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“Yeah. How did you know?”
“The annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Every August, we go through a bunch of space stuff leftover from the Swift-Tuttle Comet. It’s like clockwork. It hits its peak from the eleventh to the thirteenth.”
“It’s the tenth now.” Grant gasped as a quick blip of light streaked across the sky. It was so small and quick that he almost missed it. “I saw one! I think? Yes?”
“Yup, that was a meteor. You’ll see more and more as Earth passes through it.” Huck kept searching the sky. “You can see Draco and Ursa the Bear, uh, Polaris. Oh! You can use Polaris to find the Big Dipper too. Or I guess you can use the Big Dipper to find Polaris. Whichever. See, Polaris is the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper, and you can trace it down to find the top corner of the pot for the Big Dipper.”
Grant turned not to look at the sky but at Huck.
Huck’s smile was as dazzling as the stars, and he was practically glowing as he babbled away. He’d never seemed as alive as he did right in this magical moment, and Grant’s heart was overflowing to see him so happy. He gave Huck’s hand a squeeze, urging him to go on and name as many stars as he could.
Turned out to be quite a few as Huck knew the names of several they couldn’t even see without a telescope, just knowing where they were from their proximity to other celestial bodies. Grant loved listening to the sound of Huck’s voice, and he snuggled his head on Huck’s shoulder as he enjoyed his personal tour of the night sky.
When Huck finally seemed to run out of stars, Grant lit a candle so they could enjoy the s’mores buffet.
“Do you think there’s alien ghosts up there?” Huck asked suddenly.
“What?” Grant laughed.
“Alien ghosts!” Huck was still looking up at the sky, his brow scrunched up in concentration. “We’re so small when you think about it. Us and our planet. There has to be more life out there.”
“Agreed.”
“Which means there must be alien ghosts!”
“Huh.” Grant chuckled as he stacked the chocolate and graham crackers together. “I guess I never thought about it, but yeah. If there are human ghosts, I assume aliens must have them too.”
“What if an alien died here? Would you be able to talk to it?”
“Maybe?”
“Have you ever seen any non-human ghosts?”
“Yeah. Their energy is different than people’s and it’s harder to see, but they’re out there. Lots of cats.”
“Aww, really?” Huck frowned. “I don’t know if that’s happy or sad.”
“I’d like to think it’s happy.” Grant held a marshmallow over the candle, waiting for it to catch flame before pulling it back. “Cats have this unique zap about them that carries over even in death. Sometimes those weird bumps in the middle of the night are just a spicy little cat ghost.”
“Spicy?”
“Yeah, you know.” Grant paused to blow out the flame so he could put the freshly toasted marshmallow between the two halves of the s’more. “Spicy. Some people call it the zoomies? When they get all crazy for no apparent reason and run around like they’re on crack?”
“Yeah.” Huck laughed. “I am familiar with the zoomies.”
“Well, at some places we’ve investigated with complaints of strange noises or, like, things being knocked off shelves, it’s not a human spirit. It’s a spicy cat ghost who wants to get their zoom on.”
“I’m still stuck on spicy. That’s what you call it?”
“Yeah! Whenever they’re feeling really frisky. They’re all spicy.” Grant thought the s’more was cool enough now to eat, and he hummed happily through a big bite. “Mm, I dunno. It’s just what I say.”
“Watching you eat that s’more is making me feel pretty spicy right now.” Huck wagged his brows.
Grant covered his mouth so he wouldn’t spit out graham cracker bits while he laughed. It was hard not to blush when Huck flirted with him like that, and Grant loved how desired Huck made him feel. It was one of the many reasons he enjoyed their time together and never wanted it to end. He reached out to ruffle Huck’s hair beneath his hood. “Mmm, like watching me eat, huh?”
“I like watching you do just about anything.” Huck sat up. “Mind if I try some?”
“Of course.” Grant leaned in to kiss Huck’s lips, smiling as Huck’s tongue teased inside his mouth. His pulse quickened, and he bumped his nose against Huck’s. “Mmm… can you taste that?”
