Page 91 of Heartbeat

We were sitting on the kitchen floor, with our legs intertwined, facing each other.

“What do I believe in?” I brought the blunt to my lips and inhaled. “That’s a mouthful, right there.”

“I know,” he said, widening his eyes. “But are you religious? Do you even believe in religion?”

“Of course I believe in religion. It’s an actual thing,” I said, making him chuckle.

“You know what I meant.” He took the blunt between his fingers.

“I do,” I said, still holding the smoke in my lungs. “And no, I’m not religious at all. Are you?”

“Nah. It’s basically Santa, but for grown-ups.”

I laughed.

“But do you think there’s something out there, is what I’m asking,” he pressed. “Energy or fate or whatever?”

“I like the notion of infinity. Parallel universes, that sort of thing. That I believe in.” I reached up onto the counter I was leaning against for the bottle of Carménère and took a sip. “How about you?”

“Not big on fate, I’m afraid. I tend to think we make our own. But I believe in people, how they can sometimes be good. What do you like about infinity?”

“All the possibilities it presents?” I said as he leaned over, held the blunt to my lips, and waited for me to inhale. “I like how somewhere out there, you and I met differently, for instance.”

“Differently?”

“Sooner.” I handed him the bottle.

“You think there’s a place where we met before we actually did?” he asked, intrigued.

“I do. I also like the thought of a version of us meeting just now, for the first time.”

“Now?”

“Yeah. Feeling everything for the first time. It’s fun to think about.”

“But then…there’s a version where we haven’t met?”

“Sure.”

“And never will?”

It was so cute how that thought seemed to bother him.

“Actually, there isn’t because we’ve already met.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Now, right here, in this reality, we’ve already met. String theory doesn’t allow for that sort of paradox.”

“So…if we’ve already met, it means infinite versions of us are out there, right now, meeting for the first time?”

“Or already knowing each other for years. Yes.”

“That’s so cool,” he said, impressed.

“I think so.”

“What else? What about fate?”

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