Days pass by where I don't see Marcus or Zack. Football keeps them busy and school swallows my time.
The light of my laptop blares in the darkness of my room as I type faster. There's a programming contest in a month and I've been typing up codes 24/7 in preparation.
There's a knock on my door and it's a struggle for me to tear my hands away from the keyboard. When I look away, my eyes are sore from staring at the screen for so long.
I open the door and Zack stands along the edge with a pizza box in one hand, the other hidden behind his back.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, smiling as I lean against the door.
"I haven't seen you all week," he says. "Figured you missed me."
I laugh and he holds out the pizza box for me to take. "Come on," he says. "The stars are out tonight."
It reminds me of high school, that time he brought me to the football field before we got the cops called on us. This time, there's no one to stop us as he sets down a blanket by the fire and opens up the pizza box so the balcony air fills with garlic and herbs.
We watch the moon turn from a light cream into a soft yellow amidst a sea of silver stars. He reveals what he was hiding in his hands, a copy of Little Women, and reads it to me as I lay with my head on his lap. I wrap the blanket tighter around him until everything is warm.
There's no one to bother us. No parents to tell me to come home.
As he holds my hand, his finger runs over the ring. He extends his hand to put it next to mine and observes.
"We haven't gone stargazing in a while," I say.
"I know," he says quietly. "How many can you count?"
I sit up beside him, frowning. "It's bad luck to count stars."
"Not always," he replies. "My dad told me there's a superstition that if you count seven stars on seven nights in a row, the first person you shake hands with on the eighth day is the one you'll marry."
My lips part as I stare at him.
He smiles at me. "Do you want to count them?"
I press my lips together and my mind is fuzzy as I nod. Taking his hand in mine so our rings touch, I point at the stars and count them out loud.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six... Seven."
He presses his lips to my forehead. "Every night for seven days."
"Okay," I agree quietly.
He kisses me then walks me back to my room. It isn't until I close the door behind me and remember the mess I'm in that I realize it's another lie I'll have to add to my list.
A/N: sorry for the late update. double update today