparents feels really weird. I haven't done this since I was little.

"Anne!" Kota comes into the room with Ben on his heels.

"What?!" It's like 1:30 am, I don't know how Ben is even awake anymore.

"You have to come look at the stars!" I grin, remembering what it used to look like when we were kids and would do this with dad. I crawl back out of bed, grabbing my hoodie.
I slip out the back door behind them and trek along up the hill behind their house. I flop down onto my back, trying to see what Ben's pointing at.

"Is that the Big Dipper?"

"That is." I shift his arm to the right a little bit to get him to the right spot.

"That one?" He asks, grinning.

"Yeah." I grin back.

"Anne?" I hear from the back door. I sit up and see Alex sleepily looking at me all confused.

"Huh?"

"What are you guys doing?"

"Star gazing! Come join!"

Alex happily plods out to where we are, laying down on the other side of Ben.

"Ben! Look! Pegasus!" I point out another constellation.

"You know which one that is?" Alex looks at me over Bens head.

"Anne knows all this stuff. She and Dad used to lay out for hours studying the stars." Kota explains, before I make out another one.

"And those there are Ursa Minor."

"I don't know how she does it." Ben shakes his head.

"I've spent hours doing this." I shrug.

"What's that one?" Alex asks, pointing at a random star.

"A star." I laugh. "That's apart of Ursa Minor though." I point at some of the other stars in the constellation.

"You are really talented." Alex grins at me. That's when I hear the sliding door open again.

"Hello?" I prop myself up on my elbows and look to see who it is. A very sleepy Reggie staggers out of the door behind a equally confused Luke.

"What are you doing?" Reggie grumbles.

"Stargazing! Anne knows so much!" Alex grins back.

Luke looks questioningly at us but shrugs and joins us on the hill. He lays down between Alex and Ben and Ben points up at the sky.

"That's Ursa Minor." He points it out to Luke, who looks shocked. "I learned that from Anne." He grins.

"From Anne?" Luke lifts his head to look at me, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes.

"Yeah, this is what Dad and I would do this for hours at a time when I was a kid."

"Impressive." He lays his head back down.

"That one is Cetus." I point out another one to Kota.

"That was the first one Dad ever taught me."
Kota smiles. Ben reaches for my hand. I grab his and then I hear Grandma's voice cut across the backyard.

"You kids are ridiculous."

Within two minutes she's out on the grass with us pointing at stars. She knows a lot more than I do.

"How do you know all of this?" Luke asks wide eyed.

"I grew up on a reservation where we had limited electricity. I learned early on how to read the stars. Taught my son the same things I learned as a child. He passed it on to my Grandkids." She explains.

"That's so cool!" Reggie laughs.

Suddenly small snores are heard from Ben who is now dead out asleep. I smile as he shifts, rolling and putting his head on my shoulder.

"Hey, you ok?" Luke lifts his head and looks, realizing what is going on, before a small smile hits his face. He rolls onto his side, getting a clearer view of us.

"Want me to take him in?" He asks me.

"No, it's ok. Let him sleep." I tell him.

We lay out there until Reggie conks out too before we decide it's time to head in.

"Let me help." Luke tells me, but when he tries to take Ben his hands go straight through.

"I've got it Luke."

"Are you sure?" He asks me, big puppy eyes showing.

"I mean, you could walk with me." He smiles and nods.

I tuck Ben into his sleeping bag in the same room as Kota's before turning around.

"How can you still carry him?" Kota asks.

"He needs me, as long as he needs me I've got him." I tell him. He nods.

"Hey, not to interrupt, but it's 3 am and I think you both need to go to bed." Luke quietly says from the door. I turn and nod.
I follow him back to the room I'm sleeping in. Dad's childhood room. I crawl into bed, and Luke sits on the edge of it.

"Back to back?" I ask him. He nods with a small smile and crawls in next to me.

I wake up the next morning to breathing against my back. I roll to see Luke's sleepy face, hair everywhere. The clock on the nightstand says it's 9 am.

"Luke." I put a hand on him and surprisingly it sticks on his shoulder.

"HUH WHAT!" He jolts up, before slapping a hand onto his shoulder over mine.

"Anne, you scared me so bad." He sighs, flopping back onto the bed.

"Sorry, but I needed to wake you up." I tell him.

"Why what happened, are you ok?" He asks, turning over putting his other hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, I'm alright." I grin at him. "I'm just hungry."

He groans, before nodding. He slowly sits up still hanging onto my one hand.

"How can I still feel you?" I ask, confused.

"Because you need me." He grins. We both get up and head out to the rest of the family.

"Where did you sleep last night?" Grandma asks Luke, a knowing look on her face. Uh oh.

"Back to back with her, she needed me." Luke calmly answers. How is he so calm about this?

"Back to back?" She questions.

"When she gets anxious, I lay back to back with her and it helps her sleep." He shrugs.

"Is that why you've been in her room every night lately?" Mom asks. He nods.

"She needs me." He shrugs, offering a hand out to me. I reach out and grab it and it doesn't go through.

"How?" Mom asks.

"It's time I explain some things to you guys." Grandma smiles, gesturing for all of us to sit, and we do.