Aiden laughs. “Well, that explains why I’ve never heard of it then. What’s so special about it?”
“I’ve just got a lot of memories. It was my first roller coaster.” I smile wistfully. “And my first kiss.”
Now I have his attention.
“Do tell.” Aiden smiles.
“It was Felix, of course. We’d been friends for as long as I can remember. We were thirteen. Both our parents surprised us with a trip to Cedar Grove. We’d done all the roller coasters, so I asked him what we should do next. He pointed to this dark ride called Earthquake. It’s not exactly the tunnel of love, but everybody knew that was the make-out ride at Cedar Grove.”
Aiden laughs. “I can see where this is going.”
“Heh. Yeah. Well, at the time, I had a huge crush on Felix, and I’d been doing a lot of imagining us making out. He didn’t know, of course. And I was certain he would freak out if he did.
“I was sure I liked guys. After my massive crush on Tom Holland inSpider-Man, it was hard to deny it. It’s just that Felix was also my best friend. And I didn’t know how to deal with the fact that I was obsessed with kissing my best friend.
“We rode in the car together. He was flinching at every noise, and his knuckles were turning white, holding on to the safety bar. I wanted so badly to reach out and hug him. And then I got my wish. At this one jump scare, our car swerved sharply, and he jumped into my arms. We looked at each other and both laughed. But our eyes were locked together, and we stopped laughing. There was a look on his face I’d never seen before. So I kissed him.”
Aiden smiles in the firelight. But something else flashes in his expression. Maybe the slightest hint of jealousy.
“At first, he didn’t kiss back. I was sure I’d ruined our friendship. But he didn’t pull away either. We still had our arms wrapped around each other. And then he kissed me back. That was it. I knew he felt the same way. We were boyfriends. We rode the Earthquake about five more times, to be sure.”
Aiden lets loose a heartfelt laugh.
“We kept it a secret for a while. Until we were both ready to come out to our families. But from that moment, we were inseparable.”
“Wow. That’s really sweet.” Aiden smiles.
“Yeah. It’s a nice memory. But even then, it was indicative of our relationship. I had to initiate everything. Felix was always so timid. In the end, that was our downfall. We probably should have broken up earlier, but again, it was me who had to initiate that.”
Aiden nods and stares into the fire, looking very contemplative.
I sigh. “Anyway, enough about Felix.”
By now, twilight is over, and the stars have come out. I lean my chair back to get a better view. “I’ll never get used to how bright the stars are now.”
Aiden looks up in wonder. “Yeah, without city lights, we can see a billion of them.”
“I get now why they call it the Milky Way.”
Before the Great Collapse, there was still a certain amount of light pollution, even in the middle of nowhere. But with all the power grids out, there’s no light whatsoever. It’s hard to understand the difference until you experience it. On a cloudy night, the darkness is absolute. You can’t even make out your hand right in front of your face.
But it’s breathtaking on a night like tonight, with a clear, moonless sky. The middle of the galaxy and the radiating arms spreading out from its center are plain to see. And our tiny planet is one of a billion-billion little orbs spinning its way around. It’s enough to make me laugh at my insignificant problems.
The stars provide enough light to illuminate Aiden’s face. He’s looking upward, still with a look of deep contemplation.
“Kinda puts things into perspective, huh?” I ask.
“Yeah, it kinda does.”
“Before all this, I had a lot of my life planned out. I was going to finish college. Go work at Google. Fall in love and marry the man of my dreams. Buy a house and maybe have surrogate kids with some lesbian friends. Retire to the Mediterranean and travel the rest of my life.”
“That’s well planned out.” Aiden laughs. “Sounds like a nice life.”
“But now, I don’t even know what the next month will bring. If life’s all about survival, finding the next meal, what’s the point?”
Aiden looks over at me, his eyes tired and sad. “You’re kinda hitting me at a rough time to get too philosophical. You might not like my answers.”
I reach over and put my hand on his arm. “Hey, I’m here if you want to talk about stuff. Tell me what’s going on.”
