Tea For Two

7

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Sitting on the counter in Emily's kitchen, our evening lays ahead of us, sounding fantastic. Her parents are both going to be out late- her stepdad, working; her mother, having her own girls' night out with some of her yoga friends. They left us money for pizza, and we've already called to order. We're talking, drinking more tea, waiting for them to arrive.

Emily was right this morning- today is a great day.

"So you're telling me that you've never seen them?"

"No, August, I have never seen them," she laughs at me. "Why would I have? Normal people don't just go into their closet and look up."

"Why would you even bring up normal people?" I say, looking comically between myself and her. "I don't see any of those here."

She smiles and rolls her eyes, taking another sip of her tea.

"Besides, how would you even know they're there?"

I don't say anything. I just calmly stand up and place my mug on the table and I head toward her room.

"Where you going?" She asks, following me.

"Your room."

"Race you!" She laughs and runs past me. I chase her and we end up each with a hand on the closet door handle.

"Are you going to let me show you?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies.

We open the door and I motion for her to step inside as I pull on the cord for the light to turn it on.

"Gingers first," I say.

"Hey!" she scoffs, punching me lightly on the arm. She obliges, though.

I follow her in and close the door behind us. We're standing just a foot away from one another, but it feels crowded anyway.

"Huh," I say. "It's gotten smaller since I was a kid."

"Yeah. It's funny how when we grow up, we grow."

"Nicely put."

"I thought so."

"Ready for this?" I say, reaching up to turn the light off.

"Do it."

I pull the cord and we're instantly dipped into perfect darkness- but only until our eyes adjust.

"Ooh..."

She really couldn't have said it any better. Hundreds of tiny glow in the dark stars cover the ceiling and the top few inches of each wall of the closet. They're not perfect- they were messily put on by young hands just a little too short to be sure of sticker placement hight above their head. But as messy as they are at first, they really are kind of beautiful.

"Ages ago, the boy who lived here- Carson- and I, we got this crazy notion to put all of these glow in the dark stars in here. No one knew about them but us, and when I would come over, we would come in here. See, there in the corner-" I grab one of her hands and point to the corner in question with it-  "we put our initials. I've got an 'A', he's got a 'C'."

I can't see her very well, but I think her hands are over her mouth. She takes one step closer to me- we're standing toe to toe.

"He wanted more than anything to be an astronaut. I wanted to be an alien," I explain. "So stars made a lot of sense for us."

"Yeah..."

"His parents fought a lot and when they would yell too much when I was over, we would come in here because you can't really hear the house."

She doesn't say anything. I wouldn't if I was her, either.

"Wanna hear a secret?" I ask her. She can't see it, but I'm begging her with my eyes to say yes.

"Yeah?"

"A long time ago, the family that lived here went on vacation for a month or so and they hired me to feed their dogs. They gave me a copy of the key, and never took it back. Four years, and no one's ever changed the locks. Ever since then, when there's no one living here, I come over sometimes and just sit in here and look up."

She's silent for a moment. Then she says, "August."

"Mm?"

"Wanna hear a secret?"

I'm not sure.

"Yes."

I can feel her breath on my face. Our noses are so close to each other that they touch from time to time as we sway just a little bit- the way bodies do without meaning to because of the force of the blood pushing through their veins.

"I think I really like this girl who used to want to be an alien."

I reach up and sweep her bangs out of her face. I follow the curve of her jaw with my thumb and I bring her mouth to mine. She winds her arms up around my neck, and for the first time since I've known her, I feel like the tall one. I move my hand on her jaw to the base of her head and I put the other one on the small of her back, pulling her closer to me.

She opens her mouth just a little bit, and my tongue greets her bottom lip like an old friend. She tastes like orange spice tea.

It's a nice kiss, it really is.

I break it, though, knowing that it's my responsibility to answer her in actual words.

"You know what?"

"Mm?" she mimicks me from earlier as she pecks me on the lips.

"As it turns out, she always was an alien."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. But now she's an incredibly happy alien."

"Why's that?" I can hear her smiling.

"Because she's about to ask the most beautiful human girl in the world to be her girlfriend."

"Wow. she is one cheesy alien."

"So what do you say, Em? You wanna be my girl?"

"Yes," she says before she kisses me again.

Oh Hell yes.

~~~

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