“Um. That’s good to know. But I’d rather you didn’t hear all the sounds that come from my body. And I wish I hadn’t just said that.”
He laughed. “I’m sure I’ll hear them all.”
I didn’t even know how to begin to take that.
Silence, for a time.
Vince sighed, tugging gently on my hair. “Do you know constellations?”
“Some. My dad showed me when I was a kid.”
“Oh.”
“Do you?”
“Nah. My dad didn’t have time for that.” He tried to laugh it off. It didn’t work.
I waited to see if he would say more. He didn’t. “You know Orion’s Belt?” I asked him.
I felt him shrug, which I took to mean no. I moved off his stomach and onto my back, pressing our heads almost together. I took his hand in mine and pointed out three bright stars with our fingers. “Alnitak,” I said for the first star. “Alnilam,” for the second. And, “Mintaka,” for the third. “My dad said Orion was a great hunter, the son of Poseidon, the sea god. He could supposedly walk on the waves because of that. He once went hunting with the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto. For some reason, during the hunt, he said he was going to kill every creature on the planet. Mother Earth hated him for this and sent a giant scorpion to kill him. And it did. The goddesses then asked Zeus to place him in the stars. Zeus agreed, and as a memorial to Orion’s death, he also added the scorpion to the sky as well.” I took his hand and moved south, tracing over the other constellation. “And that is where Orion and Scorpius are still locked in battle.” I lowered our hands but I didn’t let go. He placed my hand on his chest. His heartbeat was soft.
A moment later, he turned his head toward me. Our noses almost tou
ched. His dark eyes searched mine. I waited.
“You’re so smart,” he whispered finally.
I flushed. “Nah. Just something my dad taught me. I liked the story, so I remembered it. That’s all.” I didn’t look away. I couldn’t.
He reached out and touched my cheek. “That’s not all.”
We watched each other quietly until I finally worked up the courage to ask what I’d been thinking for hours. “Vince?”
“Yeah?”
“Is this for real?”
“What?”
“You know.” I swallowed. “You and me.”
No hesitation. “It is.”
“Okay.”
He watched me. “If you need me to, I’ll tell you every day it’s real.”
“Okay.”
“It’s real.”
“Okay.”
“Paul?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to kiss you now.”