Page 160 of Glitched Play

When darkness settles, at first the sky is midnight blue and the first few stars appear. We sit on a blanket, my hand rubbing her thigh. It feels like she’s been beside me for years. As it turns pitch black, dozens, then hundreds appear, until the sky is saturated with light.

She gasps and whispers, "I've never seen so many."

I retrieve the telescope from its case.

She laughs. "You packed a telescope?"

"Yes. This is what I wanted to show you.”

She leans against me while I adjust the lens.

“The stars? I thought your other obsession would be chess.”

"Not the stars. Patterns."

She frowns.

"Astronomy is patterns." I point upward. "Most people think the stars are the important part."

"Aren't they? They make us wish and hope.”

"They're only points of light." I trace invisible lines through the air as her head rests on my shoulder. "We're the ones who connect them."

She follows my finger.

"The constellations."

I nod. "Those stars existed long before anyone named Orion… or Cassiopeia… or Ursa Major." I smile. "The stories came later."

She looks at me.

"So the connections are what matter."

"Yes."

I rotate the telescope toward Polaris.

"The stars don't become meaningful because they shine."

"They become meaningful because someone sees how they belong together."

Silence settles between us—comfortable and thoughtful.

She slips her fingers through mine.

"Kind of like families."

I look up again.

"Exactly. Like how we can all be different but fit together."

“That’s beautiful, Witt.” She considers the thought for a beat before she says, “We seem like we’re different than our siblings, but we all look at the same stars.”

“You’ve helped me understand that being different doesn’t mean I don’t belong.”

I tilt her chin up with my finger and look at the stars reflecting her eyes. Our lips connect, and the faint taste of the club soda plays on my tongue.

Our noses rub together as she says, “You helped my family see me and… that is priceless. I never knew how to explain it to them and then Chase told me about the opening and…”