Like Stars in the Sky

"Look, Katie!" Jack whispered at me.  We both snuck out in the early hours of the morning so that we could have some alone time.  I stared up at the gorgeous sky unfolded in front of my very eyes.  It was all so incredible!  We never had stars as bright as this back in the city.  No, the closest thing we ever got was airplanes flying.  

"I… I can't believe it!  Everything's so… marvelous!" I said, struggling to find the words to describe the wonderful scene.

"I know!  I'm so glad you could come see it with me.  That just makes it all the more special," Jack said with a small smile and a blush.  I smiled back at him.  It was so strange- for the first time in my life, I actually felt a strange urge to kiss Jack.   As in, on the lips.  I'd never felt like that before…

The first time I met Jack, I was around two days old.  Our moms had been best friends in both high school and college, so that pretty much meant that we were best friends too.  Which was actually okay because Jack was a really nice guy.  He was tall and somewhat muscular and he had dark brown eyes and dark almost-black-but-still-brown hair.  Unlike me who was average height and had bluish-greenish eyes and dirty blond hair that reached a little past my shoulders.

So yes, we'd been friends our whole lives.  No matter what anyone tried to say to us about how weird it was that we were a girl and a guy and we were best friends, we stuck together.  I guess it was probably the fact that we were paired up at such a young age that really kept our friendship going, even after fifteen whole years.  We were still going strong… well, sort of.

Jack's dad got transferred when he was eleven, so he moved up to northern Wisconsin.  I was so devastated when I'd heard the news.  Just entering junior high and your best friend moves away?  It's your classic tween disaster!  And northern Wisconsin wasn't exactly right around the corner from my house.  No, it was more like a good four or five hour drive away, not an easy trip.

We kept in touch fairly well, but things weren't quite the same as they'd always been between us.  We both had to learn to get along without the other, so our close friendship had somewhat faded.  Not that we weren't still close, because we most definitely still were.  We just didn't have that indissoluble bond like we used to.  Texting became our main means of contact over the four years we were separated.

I guess, in a way, our friendship was kind of like the stars in the very sky we were looking at.  There was always a star we could both see at night, and even though we couldn't be with each other, we always knew that we were there for each other.   

My family and I went up to Wisconsin once every year to see Jack and his family.  We were both the only kids in our family, which made things easier.  We were both like the lost sibling for the other.

"So what's been happening with you, Katie?" Jack asked casually, even though he already pretty much knew the answer.

"Not much, I guess.  Just, you know, usual high school stuff," I replied, not even bothering to get into the much too boring details of my life.  Without Jack, I wasn't as bold or confident about the things I did.  Jack always pushed me to try new things and take chances.  When he was gone, I didn't have the courage or strength to do anything like that.

He nodded.  "Okay, so you've gotten quieter because now that I left you have no one to talk to?  You used to tell me about your problems all the time, and now you don't seem to want to tell me anything.  Do you not trust me or something?" Jack asked, sounding a little bit hurt.

"No!  That's not it at all!  It's just that… I don't know, things have changed.  I don't have a lot of friends or anything because I'm too quiet to get them, and I'm struggling to find an extracurricular activity that actually somewhat sparks my interest.  So far, high school's been nowhere near fun," I said despondently.

"And why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure… I've had a tough time opening up to people lately."
Jack looked at me, taking this all in.  "You don't have to be so quiet, you know," he said after a long pause.

"I don't really have a choice in the matter," I mumbled in response.

"Come on!  You're a whole lot better than you give yourself credit for," he complimented.

"How so?" I pressed on.  I wanted to see what he was going to say to me.

"Well, for starters, you're really nice to everyone.  You're one of the prettiest girls I
know.  While you may keep to yourself a lot, when you open up it's incredible how wise you are.  You've been my best friend since birth, and continue to be a valuable friend.  To be honest, moving away from you was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do…" he revealed.  I had no idea I was of so much value to him!  Did that mean that he was having just as difficult of a time as I was in high school?  Jack was really nice and not bad looking either; I was sure he'd found himself instant popularity!  

"It wasn't any easier for me, trust me on that one," I said back.  He looked up at me and smiled a little.

"You've always understood me like nobody else could," Jack said and before I knew it, he kissed me.  

Now, I'd never even had anything close to a boyfriend before, so the leaping feeling in my stomach was something all new to me.  The way I never the kiss to end, the way his lips were so soft, the way his hand felt so gentle as it wrapped around my back.  All new hat, new tricks.  And I adored every single waking moment of it.

Jack finally parted and I could see that look in his eyes that he got on occasion.  That minuscule glimmer that only I could spot that said he was so happy he could just… die.  The same glimmer he got when he hit his first home run in his baseball game, when he found out we were in the same class in third grade, when he saw me in my fancy dress I wore to his going-away party.

For a few minutes, we just sat there and stared at each other, smiling.  We probably looked like the biggest idiots, just sitting there and smiling at each other.  But who was going to be out at one in the morning to check on us?

"Well…" Jack started, clearly at a loss for words.

"That was, um, nice," I stated dully.

"Wait, you don't have a boyfriend or anything, do you?" Jack asked, all of the sudden panicked.

"Of course not!" I responded.  "Why would you ever think so highly of me?!"  He smiled and got the glimmer in his eyes again.

"Okay, good, because I really wouldn't like to have to battle the guy who got to be with a girl as special as you.  He'd probably be, like, really muscular, or something."

"Oh yeah, me and the captain of the football team.  Hello?!  The guy I'm taken by is sitting right in front of me!"

Jack didn't get this at first, but then a blush slowly crept up his cheeks.  "So you do like me back?" he asked quietly.

"Didn't I just kiss you?" I asked.

"Well… yes… But I didn't know if you were just doing that to, I don't know, make me feel good or something?  Or keep the moment from being extremely awkward?"

I sighed dramatically.  "Jack, do I seriously need to kiss you again to prove to you that I wasn't faking anything and that I really like you back and that I too had the urge to kiss you earlier?" I asked jokingly.

"Maybe…"