Just then, a shooting star crossed the sky.
And I made a wish:I want to find my place in the world.
I knew it was stupid to make a wish just because some rock that had caught fire in atmospheric gases had appeared and would soon burn up and vanish. It didn’t make sense, but still, I put every part of myself into that wish. I couldn’t help it, the same way a moth can’t help flying toward a flame. Trey was lost in thought, and in the dark, his face was hard to make out, but it didn’t matter because I knew every detail of it.
He surprised me with the words, “I’m afraid you’re going to make me start thinking you like me again.”
“You wish,” I responded.
“Or that you never did stop liking me.” There was a trace of amusement in his voice.
“Again, you wish. But tough luck.”
“Getting back to things you want to know about me,” he said, “no, I’m not going out with anyone. In case you were wondering.”
“It never occurred to me to ask,” I lied.
“Sure.” He leaned back and stretched his legs. “Just so you know, I’m not just single. I’m also open to offers.”
I felt a heat in my chest, and I knew it wasn’t just the wine. “If you think one’s coming from me, you can keep waiting.”
“Well, that’s too bad.”
“Why?”
“You’ll have to find that out for yourself, Pumpkin.”
“Call me that again and you’ll regret it.”
“Are you threatening me? If this is going to get physical, maybe we should try a date first.”
“Or not.”
“Fine,” he replied, “we can get physical without one. But only because you insist. Just so you know, I like the sound of a date.”
“No physical contact and no dates!” I shouted.
“Fine! I mean, not going out or not having sex first feels like rushing it to me, but if you want to just go for it, we can get married.”
I laughed under my breath. We were flirting. I don’t know how we made it to this, but we were flirting. I was on fire. “Technically, we’ve already done one of those things.”
“It kills me that I can’t remember,” he muttered, frustrated. Then he leaned in, and the light from the living room glowed in his eyes. I held my breath as he said, “I can’t stop thinking about it. That you and I…”
I heard a ding. For a moment, I didn’t realize it was my cell phone. But when I did, I leapt up.
“Oh my God, cell phone reception! Civilization!” I shouted, goinginside. I thought I could hear Trey laughing behind me.
After the emotion of the past days, my sister’s voice nearly made me cry. We talked for a long time, and with each second that passed, I had to bite my tongue harder not to tell her about Trey. But he was there to do something nice for her, and I couldn’t reveal his presence without spilling the beans about what Scott had in mind.
“You sound different,” Hayley said.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Your voice, your tone, the way you’re phrasing things… I don’t know, you sound happy. Content. Like actually happy, not just faking it.”
I took a second to think over what she’d said. She was right. I was happy.
“Yeah, I feel good, Hayley. Maybe it’s the place, or maybe it’s the people I’m meeting, but…either way, thanks for forcing me to come here.”
