“That’s cool.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes before Asher finally breaks it. “My mom said you swim a four-hundred-yard IM. That’s one of my favorites.”
“Yeah?” I love individual medleys because unlike the team events, you don’t have to worry about whether you’re screwing something up for someone else. It’s just you, good or bad. IMs are a love-them-or-hate-them kind of thing, and something about knowing Asher and I are in the same camp relaxes something inside of me. It’s a very tiny, very specific thing we have in common.
Our parents join us at the fire, and while they talk, Asher and I roast marshmallows, make double-decker s’mores (his idea) and throw the tiny little apples into the fire to see if they’ll explode (also his idea). Eventually the adults announce that they’re going back to the Marins’ cabin to play cards, and tell us to douse the embers when we leave.
Once we’re alone, we get quiet. We sit for a few minutes, staring at the fire and poking at glowing logs with our metal roasting sticks, before Asher breaks the silence. “There’s a meteor shower this week. It doesn’t peak for a few days, but we can probably see some tonight.” Asher stands up and walks behind his bench, sitting down on the grass. He lies back on the ground, and I stay on my bench, watching him. Asher looks prettier in the dark somehow. Maybe it’s the last of the fire, casting his skin in a soft warm glow. Maybe it’s the way he smiles while he’s talking to me, and light glistens off of his white teeth. Everything in my chest tightens as I look at the empty space next to him on the grass and force myself to stand up and walk over.
Only a few inches separate us. We’re wedged between the bench and the cement walkway that leads down to the dock. Maybe I should have moved the bench over so we weren’t so close, but now I’m here, and it would be weird to get up and move it just so I don’t have to be so close to him.Don’t be a nervous jerk, Sidney.
I’m prepared for how awkward it’s going to be to lie in the silence together, but Asher doesn’t let it last more than a few seconds. As soon as my head hits the grass he’s pointing toward the sky. “Meteor showers usually originate around a certain constellation, so if we find it, then it’ll be easier to see the meteors. Especially this early in the shower. And into the night.”
“It’s close to midnight.”
“Most meteor showers actually peak closer to four or five a.m.” He points up into the sky. “We’re looking for Perseus.”
“Which one is that?”
“He’s a god.” Asher’s fingers trace across the sky like he’s mapping it out with his fingertip. “But honestly, he looks more like a one-legged stick figure. Like something my three-year-old cousin would draw.”
I laugh. “They all look weird to me.”
Asher taps at the sky. “There.” He traces his finger in a pattern I can’t follow. “Do you see it?”
“Mhm.” I stare in the general direction of Asher’s hand, hoping it will magically come into focus for me.
“Really?”
“No.”
Asher pulls his phone out of his pocket and his fingers fly across the screen. He holds it out to me. “They’re pretty hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for.” The screen is filled with stars and lines, and he’s right, this hardly looks like a person, let alone a god. Someone had averyvivid imagination back in the day. I turn my eyes back to the sky and keep searching.
“Anything?” he says.
I don’t say anything, just shake my head. But as I’m staring up into the sky, wondering if my brain just isn’t wired to see constellations, I see the tiniest little spray of light. “There!” I thrust my finger at the sky and Asher laughs. “I saw one!”
“Is it your first?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, there should probably be eight or ten an hour right now. Not that we’ll catch them all, but…” His voice trails off into silence.
We lie on our backs and stare up at the sky until I’m woken up by Asher patting my hand with his. “Sid, it’s really late. I didn’t know you fell asleep.”
We make our way back to our houses, but the next night we’re in the same spot. “How do you know so much about constellations?”
I can feel Asher’s shoulders shrug next to me, ruffling the grass. “We learned about them in fourth grade, and I just always thought they were cool. I guess I was kind of a nerd about it afterward.”
I nod. “Can you show me Cancer?”
“Is that your sign?”
“Yeah.”
“So you have a birthday soon.” It’s not a question, just a statement.
“You know all of the zodiacs, too?”
