Having to quarantine with her lazy dog for the last eleven days was more bearable than Bree thought it possible. She was pleased she'd stocked up on groceries the Thursday prior to Monday's stay at home order. She had bought enough dog food, Andalou products, and Kettle potato chips to last her three months. Luckily, she had recently bought toilet paper. For reasons unknown to her, people decided it was essential in their emergency virus kit. 

More so than food.

"Soo ridiculous," she laughed. "Right Sydney?"

From the mocha-colored doggy bed placed next to the sofa, Sydney whined tucking her head under a fluffy red pillow and wagged her tail to the beat of a bongo drum. Bree laughed and then groaned studying the half-eaten chicken salad sandwich on her plate with little appetite. The food reminded her of having to grocery shop. Never had she enjoyed it, and now, the experience was ten times worse. She frowned and ran her index finger along the bread's edge to scoop the extra mayonnaise she loved and brought it to her lips.

"What should we do today? A walk? Spa day? Organize my closet?"

Without blinking, her dog stared back at her like a lump.

"Oh, I get you! A movie, right?"

Sydney panted.

"I should've ordered pizza, then. Maybe tonight?"

A sad smile crossed her face as she recalled her last dinner date disaster. Perhaps not so much a failure but surprising and uncomfortable. They'd never kissed like that before and so the heated swap of tongues had certainly been unexpected.

After the—kiss and the pizza delivery person rang the doorbell, the passion of the moment was lost. Eric had come back into the living room, pizza box in hand, and set it on the coffee table along with a stack of what looked like one hundred packets of parmesan cheese and three napkins. 

Following a few cumbersome minutes of utter silence, they finally ended choosing a movie to watch and drank more wine.

Lots of it. 

She had purchased half a dozen bottles from a local vineyard a few weeks back and what better excuse to open them, than not being able to leave the house thanks to a deadly virus? 

She'd been grateful for the alcohol. It gave her face an excuse to look flushed the whole night through. Eric was her friend and she wanted things to stay as they were. He was funny and attractive but there was something missing for her to be able to love him deeper than she did beyond their friendship. 

Perhaps they'd been friends for much too long. 

With a blank stare, Bree concentrated on a spot of her Fuschia water thermos and sighed, further recalling the cringe-worthy evening.

Without touching, they'd sat side-by-side. As if minutes earlier the passionate kiss never happened. In an attempt to get closer, Eric leaned towards her and opened the box to retrieve a slice of pizza. She inched away avoiding his touch but her heartbeat, it had a mind of its own and it increased with his nearness. His smell. The notes of citrus coming from him and pepperoni merged in the air affecting her rational thinking. Everything inside her was out of control and her breath shortened at the memory of the warmth between his arms and his chest, and inside his mouth, while looking into the intensity of the blue in his eyes. It was difficult for her to swallow.

Bree shot-up from the sofa and sprinted from his side. 

"Do you need parmesan?" she asked pretending to need the jar of grated cheese. "I think we need it. I do—"

"Uhm, there are at least fifteen untouched packets on the table. Plus, it has plenty of cheese for me already. It's extra cheese, remember?" He laughed and she with him breaking some of the tension.

"Oh, yeah." She pretended to be clueless. "I hadn't noticed they gave us any ... I think I still need mine," she said powerwalking to the kitchen. "I like the brand I get."

He'd rolled his eyes and offered half a smile.

Frankly, Bree didn't know how else to react to his advances without hurting his feelings. He was a great guy and above all, her friend. Avoiding the subject wasn't going to help with the situation, but neither would be addressing it. She didn't know how to and she wasn't going to trade their friendship for a physical relationship that might swiftly fade. She loved the way they were before that moment. Before they kissed.

She looked down at the sleeping dog. "You understand what I'm thinking, Sydney, right?"

While Eric and she shared countless common interests they argued constantly. About nothing. About everything. He did many things that as friends she tolerated but as lovers ... she knew she would not. That was a different story.

"Hmm," she pondered. 

His friendship was all she wanted from him to begin with. It'd been a year and a half since she'd broken up with her husband of eleven years, Dan. For many, almost two years would be long enough time to want to be with someone else but for her, it wasn't. 

She'd known Eric longer than she's known, Dan. He was one of her best friends. Raising the intimacy level with him wasn't a viable option. Perhaps it was her divorced mind talking but he wasn't for her. 

Eventually resigning to the idea nothing else was going to happen between them that evening, too much wine, and a few more movies, Eric gave up on his advances but stayed the night and sleep it off on the couch.

"You know I have a perfectly good bed in the guest room, right?"

"Nah! You know I love this couch," he'd said groggily patting one of the brown, leather cushions.

It wasn't his first sleepover. Many nights they'd gone to a bar, a club, or he'd hung out at her house too long and was too tired, inebriated, or it was too late for him to get back to the safety of his condo. She'd allowed him to sleep on her sofa so many times, that they'd begun to call it, his.

"The keys? I last saw them on your sofa." Or"Sit on your sofa and chill, dude. I can't cook when you're standing right next to me breathing over my shoulder."

Those thoughts brought a smile to her face and she waggled her head. "That fool."

The next morning they'd awkwardly stumbled around each other with little desire to speak of the prior evening's unfinished business.

"Did you—" he'd started out. "Did you enjoy the movies?"

"The comedy one was good. You?"

"Same." He'd laughed peering at her. "And the pizza? Did it have enough cheese for you?"

"Ha! Funny. Yeah, of course, delicious as always."

"Yeah, I love that place."

"Me too ..."

After, there had been a long pause and lingering wordless glances. His might've bestowed desire and hers, I'm sorry.

"Eric, about last night—"

He faced her, exhaled, and rooted his stare in her eyes. "You know I love you, right?" he interjected hastily.

She nodded.

"I do too but—"

He shook his head and lifted a hand to stop her words as if he knew what she was about to say.

"Don't, Bree. Don't do that. You know what I mean. I'm here. Know that. I'll always be here."

With an empty feeling in her stomach, Bree looked away. "I know," she agreed and clasped her fingers around his shoulder. "I need to finish getting dressed."

Later, in the car, she circled back to the subject.

"Eric, please, don't expect me to change my mind. I don't want you to wait when I don't feel the same way you do. That's not fair to either of us."

He sighed. "Don't push me away, Bree. If we can only be friends, then, that's fine. I don't want to lose all of you if we can't get—involved." He reached for her hand and placed his warm lips on her palm. "I love you no matter what and I had to do something about it. If I'm friend-zoned I don't want it to be 'cause I never said anything about the way I feel." Releasing her fingers he chuckled nervously, bringing a hand to the back of his neck. "I waited long enough."

"Ha, yeah ..." She nodded busying herself adjusting the driver's side mirror. "I don't want that either. We'll always be friends."

"I hope so."

Shortly after, they arrived at the restaurant for breakfast and what ended up being their last meal in both an establishment or together, for what started to look like a long-drawn lockdown of two more weeks. Perhaps still two more after that.

"I don't even know what day it is, Sydney. Tuesday? Wednesday? Ugh!" she murmured in frustration taking the last bite of her sandwich. She stood and stretched her arms as wide as they could go above her head and behind her back. "C'mon, I'm gonna make myself a facemask."

After mixing oatmeal, an egg white, and coconut oil she plastered the concoction on her face and plopped in front of the TV flipping through the menu.

"Look at that, Syd. It's Close Encounters of the Third Kind!" It was one of her favorite movies growing up along with ET, The Princess Bride, and The Goonies.

Never would she have believed she'd stare at the screen with a different kind of interest. One that made her wonder about the universe, existence, and that damn light behind her house in a different manner. 

"Weird, huh?" She looked back and forth between the dog and the TV. "Remind you of anything?"

The pup slept having no interest in her conversation.

"Cookie?"

Sydney opened an eye and wagged her tail.

"Hmph, you're no fun."

For a while, Bree watched the movie entranced. 

She'd seen the UFO—It is yet to be identified, almost every night since the pizza night with Eric. Bree looked forward to seeing it regardless if it was merely a star. But, she liked to imagine it was something other than that. Something more. Perhaps there were beings in it and they were there learning valuable lessons about Earth and its humans.

Reminded of the Betty and Barney Hill case her father told her about years ago, her breathing quickened. The couple from New Hampshire claimed to, not only have seen a massive, bright pancake-like craft in the sky but were abducted by the extraterrestrials inside of it from September 19th to the 20th in 1961. It was a pretty big deal back then because it was the first widely publicized report of alien abduction in the United States.

Bree recalled reading something about a sperm sample being taken from Barney and that under hypnosis, Barney said the humanoid beings scraped his skin and inspected his ears and mouth. 

Also, a thin tube was inserted into his anus ... Bree grimaced and shivered. 

"Full of peaceful aliens," she shouted waking Sydney. "Not the kind that'd want to harvest my eggs and insert stuff in my ass." She rolled her eyes annoyed and puffed a breath out whispering, "Stupid."

It was probably the quarantine getting to her, making her go stir crazy. She watched the movie for another twenty minutes, got up, and washed her face.

"Vente," she said and slapped her thigh gently a few times calling Sydney to come with her and they walk out to the greenbelt.

Although she never saw the light during the day, she liked to imagine it was right above her looking back. Hovering in mid-air silent camouflaged by the clouds. Hooding her eyes with both hands she looked into the gorgeous cerulean, clear sky. There was nothing but a few birds overhead and a small, noisy plane passing through.

Sighing, she motioned to her dog in their typical human-pet lingo interaction by tapping her fingers on her thigh.

"Let's go! We'll come back out tonight to greet them, okay? C'mon, girl."

Aside from the facial, she'd done laundry, a hair treatment, computer work, and a one-hour, online, Afro-Caribbean dance class. The day had slipped by uneventfully and by the time she took her beautiful pup out again, it was dark.

When she stepped into the darkness and stood at the usual place, she saw it. Slightly bigger, somewhat oval, like an egg, and more radiant than normal.

"Is it closer?" She narrowed her eyes. "That has to be a star," Bree said aloud. She figured if she said it enough times, perhaps it would become believable.

"Hi, strangers!" She waved, laughing off how silly she felt. "Fancy seeing you here—"

She concluded she'd been locked up alone for too long. That's definitely it.

"Soo, I've asked before, and—you've never responded but I want to make sure I'm not going mad because you kinda look suspicious up there, you know?"

The mild, cool breeze played with her locks and she pushed the long strands behind her ears.

"All I'm saying is that—" She shrugged. "I'd be nice if you said hi, you know? By blinking? Could you twinkle at me?"

A few seconds passed but nothing happened.

"Please?" She clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

That time, she received a sign. The light faded and brightened several times. She froze, closed her eyes, and giggled shaking her head. "Are you serious right now?!" She could not believe it. "Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" With difficulty, she took in a thick gulp of air. 

"Do it again!"

The light opaqued and sparkled almost immediately.

"Haha!" Bree brought her hand to her mouth then her forehead. For a while, she gawked. "Again! Can you flicker again?"

It did. She gripped both her hands in front of her chest. The pounding of her heart pulsed at her throat.

"What the hell is happening?! Again?" She pressed her luck.

The light did nothing. For a while longer she stared and waited. Perhaps it'd been her imagination. Out of nervousness, she wrung her hands.

"It must be. I'm going crazy."

Noting she had forgotten her camera, again, she ran inside neglecting to remember her dog was with her and left outside in a pasture by herself. When Bree came out of the house, Sydney stood near the grass unaware she'd been gone and was eating the elm leaves she so much loved but the light that had dazzled her seconds before, had vanished.

"Damn it!" she said searching through the lens. "Ugh!" Her frustration deepened.

She changed the camera setting to night vision but there was nothing that stuck out as different. A few ghostly clouds and twinkling stars. 

"Good night," she whispered. "See you tomorrow?"