Page 83 of As a Last Resort
“It’s actually calledNoctiluca scintillans, but basically it’s plankton that glows when it’s pissed off.”
She furrowed her brow, but her lips curved into a smile.“How do you piss off plankton?”
I chuckled.She was effortlessly funny and it made my heart swell.“It’s pretty easy.You can just run your hand through the water and it lights up.”
“Could you imagine if that happened to us?”she asked.“Every time we were really mad, we started glowing a different color.”
“That would be pretty amazing actually.”
“You’d glow a baby yellow.Super chill and sunny, but not too bright.You’re one of those people who’s calm, but then it’s a total tsunami of bottled-up emotion once every ten years and you’d glow bright red.”
“You’d glow pink.”
“Pink?”she said with a laugh.“Why pink?I’d be steel blue or neon yellow for sure.”
“Nope.Definitely pink.A light pink too.Like an,aww-that’s-cute-she’s-getting-madkinda pink.”
She narrowed her eyes on me.“You have no idea who you’re dealing with, do you?”
We sat in an easy silence, watching the glowing water inch slowly down the coast.The moment felt suspended.The warm salty air curled around us, and the starlight traced her face in such a way that I would forever be able to recall exactly where her freckles ended.
“Thank you.”She looked down at her hands fidgeting in her lap.“For today.The beach, the hospital, and being there even when Iwas kind of being a jerk.But mostly for the bacon.”She leaned into me and put her head on my shoulder.“I really needed that.All of it.So, thank you.”
I turned my head and rested my cheek on her.Her hair smelled like the moment just after it stops raining, when everything is clean and fresh.It felt like this was just how we always were.There had never been anything before this version of Sam and me.
A tiny sound pulled my attention to the edge of the field.
“Hey,” I lowered my voice and nodded.“Look over there.”
She followed my gaze to the edge of the field where a boy and girl leaned against the fence necking and giggling.
“She’s wearing a cheerleading uniform,” she whispered.“And that isnota football uniform.”
I looked at the boy’s tight black pants.“Aren’t those what they call jeggings?”
“Head cheerleader makes out with class bad-boy nerd—black-rimmed glasses, brains, and jeggings to boot.”
“Isn’t that against some unspoken code or something?”
“Which is maybe why they’re meeting incognito against a dark fence after ten p.m.,” she whispered.
“They don’t know we’re up here.”
“What hoochies.”
“What if they’re going steady?Doesn’t that make themnothoochies?”
“Hmm.Good point,” she agreed.“They’re still clearly sneaking around though.It’ll never last.”
“Maybe it’s a budding love story about the star cheerleader falling in love with the class nerd.Who wears jeggings.”
“She’ll get made fun of if it’s public.”
“But he’ll take anything he can get.”
“She ignores him in the hallways during school.”
“Only to call him and talk for hours every night,” I countered.
