She said kiss me. I said youre blocking my view.
She said the stars will always be there. I said its not the stars, its the meteor shower, and it happens only once a year.
She flopped back and sighed. We were laying on the roof underneath her bedroom window. The rolling New York farmlands were all around us. We could hear nothing but crickets and the wind through the trees. I put my arm behind her and pulled her toward me. My other arm pointed upward. Do you see that star?
She looked up in silence. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
One day, Im going to that star, I said. Its not a good idea to fall in love when you're going so far away.
She turned and got on her hands and knees above me, her hands sandwiching my jaw, looking directly at me, her tears falling on my face.
Its not a good idea to go so far away when you leave behind the one who loves you.
Overhead the stars twinkled and beckoned. The crickets sang. The wind kept blowing.
Dedicated to my friend Matthew, who knows how it goes.