Like Seeing Stars

6.

"What are you doing out here?" Nora collapses beside him, bumping his shoulder along the way of her graceless descent. "It's hot."

"It feels good." He smiles at her.

For a moment he stares. He knows how much she hates staring but today she can get over it. One good eye follows the lines of her face, jawline, eye sockets, the slope of her pert nose, slender neck, stable shoulders good for carrying the weight of the world since that's what she likes to do. He lingers on the color of her eyes, grey like his, wide, curious, framed by her heavy, black hair.

A deep rosy color, her lips are caught in perpetual disapproval, especially when directed at him for not thinking far enough ahead. That look used to frustrate him, now he would face that disapproval every day for the rest of his life as long as he gets to see it.

Nora turns to look at him. She doesn't comment on his staring.

"You want to go for a drive?" she asks instead.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a place I like to go when I'm freaking out about shit. I think you could use a place like that right now. Besides," she knocks into his shoulder, "if you're going to stare at something before you can't stare anymore, it shouldn't be me."

Discomfort prickles at the corners of his eyes. He fights it.

Nora stands quickly and offers her hand, "Let's go before we run out of daylight."

Rarely does Jesse find himself in the passenger seat. He loves to drive. As soon as he was legal to get behind the wheel—and maybe before that after swearing secrecy to his older brother—he took up the responsibility with pride. Many nights when he can't sleep or feels anxious, he'll take himself out on a drive around town. This time, Nora insisted that she drive, that he needed to take in their surroundings. He's glad he agreed.

Trees drip with luscious green leaves, branches soar in every direction, so dense he can barely see the sky. Birds of every color and shape sing above their heads, deer come in and out of view among the dense foliage, and the air smells so clean he can hardly believe it's part of undisturbed nature. Sunlight streams through breaks in the branches, casting beams of light that look like the fingers of the gods reaching toward them. It's like a fantasy land.

All of this just an hour's drive from his own home.

He hangs his arm out of the car, allowing the rush of wind to lift and push his hand as he makes waves against its power. Every so often, he steals glances of his sister, taking mental snapshots: left foot on the seat, twirling a loose strand of hair; mouth silently forming words along with the radio; the sunlight washing out her grey eyes, turning them a startling silver.

They pull into a small off-road parking area and abandon the car.

"Should I have brought hiking gear with me," he teases.

"It's a five-minute walk, I'm pretty sure your bougie ass will survive the trek."

Not long into their trek, Jesse can hear a rushing sound, and as they push past a tight group of trees, he can see their destination.

A massive waterfall roars beside them. It's like they've appeared midway up. The closer they get, the louder it's voice. Nora turns back to smile at him and carries on to a set of steps built into the ground, leading to the base of the falls. As they descend, the air gets cooler and tiny pinpricks of water spray against his skin. Despite the ninety-degree heat, Jesse finds that he's almost cold.

Without words, he follows his twin sister's lead as she removes her shoes, rolls up her jeans, and takes several steps into the clear waters. He stands beside her and watches as she closes her eyes, arms open at her sides, and breathes deeply. This close to the waterfall the sound around him is all but completely drowned out by the awesome voice of the falls, it makes him feel small, inconsequential.