(song: "Fire breather" - Laurel)

Darkness was everywhere and I couldn't see a thing.

I felt exhilarated and excited. I wasn't able to stop smiling or wrinkling my nose when I'd laugh.

Marcel had his hands over my eyes and was guiding me somewhere or to something. I knew that we were outside and that we must have walked at least several feet.

Since Marcel's confession I didn't treat him differently. We weren't eight-years-old anymore, I could accept someone liking me and be an adult about it. It wasn't like I wasn't attracted to him and I felt so much closer to him.

He lifted one of my hands to press my palm against my eyelids. "Don't peek, keep them closed!"

I laughed louder and covered my eyes. "Oh my god, they are closed. Okay?"

Twigs snapped, water ran and trees rustled. I tried to decipher what could be happening based on sound alone, but I couldn't figure it out.

"Okay, you can look. . ."

I opened just one eye at first and then both when I could see the splendor all around me. We were at a very small clearing in the woods. The plant life that surrounded the circle was clean and groomed. No wild vines, or thick shrubs to make the space look untamed. The grass in the clearly was clipped and so very green. Light between the firs filtered down into the space and a red-and-white blanket was laid there with two sandwiches, juice boxes and a walkie-talkie.

Marcel motioned towards the sandwiches bashfully. "I can't cook, sandwiches is the best I can do. That's pretty much all I eat at home anyway."

"Marcel, did you clear out this space for us?" I asked him calmly.

He looked around with an awkward bob of his head and nervous smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."

Pure emotions took me over. I really didn't want to cry, but I did. I smiled through it, but I was still crying.

Marcel hopped over a large tree root and carefully toed his way in front of me. His fingers rubbed the sides of my arms and concern was worn all over him. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"This is seriously the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. . . ever," I managed to say through my tears. I hugged onto him gratefully. "Thank you."

I didn't even need to see his face to know that he had an adorable self-satisfied smirk against his lips. When I thought of Alex and the sweet gestures he did for me, they usually involved money. Alex wasn't a bad boyfriend, he just thought his fathers credit-card fixed everything. His affection was shown through taking me to an expensive meal or paying for me to get a sexy new outfit for a date.

We sat on the blanket he laid out and he offered one of the wrapped sandwiches to me.

Marcel turned and propped himself on his side with his head resting on his hand. "Did you know that meteorites are falling to the ground all the time? The earth is constantly in contact with space debris, but most burn up in the atmosphere end up being nothing more than slowly falling particles by the time they land on the ground. If you think about it, at any moment while we lay here, we could be basking in space dust that's millions of years old."

"You say the most profound things, you know that?" I said it with pure admiration. I stretched out my arms skywards and drew my finger against the air to point out the shapes of clouds. "Cloud-watching, good conversation, sandwiches and juice-boxes? Alex never did this kind of stuff with me. I was captain of my soccer team and he was captain of the football team. He mostly liked to talk about school and the stupid stuff that would happen there. Not much else. Now that we've graduated he really doesn't talk about much except how excited he is for college."

"So you've started talking to him again?" Marcel inquired. He wasn't judging me, he was just being curious.

"Yeah, he contacted me again, just like you said he would." It was embarrassing to admit that I still continued to talk with a guy who had dumped me when I needed him the most.

"Are you going to get back together with him?" His voice changed. He wasn't curious anymore, he was apprehensive.

I picked at a strand of grass for a distraction from his eyes. "I don't think so. If I did, would you be disappointed with me?"

He forced a smile, mostly for my benefit. "I wouldn't be disappointed with you. If you were happy, then I'd be happy. I like you a lot Lily, but I really have no expectations of being anything more than your friend. I wouldn't want to put you in the position of being with a complicated person like me. There's no possibility of a future with me and I am stuck here taking care of my grandmother."

I didn't like him talking about himself that way.

"What do you mean by that? You are a real catch, Mr. Whitman. You are a hard-working guy, you manage your responsibilities well. Dare I say that your really handsome too? I'm sure there's already some girls in town wishing you'd give them a chance."

"I don't know if it's because of what happened when we were eight, but you're the only person I can have physical contact with and it feels like an energy exchange. I don't always pick up on your feelings and thoughts and the more time we spend together, the more difficult it is for me to read you." Marcel looked at me with intensity burning behind his eyes. "Around you, I feel the most human I've ever felt. You're one in a million and there's never going to be another girl like you. . ."

My eyes fluttered a few times. My breaths felt heavy inside my lungs and my chest tightened. There was an undeniable connection between us. I knew the energy he spoke of and remembered vividly how it coursed through my blood.

My feelings were a jumbled mess. Part of me felt attracted to Marcel and the other part of me tried to logically state all the reasons why that would be bad.

I silenced my thoughts and reached to grasp hold of Marcel's shirt. In Marcel's eyes I was special and as unique as the galaxies and stars he so adored. My body edged closer to his against the blanket until the front of me barely touched the front of him. The heat from our bodies transmitted between us.

"I think you still can read me. What am I thinking now?" I asked in a low and sultry whisper.

Marcel's nose brushed along mine and his lips nudged softly against the corner of my mouth for silent permission. I pushed back just enough to let him know that it was okay. Marcel descended upon me and caught my wrist with his hand.

He didn't seem like shy and awkward Marcel anymore. He looked primal and completely desirous of every inch of me.

With one of my wrists captured he wrapped his arms around my body to hold me secure before he passionately drove a kiss against my lips. His kiss felt hot and tingled in a numbing and sweet sort of way.

He was dizzying and magnetic. My stomach flipped in ways I never knew it was capable of. I wanted more of it and more of him.

We rolled against the ground until the grass stained our clothes and leaves tangled into the fibers of my dress. Everything he was doing had the right amount of intensity, fire and tenderness.

My fingers crawled along his sides and felt his firm abs. I didn't expect him to be as built beneath his clothes as he was. His arms and his stomach muscles were surprisingly developed more than I expected from his thin frame.

He broke the kiss and slid his fingers from touching my wrist to caress the side of my face. How things escalated I wasn't sure. I still felt on a high from it all.

We stayed against each other with gently roaming fingers that explored elbows, hips and throats. He was studying me the same way he studied the stars, it was like I was uncharted territory.

"Here I was thinking you were this introvert, but you kiss like a ladies man," I teased.

He kissed my forehead preciously. "Yeah, despite my local reputation, it's not like I've never been with a girl before. It's just it would turn out really badly with the whole intuitive thing, you know? Never worked out."

I pretended to pull away from him."Well, thanks for the make-out session, I'm going to just go back to dating Alex now."

"I don't think so!" Marcel pulled me back into his embrace and pressed kisses into my hair. He couldn't get enough of me. He tickled against my ribs causing me to break into fits of laughter.

I thought about what my mother had warned me about. She didn't want me to make Marcel my rebound.

"Marcel." I tried to sound more serious. "I'm not ready to be in another relationship just yet. Can we just take things day-by-day and see what happens?"

"Even if you told me tomorrow that you really were going back to Alex then I'd be grateful for today." Marcel still couldn't stop kissing me in between his words. "I'll never forget today for the rest of my life."

How couldn't I be attracted to him when he talked to me like that?

Minutes turned into hours. We talked while we listened to music on my phone and watched the sky turn from twilight into nightfall. The stars began to shine brightly against the empty darkness. I laid my cheek against Marcel's arm and he told me about the constellations.

No people, no television, no internet and no distractions. It was simply him and I against the soundscapes and visuals of nature.

The walkie-talkie clicked a few times and the static-filled voice of Mrs. Whitman's CNA spoke. "Marcel? Marcel. There's some guy at the door, claims he's a doctor and he wants to speak to you."

That's right! I'd almost forgotten that we sent in the sample to Dr. John McAdams, the specialist from the paper. I was certain we'd sent it anonymously with the local grocery store as the returning address. How had he figured out that Marcel sent it?

Doctors with experience from NASA don't just visit small towns in Washington state unless there's a valid reason. And certainly not for a meteorite. They normally engaged in some kind of small communication, not hunt the sender down. Unless it wasn't a meteorite at all, but something completely unexplained.

The whole thing gave me a very worried feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I squeezed Marcel's hand and wondered if this would be the last carefree day we shared together. . .

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