Archive of Our Own

You got this, Marcy. You’ve done this before, you can do this again. She likes you, you like her. You’ve been best friends since you were babies, so it’s not like you don’t know her very well. You might even know her better than anyone else. Sure, things have changed between you two, but that doesn’t mean she’s not the same  Anne deep down.  

Marcy told herself all these things as she paced in the basement, waiting for when Anne would meet her down there. It was perhaps six or seven in the afternoon, so Anne would be back any second to get herself all ready for dinner. Not that long ago, maybe about two months, when Anne’s family was visiting Newtopia, Marcy and Anne had been brought together again at long last, after being separated for maybe three months.  

Shortly before they along with their friend, Sasha, in this strange new world, Marcy and Anne had considered each other the best of friends. Maybe the early signs of a crush had been there, but neither of them would do anything about it, not even for themselves. Marcy had wondered if she’d just been in a state of denial, or if perhaps being separated had shown her that she really couldn’t live without Anne.  

Sure, it seemed weird that being forced apart had somehow strengthened their bond, as friendships were meant to develop the more time you spent with one another. Perhaps that was Marcy’s first hint that she might have felt a little more for Anne than she’d predicted, the fact that she had practically never left her side, and when she did, she spent so much time thinking about her, talking about her to anyone that would listen.  

It was to be expected that when Marcy saw Anne's face after being apart for so long, she was overcome with happiness. They both were. They would spend the next few weeks in nothing but uncomplicated bliss, or rather, until Anne finally came clean and would explain to Marcy the way she felt about her. Though Marcy had felt the same way, they hadn’t really done anything about it. They didn’t really officially consider each other girlfriends, that just didn’t feel right, especially considering most of their interactions had occurred with others around, and what could have been considered “dates” were more like tours of the city or midnight outings, where they could explore within the safety of the city together without anyone knowing. Not only that, but the two would split apart for perhaps two weeks as Anne and her family would be on their way back home. 

But tonight, after spending a few weeks living just outside Anne's home, Marcy found herself pacing around her friend’s basement-turned-bedroom, muttering to herself possible ways she could go about inviting Anne on a picnic out by the lake. She’d already put together sandwiches and set them in a basket with a blanket and a few towels despite having no plan to go into the water, so she was practically all ready to go. 

She tugged at the sleeve of the suit she’d had tailored last week when she had made an attempt to bring the little town of Wartwood to glory, wishing to win the hearts of the locals... which had resulted in spectacular technical  failure, but she did learn a lot from that experience. 

“Play it cool,” she told herself, this time aloud. She was determined that what she lacked in confidence would be made up in execution. “‘Wanna go out?’” No, no, that was too straightforward. Blunt, almost, and, she would sound too eager. But what if she didn’t sound eager enough? “‘Meet me by the lake in fifteen minutes?’” That wouldn’t do, either. Too mysterious. Besides, what if Anne got the wrong idea? Alright, so maybe I’m not ready to do this. I should really have been more prepa-  

Marcy was jolted out of this train of thought when she heard a voice. Apparently, she hadn’t been paying attention to when the trapdoor that led into the basement was opened, so she was completely unaware of anyone else’s presence until the all-too familiar voice of Anne called out to her. “Uh... Marcy? Why are you standing in my room and talking to yourself?” 

Oh, good. Maybe she wouldn’t have to say anything after all. But if Anne had been listening in the whole time... crap. So much for playing it cool, huh? “Well, I, uh...” 

“Formal occasion?” Anne raised an eyebrow teasingly, clearly referring to the fact that Marcy was not only brainstorming ways to ask her out while standing in the middle of her room, but in addition to that, she was clad in a three-piece suit. 

Marcy looked down at her outfit. She wasn’t  actually  going to wear that to the lakeside, she had just put it on because she figured she had done everything else within her power to seem like she was serious. “Oh, well actually, I wanted to ask you something important.” 

The weight of the situation was clearly missed by Anne, considering the lighthearted nature of her response. Either that, or Marcy was putting  way  too much pressure on it. Knowing Anne, that was likely the case. “Collecting my taxes?” she joked. “Wait... am I being charged with standing witness to tax evasion? Are you my lawyer? You look like a lawyer.” 

“Anne, I assure you, I’m not-” 

“If you were a lawyer, I can only imagine you’d be a dang expensive one.”  

“I-” Marcy wasn’t sure how to take this. She frowned. “Is that a compliment?” 

Anne shrugged. 

“You know what? It doesn’t matter.” Marcy clapped her hands together and briefly wondered if she appeared too tense. She quickly shook the thought.  

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted when Anne snapped her fingers as if she’d suddenly remembered something. “Right! Yes, you were going to ask me something, I totally forgot.” She added a nervous laugh. “I was going to, uh, talk to you, too. I think.” 

Great. Things were just getting more and more awkward. Marcy realized she would just have to go for it. “Look, Anne, I was wondering if you’d like to... like, hang out. With me. Like, this afternoon.” 

“Oh, uh...” Anne straightened herself and cleared her throat, kicking the ground with her single shoe, allowing it to bounce once before she swung it forward. She shrugged yet again. “Yeah, sure, I’d like that.” 

Marcy slightly cocked her head a tiny bit to the side in confusion. “Uh, I haven’t even told you where we were going yet.” 

“Yeah, well maybe I can just trust that whatever idea you have sounds alright. I mean, you  do  put a lot of thought into everything. I wouldn’t even trust myself to plan something like that.” A slight pinkish color spread across Anne’s face, if her cheeks hadn’t already been slightly flushed, and she gave Marcy a grin. “And, well, if it’s with you, I don’t think I’d miss it for the world.” 

“Aw, Anne, that’s sweet.” Marcy returned an endearing smile, and was immediately put at ease. Every worry she’d had simply went away as she looked at her friend's soft smile, and as cliché as it seemed, she felt at peace just looking into Anne’s eyes. Her Anne, the girl she liked, her best friend, and possibly the closest to something more than just a friend she had ever been. 

The two stood in silence for the next several minutes, staring at each other like the young, infatuated idiots they were. Maybe Marcy was a smart girl, but she was rendered a complete nitwit when it came to the way she felt about Anne. Things were so uncomplicated and innocent between them, and Marcy wouldn’t give that up for the world. 

Finally, Anne cleared her throat, and just like that, the moment was over. “So, like, I know I said I didn’t care, but I think it would be kind of helpful to know where we’re going, just so I can get stuff ready.” 

Marcy was still a bit dizzy for a brief moment before she was able to call herself back to reality. “Right. Um... I wanted to have a picnic by the lake, just you and me. I’ve already packed sandwiches and towels,” she remembered what she’d been wearing, “and, I mean, obviously, I’d have to change.” She let out an airy laugh. 

Anne giggled as well. “You go do that. I’ll get all ready, and I’ll meet you there in maybe twenty? Unless, of course, you had it planned for later.” 

“Oh, no, twenty minutes is plenty of time.” Marcy leaned back and looked away, using her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear despite it being short and already clipped back. “It would give us, you know, time to see the sunset.” 

Anne let out a tiny snort of amusement. 

“What?” 

“You’re such a dork,” Anne replied teasingly, stepping forward and patting Marcy firmly on the shoulder before getting ahold of her backpack and unzipping it. 

Marcy blushed yet again, before smiling to herself confidently. As she began making her way to the door that lead out of the cool basement and into the warm outside (as opposed to the one that would lead into the house) she’d realized that she’d  actually  done it. She’d actually built up the confidence to formally invite her friend out on... well, she wouldn’t call it a date. She’d finally built up the confidence to ask Anne to visit the lake with her for no purpose other than to spend some quality time. 

The next few minutes flew by quite quickly. If one could build up an adrenaline rush from asking their crush to a picnic, that was certainly what Marcy had going for her.  

She practically flew to the Fwagon in which she’d taken residence for the last little while, and as she threw open the door, she almost knocked over the basket that she’d borrowed from Hop Pop to put a few sandwiches together. Fortunately, she’d set it just close enough to the wall, so it was neither crushed nor tipped over. She sighed in relief. If something had happened to the basket, it would have certainly thrown a wrench into the excitement and sense of preparedness she felt. 

The first thing Marcy would do would be to get changed. She quickly located her bag. She knew she wouldn’t be swimming, as it was a well-known fact among anyone who knew her that she couldn't swim for the life of her. Because of that, she rarely packed things that she would feel comfortable wading into the water with. Eventually, though, she settled for her gym shorts, which she had always carried in her bag during school. Naturally, when she was transported to this alternate world with nothing but her school bag, she had used the resources she had as well as gathering supplies from the city. She had kept her old school uniform, but once it had been worn out by the activities of Newtopia, she would instead don light armor and tools that could survive more wear and tear. 

Marcy quickly changed into her gym shorts and slipped into the long-sleeved gray hood that her school had supplied every student with as a part of their school uniform during the autumn and winter months. Despite not having a reflective surface to utilize, she located the little green clip that she’d always worn to keep her hair out of her eyes and took it out before running her fingers through her hair and clipping it back up. 

Finally, she was ready. She grasped on to the woven basket and slammed the Fwagon door behind her. She ran down the path to the house, opened the door, and poked her head in. “Hey, Hop Pop! Me and Anne are gonna go have a picnic out by the lake! We’ll be back soon, bye!” 

Hop Pop, who had been preparing dinner for the rest of the children, looked up from the beetles he was chopping. “Whaaat?” he asked, clearly quite surprised. “Like, by yourselves? Sprig ain’t even goin’?” 

Marcy nodded. 

“Alone? Like a date?” Hop Pop slammed down the blade he’d been using, though it wasn’t with aggression.  

“What?” Marcy cried defensively. “No! Of course not! We just wanted to spend some alone time before we make our way to the next temple.” She scoffed for good measure. “That’s ridiculous.” Now, whether or not this was a lie was certainly up for debate. She wondered, is it a lie if she doesn’t quite know what it was herself? 

Hop Pop frowned. “Hm, alright. Well, you two stay safe out there! And don’t be out there too late. And if I hear-” 

“Yes, sir. See you later, bye!” Marcy hurriedly shut the door behind her and let out a sigh of relief. That had been the only part of this whole thing that she hadn’t planned out. Fortunately, it seemed to have gone well. She pushed herself up from the door and took a deep breath before bolting down the path that would take her to the lake that resided just a few minutes’ walk (or in Marcy’s case, a few minutes’ run) on a dirt path leading away from the farm and past a few trees. 

She normally didn’t run like that, and she was sure it’d probably be just a one-time thing. Marcy’s life wasn’t very time-oriented, so she generally walked wherever she had to go. This evening, though, she would bolt down the dirt path, feeling every time her feet hit the ground before springing forward into another leap. These jumps varied in length and speed, and anyone who saw her would be under the impression that she was skipping or hopping. 

This wasn’t necessarily untrue. Marcy was likely the most excited she’d ever been. Sure, small thoughts popped into her mind, like what if she wasn’t there before Anne was? Should she have just waited and asked Anne to walk with her? What if Anne got lost? What if there were too many people? These thoughts, no matter how reasonable they seemed, were cast to the side in Marcy’s state of bliss that, no matter what thoughts went into her mind, it was impossible to unmoor her from. 

The two hadn’t even met up yet, and Marcy was already the happiest person alive. Was it ridiculous? Yep. Was it possible that Marcy was excited over something that wouldn’t really mean anything to her life in the long run? You bet.  

The most important thing to note, though, was that Marcy was the happiest she’d been in a long time. She had always been the sort of person who would deeply contemplate every single decision she had to make in her life and how anything and everything could and would affect her future. If being stuck here in this weird, dangerous world had taught her one thing, it had been to appreciate things in the moment. To live happily in the now, rather than wondering what’ll happen because of it years down the road and worrying that, when all is said and done, she’ll regret the decisions she made. 

When she finally arrived, Marcy practically skidded to a halt in the sand, before looking out over the water and smiling. It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun sat just above the horizon, and the sky was painted with shades of orange and yellow. The sunlight reflected sharply off the surface of the water and, though it admittedly hurt to look at directly, it was nice.  

No one else had been at the lake at that time, so it was quite simple for Marcy to select a spot that was easy to locate even from the end of the path. She gently spread out the large piece of cloth she’d found back at the farm and had decided to bring along to use as a picnic blanket. She set the basket with the sandwiches still inside on top and sat down next to it with her feet in the sand, before crossing her arms and closing her eyes, alone with nothing but her thoughts, the cool, damp sand under her feet and the warm sun on her face. 

Marcy waited like that for what felt like it could have been five or ten minutes before she heard light footsteps just behind her. She whipped around and looked up to see Anne standing there, taking in the same sight that Marcy herself had processed just a few minutes earlier. “Wow...” Anne breathed. 

“It’s a lovely evening,” Marcy added, nodding in agreement. She scooted over slightly as Anne approached, so Anne was given more room to sit down. 

Anne sat crisscross, clearly not bothered by the fact that she was dragging her sandy feet across the makeshift picnic blanket. She made a few popping sounds with her mouth as she reached for the basket. “Let’s see what we have here...” 

Marcy shrugged. “I made roast beetle sandwiches,” she explained. “In Newtopia, there was this place that sold these bottles of sauce. Apparently, the owner of the business who makes them used to make sandwiches in Wartwood. King Andrias told me that there used to be a place that sold these Wartwood-style meals, which made for poor business. Everyone loved the sauce, but not everyone was willing to pay for a sandwich for just one thing. His sandwich store went out of business a while ago, and instead, he opened a factory that just sold the sauce that everyone wanted. I used to snag extra bottles when we would get shipments for the king’s kitchen.” 

Anne, who had already began stuffing her face with the sandwich, let out a small coughing sound. Then another. These sounds would crescendo quite a bit before Marcy realized anything was wrong 

Marcy couldn’t tell if she was laughing, or choking, or both. “Oh, my God, Anne, are you okay?” Her immediate reaction was obviously to begin panicking. Had she let down her guard too bad? “I’m so sorry, I-” 

“Wait, wait, no!” She promptly stopped making the noise and swallowed her sandwich. “No, it’s fine. I just thought it was funny. Hop Pop told me the story about that, he went on a little expedition to find some of it.” 

“Oh, so you’ve tried it before?” Marcy inquired. 

“No...” Anne looked away. “I just sort of heard the story. We were out by the arcade that night, and I sort of got myself into a... bit of trouble.” 

“Wasn’t that the night you almost got arrested for threatening to eat a child?” 

She snorted. “No.” 

Marcy raised a single eyebrow and gave Anne a teasing glance. 

Anne lowered her head and muttered, “...Yes.” 

She let out a laugh. 

“What? You would’ve wanted to eat him, too!” Anne cried defensively, comically throwing her arms into the air in mock-exasperation. 

Marcy could have thought of something witty to say back, but she was thrown into a fit of laughter. “Anne!”  she cried and wiped a tear with her gloved hand. Then, she frowned and pulled the gloves off before tossing them into the basket. She must’ve forgotten to take them off. 

The two sat there, eating their sandwiches and occasionally making comments about their surroundings. Marcy was the first to finish hers, so she rested her elbow on her knee and used her hand to support her head as she watched her friend. 

The longer she watched, though, the more she found weird about the way Anne ate. She was eating the crust of the bread first, leaving the majority of the sandwich behind. Marcy found this particularly strange, considering most people would take off the crust rather than eating it first. Finally, she said, “I have never once seen anyone eat a sandwich like that.” 

“You’ve known me my entire life, though,” Anne replied. “So, you  have  seen someone do it. ‘Cause I’ve always done it, at least since, I don’t know, third grade?” 

“I guess I’ve never paid attention to the way you eat,” Marcy noted simply. 

Anne gave her friend a sideways glance. “So... why are you watching me now?” 

‘Cause  you’re  fascinating .  

Of course, she couldn’t just say  that. Instead, she shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess there aren’t a lot of things I’m interested in looking at right now.” She said this completely ignoring the fact that just a few minutes before, the two had been marveling at the beautiful sight that the lake and surrounding areas. 

“Interesting, huh?” Anne finished the last of her sandwich and patted her hands together as if dusting them off. 

Marcy slouched forward and instead crossed her arms across her knees, burying her head in the sleeves of her sweater and groaned as she felt her cheeks and ears heat up. There was no point in hiding it at this point; surely even her change of posture must have caused some sort of social tension, because Anne remained silent for the next little while. 

Marcy tensed as she felt a slight pressure on her upper back, which she quickly guessed to be Anne’s hand gently resting on her shoulder. “Hey, are you alright?” 

She picked up her head a little bit, to where she could look at Anne while most of her face was still covered. Because of this, her voice was considerably muffled when she answered, “Yeah, I’m just... really bad at this sort of thing.” 

The concern in Anne’s face was quite clear, but it melted away slightly into confusion when Marcy answered. “Huh? What do you mean?” She scooted yet closer to Marcy’s side and moved her hand up, lightly stroking her friend’s hair. 

“I guess I just wanted to...” Marcy let out a frustrated sigh and rested her chin on her arms rather than using them to cover her mouth. “I wanted to spend some time with you, because I really, really like you, okay? And I was really excited when you agreed to come along, and before you showed up, I really felt like everything was going my way, so there was no reason to be worried. But this whole time, I haven’t been able to-” 

“Hey, look at me.” 

Marcy was quite surprised by this interruption, and she whipped her head around so she was looking directly at Anne. “Huh?” 

Before Marcy could think to move away (if, hypothetically, she wanted to), Anne leaned forward into her and wrapped her arms tightly around her friend’s neck in a sudden, heartfelt hug. 

There were no words at first, simply Marcy feeling the warmth of Anne’s arms and body and squeezing her eyes shut, gently moving her arms behind Anne and returning the hug. She took in a deep breath and let the warm, calming feeling envelop her thoughts. 

“You’re not doing anything wrong,” Anne promised. 

Marcy didn’t say anything, she simply held her friend even tighter. 

Anne didn’t need permission to elaborate. “We haven’t been out here that long yet, but we’ve already been having so much fun. And you know what? Maybe things are a bit awkward. We already know stuff about each other that almost no one else will ever know just because we’ve lived through some much of it at each other’s side.” 

“So you don’t... you don’t think... this is alright?” Marcy asked, before noticing that she’d been doing a poor job of hiding the disappointment in her voice and tried to backpedal. As she started speaking, the two broke contact, and she quickly tried to regain her composure. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t be cool with that, I’d totally respect it, I just...” She looked away sheepishly. She didn’t want to seem weak if Anne didn’t want to be anything more than friends, despite all that they’d already said to each other, though to be entirely frank, she’d be disappointed. “I wouldn’t want to ruin what we’ve had for so long by... you know, asking you if you wanted to, ah...” 

Anne frowned. “What? No! I didn’t mean that at all.” 

Finally, Marcy worked up the courage to ask the question she’d held in her mind the entire trip. Or, at initiate a series of events that would end in her finally  saying what she’d been wanting to say for what felt like months. “So, uh…” Marcy fiddled with her hands nervously. “What is this to you?” she blurted. Almost immediately after she said it, she realized that she could have phrased it better. 

Anne tilted her head slightly. “What to do mean? Like… this?” she gestured to the setting around them, their quiet little picnic on the beach that went out into the lake. “Or like… this?” she pointed at Marcy before jerking her thumb back toward herself.  

At first, Marcy was confused, but after a moment, she got it.  Us. How do I feel about her? How does she feel about me?  “I mean, like… in general.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m just trying to, y’know, ask how you feel. Like, do you see this as… just a relaxing evening? I mean, we’re not on a…” she let out a quick, nervous laugh. “It’s not like we’re on a date or anything. Heh… that’d be crazy.” 

She looked at Anne, who had shifted her gaze to make eye contact with Marcy. Her expression held a mixture of confusion, suspicion, and maybe a little bit of… hurt? 

Marcy broke eye contact and looked back down at her hands. Had she sounded too hopeful? Was she not hopeful enough? “I mean… unless, you know, that’s what it is to you,” she mumbled under her breath.  

The two sat in dead silence for several minutes, Marcy occupying herself by fiddling with her hands in her lap, and Anne simply staring out over the rather calm surface of the lake and reeds and into the sunset. For a while, all was quiet except for the sound of tiny waves washing the sandy bank, occasionally lapping the girls’ bare feet as they sat next to each other with their toes in the cool water.  

A cool breeze blew by, and Anne let out a long sigh before leaning in to Marcy’s shoulder. 

Marcy tensed slightly as she felt the weight of Anne’s head pressing against her ever so gently, and she held her breath. Though everything around her was calm, her thoughts screamed at her to say something. To say  anything.  But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had invited Anne out here to have a picnic dinner, just the two of them. She said she wanted to spend quality time with her friend before they would be departing for the third temple the next morning.  Everything is riding on this last temple.  And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to say the one thing she wanted  to  most. The  one thing  that, if something happened to either one of them, she would regret. 

“I think...” Anne’s voice was louder in Marcy’s ear. “I think this is good.” 

Marcy let out an airy laugh. Typical Anne, everything was so simple for her. Not that she was stupid, no, but in the sense that she would always choose what she found morally correct over her own well-being. She’d do what she felt was right even if it killed her. That was the Anne that Marcy had known and loved her entire life. Maybe it was about time for Marcy to do the same. Marcy had learned so much, so maybe she could apply that to something she’d had before, something that could move forward. 

Even though she’d recognized it, she couldn’t figure out how to put it into words. “I guess we both saw this coming, but um, you know, if anyone ever asked, could I tell them that- or, well, maybe it’s more between us? Like, is it something to come to terms with ourselves, or is it more of like a label thing?” 

Anne just laughed. “You’re so cute sometimes.” 

Marcy scratched her head in confusion. That certainly hadn’t been the reaction she’d been hoping for. “You know, maybe it’d be better if I just asked outright. Anne, would you like to-” 

She was cut off when she felt Anne’s hand gently on the side of her face, brushing her hair to the side and pulling her forward sharply, and for the first time in her life, Marcy felt the touch of someone else's lips pressed against her own. 

It was a chaste kiss, nothing like the way Marcy read about it in books. It was more... curious. Not awkward or weird in any way, but curious. It was definitely something new for the both of them, and they both new it. It wasn’t some surreal experience, just something small and light and comforting, answering every single tiny question in Marcy’s mind while just feeling so right  in her heart. 

When Anne finally pulled out of the kiss, she rested her forehead on Marcy’s and looked straight into her eyes, giving her a small smile. "Calm down, Marcy. I love you, okay? Call me your best friend, or your girlfriend, or whatever. I’ll love you the same.” She pulled Marcy into another hug, this time chin on shoulder, and spoke quietly. “And if that’s what we are... if we are  dating, then it won’t change much other than  what we call it. I know how I feel, and I know you’re all about figuring out what that means. We balance each other out like that. Which is why I’m making it your call. I know you wanted to ask me about it, and here’s my answer.” 

It took Marcy a second to figure out what the flying fish just happened,  and  she couldn’t  decide anything  better to do than just wait. She considered  leaning in for another for a split second, to just feel that feeling again, but decided against it. She simply let her  lips  part and  let out a slow, shaky  exhale , praying to  God that she didn’t have beetle breath.  “I think... I think I’d like to do that,”  she finally answered letting out an airy, nervous  laugh. “Consider us girlfriends, I mean.” She felt her heart speed up  despite feeling completely comfortable with saying it. Good God, I’m a nervous wreck.  

After what felt like hours but in reality was only a few seconds, Anne sat straight up. “It’s settled, then.” She ran her fingers through her thick hair, and let out a few popping sounds with her mouth before slouching forward cross-legged again and putting her hands on the ground in front of her.  

By now, the sun had pretty much set, leaving nothing but a crimson ribbon of light shining upon the scarce clouds just above the horizon. Marcy couldn’t help but notice how clear of a night it was. Perfect.  She smiled to herself as the  two sat in silence , figuring it would be any second now when  Anne  would notice the intentional reason Marcy wanted to be here, in this specific area on this specific night (though, technically any night within the next week or so would have worked).  

Space had always been something that Marcy and Anne had in common. Its natural, yet otherworldly beauty had always captivated Anne, and she saw the sky as a window to the universe. It had become evident by now that there were other worlds, or at least something akin, so if anything, experiencing this new, unfamiliar world had gotten her even more familiarized with something she had even back at home. 

Meanwhile, Marcy had always seen a more scientific aspect of it. She had been the first of the two to have taken great interest in the idea of space and space travel, telling Anne stories about rocket ships and discoveries, of stars and moons and nebulae and comets, and how they all played a role in life as they knew it, no matter how tiny or insignificant they seemed.  

When Marcy had warped to this strange, new world, she was swarmed with all of these new experiences, and frankly, it was overwhelming for her. Nothing had been the same. But on nights she couldn’t sleep, she would look up at the night sky, and think, I’m still somewhere in the universe. Nothing will ever change that. It had been one of the only things keeping her going, keeping her tied to the Earth... or, wherever in the universe she found herself. 

Marcy pondered this for a few minutes, and then heard a gasp. 

“Ooh, Marmar! I saw a shooting star!” Anne leaned into Marcy’s shoulder in excitement, holding on to her arm and pointing a finger into the sky, despite the fact that the flicker was long gone by now. 

Marcy smiled and glanced down at her... girlfriend. Oh, boy, that would take some getting used to. “Oh, really?” 

“Yeah!” Anne let out another gasp. “And another one!” 

This time, Marcy had seen the small streak of light in the sky herself. “Oh, yeah, I guess it is a shooting star.” She had a certain tone in her voice, a playful, lighthearted tone that still said she knew more about this than Anne did. “I guess it  is  about that time of year for the Olivian meteor shower...” 

“Are you kidding?”  Anne was certainly very surprised about this. “Meteor showers? Here?” 

Marcy shrugged. “I mean, we  are  still in space. You know that, right? Oh, but besides that, I did some reading on what Newtopian astronomers have been able to discover. It turns out that they track things like comets and meteor showers the exact same way we do.” She turned to face Marcy as she explained. “I’ve been, uh, hoping to see the Olivian meteor shower, and I figured you might want to, y’know, come along. After all, we did our fair share of meteor watching ourselves back at home.” 

Anne didn’t respond right away, instead looking up at Marcy, and though it was rather dark all around them, Marcy could see the reflection of the starlight in Anne’s eyes as she gazed at her in admiration. She felt her cheeks flush slightly and broke eye contact to look up at the sky, hoping to catch a few glimpses of bits of the universe escaping into the atmosphere. 

“Did you make a wish?” Marcy asked. It was a simple, harmless question, deriving from nothing but sheer curiosity. She had never been the superstitious type, but Anne insisted on wishing upon everything she could, from clovers to eyelashes to shooting stars. 

Anne snorted. “Are you kidding? I’ve already made two wishes, and if we’ve got a meteor shower on our hands, I’ll just be going down the list, baby.” Another meteor streaked across the night sky. “That makes three.” 

Marcy rested her cheek on her hand again, letting her other arm fall to her side and onto the makeshift picnic blanket. “What’d you wish for?” 

“Maybe another kiss?” Anne answered without hesitation. 

Smooth.  Marcy let out a tiny giggle. “You wish,” she joked. 

“Y’know, Marbles, I’m a firm believer that dreams do come true.” 

Marcy’s cheeks burned. She knew Anne was a flirt, and she’d been subject to this time and time again, but she still found herself utterly speechless. “Anne, I-” 

She let out a surprised squeak as Anne rose up onto her knees to plant a quick kiss on her cheek before collapsing back down. “See? That wasn’t so hard.” 

Marcy was stunned, albeit not as much as she’d been before, but still stunned nonetheless. A warm feeling spread through her chest, and it wasn’t like the annoying, painful one that felt like a hot knife being plunged through her heart. A calm, blissful daze overcame her mind, and she let out a sigh. “Doofus,” she managed to sputter. 

She felt Anne pick up her hand and intertwine their fingers before she leaned into her again. “Your  doofus,” she laughed.  

“My doofus,” Marcy agreed, and with that, she looked back up into the sky. 

The two ended up staying there by the lake much longer than planned, but it was all worth it. Anne would giggle every time she saw a shooting star, and Marcy would feel a small surge of pride upon hearing the sound of her girlfriend’s laughter. It was such a tiny thing, but the two found themselves hopelessly in love with watching the stars fall, all the while falling even more hopelessly for one another. 

Perhaps it wasn’t the idea of outer space that they had in common. Maybe it was more of the idea that they were both a part of something bigger than themselves. They had both considered that maybe a person becomes whole when they realize their part  in the whole. They had grown up together  and, in the process, had played such a large role in each other's lives, almost becoming like a part of one another. They built each other up, encouraging their friend  to be the best person they could be, or at least the most  complete.  

Marcy trusted that she could look up at the stars, and that they would always be there to remind her that somewhere out there, someone who loved her could look up and see the same stars. As she rested her gentle gaze on Anne, who had fallen peacefully asleep at her shoulder, she realized that the stars weren’t the only things she could count on to tell her the same thing.