Page 63 of Light Up The Night
She lifts up on her toes and kisses my lips. "We should return to your friends."
"Yeah, I gotta talk to Nyx."
The night endsup being the most fun I've had in a long, long time. Cadence is everyone's new favorite, with the girls all playing musical chairs so they can get a few minutes of conversation with her and the guys all trying to impress her with jokes and stories.
I'm proud of my crew, too—no one bats an eye at her unique way of talking or asks invasive questions. They just accept her. And she notices it—wearing her emotions on her sleeve the wayshe does, it's easy to see how much she's enjoying being a part of this evening.
More than once, I see her literally pinch herself on the thigh.
I wish to fuck this could be our life. I put that aside, though. Can’t go there.
We close the bar down and spend another half an hour in the parking lot, standing near our cars in a big circle beneath the glittering Three Rivers night sky, talking.
Eventually, we all get in our cars and head for our various homes. As I'm leaving the lot, Cadence glances at me. "I have a request."
"Anything."
She grins at me. "I am a literal girl, Riley. What if my request was for the moon?"
"I'd contact NASA."
She rolls her eyes. "You have an answer for everything." She lowers her window and leans out, looking up at the sky. "Can we get away from the light pollution? I would like to stargaze."
"I've got just the spot," I tell her.
I take her to Grace Point, a little spit of land jutting out into the bay—it's not far north of the spot we locals call Secret Beach. It's not easy to find, as the access road leading to it is hidden from view of the main road. Once you get there, you have to park in a little circle of dirt and hike up a steep path through towering, swaying pines. The trees thin out gradually, and after a quarter of a mile, they end abruptly, and you find yourself on a bluff some twenty or thirty feet over the water, dune grass waving around you with sand underfoot and nothing but sky in almost every direction.
When we reach the point itself, she stops, hands to her mouth, spinning in a slow circle. The beach stretches away to the left and right, endlessly, curving out of sight. The water ripples, a fluttering black blanket strewn with a billion glittering,spilled diamonds. Above, the sky is infinite. The stars are beyond number, and you could almost be swallowed whole by the breadth and depth of it.
Staring up, Cadence is visibly moved. She looks at me with wet eyes. "This is glorious!"
"My favorite place. I come here to think. To get away from…everything, I guess.”
"I will find it hard to leave." She sits cross-legged in the sand, and then lies back, smoothing her dress over her stomach, and lets out a deep, contented sigh. "This has been the best day of my life."
I lay beside her, wishing I could pull her onto my chest. "I'm glad."
She takes my hand. "You gave it to me, Riley. You shared your friends with me." Her eyes glitter in the dark. "I shall treasure this day all my life."
It's hard to swallow, dammit. "Cadence…" I trail off with a sigh. "I will too."
We lay in silence together for a long time, just staring at the sky, counting stars, and holding hands.
I can almost forget everything else. I've never been good at living in the moment—I've got way too much fucking baggage for that—but this feels pretty close to what I imagine that's like.
There's a smear of faint gray on the horizon where it meets the water when Cadence rolls to face me, cheek pillowed on her hands like we're snug in bed together. "I have a question."
"Okay. I'll answer as honestly as I can."
Her smile at this is faint, thoughtful. 'I know you will," she says absently. "My question is…difficult for me to verbalize."
"Take all the time you need," I say, tracing her hair behind her ear, marveling at her beauty in the silver light of starshine.
She takes nearly a full minute formulating her question. "In the realm of physical affection, things seem to exist on agradient…or a spectrum. On one side, you have simple things, like hand-holding and hugs."
"With you so far," I say, trying and failing to anticipate where she might be taking this.
"Then there is snuggling, kissing, holding one another, touching one's face, and things of this nature."
