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Fliers around town announced a meteor shower that would be occurring later that night. The residents of the dreary mountain town made their way to the rural farmland whose wide expansive fields and rural location made for optimal viewing. People had set up lawn chairs and blankets in the field, talking excitedly amongst themselves.
It was about 9 p.m. when the Toyota pickup truck parked in the makeshift dirt parking lot. The truck rocked slightly as Eric hopped out of the driver’s side and Kyle from the passenger’s. “Damn, hella people showed up,” Eric remarked as he locked the car and pocketed the keys in his sweatpants. “And here I was thinking we might get the whole show for ourselves.”
Kyle snickered as they headed away from the car. “Just means we can’t be picky about where we sit. I hope we’ll be able to find a spot somewhere.”
“Don’t even worry about that, dude. I got us covered.”
Eric led Kyle away from the lot and the main gathering area where people were settling down. They made their way along the treeline of field and forest. Walking the line between the dark cover of pine trees and the glowing field, illuminated by the full moon. Eric came to a stop by a particularly large tree and ran his hands along the trunk until he found what he was looking for. He tugged on a hanging rope and with a rattle, a dinky little ladder unfurled from above.
“What is that?” Kyle asked apprehensively. “Are we going into a treehouse or something?”
“Nah, it’s a lookout post,” Eric replied. He tugged on the ladder a few times to ensure its stability before beginning his ascent. Kyle tucked his hands into his pockets and watched him, biting his lip. “Hey dude, be careful. You still have to drive me home y’know.”
Above him, he heard a huff and some mumbling.
Having reached the top, Eric’s face peeked down at him from the platform. “Hurry up, Kyle,” he called. Then, with a whiny voice, “I’m so lonely up here, c’mon…”
“I’m coming, give me a minute,” Kyle replied, gripping the first rung of the ladder and pulling himself up. The ladder swayed as he climbed, and he tried to stay calm. If the ladder could support Cartman, then it would be able to support him.
“How’d you even know about this thing?” He asked, reaching up for the next rung.
“Oh, Jimbo used to take me out around this area a while back. We would hunt the deer, just cause the farmers didn’t like them being so close to their crops and all that.”
Kyle grunted in acknowledgment. The rungs of the ladder stopped short of the platform of the hunting lookout. He shakily reached up to find a secure place to grab, his other hand gripping the ladder tightly. His searching hand was met with another, and with a pull, Kyle climbed onto the creaky wooden platform.
He was met with Eric’s stoic face, whose eyes flickered away when met. “You good now?” He asked quietly. Kyle nodded. “Yeah, thanks, dude.” With a soft noise of approval, Eric let go and sat back.
Kyle sat down next to him, their arms barely touching. The view from the lookout was spectacular. Around him, the dark foliage framed the sky and the field below. The wind had picked up and it was like they sat above the sea, how the grass rippled and shone. They were far enough away that the crowds of people from before weren’t visible. They were in their own little world.
The air was cold, but with the arrival of May, it had started to get more bearable. Despite this, Kyle still felt himself shivering under his jacket.
“Seriously, you’re cold?” Eric muttered. Kyle didn’t have time to respond before Eric’s letterman jacket was shed and tossed over him. “There,” he mumbled, turning away to watch the sky. Kyle shifted and put the jacket on wordlessly, feeling warmer already. He pushed up the sleeves so he could fumble with his hands.
The letterman jacket was heavy and warm, and he could smell Eric’s musky cologne on it. Kyle remembered when Eric had first joined the football team in high school, how happy he had been that he could, in his words, “beat people up and get popular”. He had done well enough on the team to be offered a scholarship to a small private university up north. A university that was about a day’s drive away from his own, if Kyle had calculated correctly.
“Oh shit,” Eric exclaimed softly, snapping Kyle out of his thoughts. He was looking out at the horizon. “I saw one. A shooting star.”
Gazing at the horizon as well, Kyle searched the sky. Then he saw it. A streak of white against the black sky. Then, another. And another.
“Woah, this is fuckin’ sick,” he murmured. “Hey, Cartman, thanks for bringing me out here.”
Eric kept his eyes on the meteor shower. “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he whispered.
After a few minutes, he dared to turn his gaze to Kyle. He was still in awe of the stars, eyes wide with wonder and mouth turned in a small smile. Half covered in shadow, his eyes glimmered with reflected moonlight. His skin looked so smooth and soft as if he was an angel made from marble. He had drawn his knees up to his chest, one arm propped up on his knee to support his head. Eric’s jacket was loose on him, and he hated how his heart leaped in his chest at the sight. Like how Kyle had pushed up the sleeves to expose his hands, or how one shoulder of the jacket had slipped down to his elbow.
It shouldn’t have been surprising to him. He was the dumb jock and Kyle was the clever bookworm. He was still “big-boned” and stocky while Kyle was lean and slim. He had a nice figure, and more than once Eric had found himself seething at the way other dudes talked about Kyle in the locker rooms.
None of that mattered anyway. In a month they would be graduating high school and going off to college. Kyle’s university was farther away than Eric had expected, and he felt himself feeling nervous. There was precious little time before he and Kyle would separate and then what? With that kind of distance, there would be no way for him to tell Kyle how he felt. He needed to tell him sooner than later. He needed to tell him tonight.
Kyle followed the path of a bright red meteor, his head turning to the side, and as the meteor vanished into the sky, he was met with Eric’s hazel eyes.
“Did you make a wish?” Kyle asked him, leaning in to whisper.
“Yeah,” Eric whispered back, breath warm on Kyle’s face.
“What did you wish for?”
Eric hesitated, eyes flitting from the sky to the wood underneath them, and then to Kyle’s wondering eyes. When he spoke, his voice wavered nervously.
“You.”
Kyle blushed and smiled, quietly amused. “Oh yeah? Y’know, I was wondering when you might say something to me about that. You haven’t exactly been super discreet lately.”
His heart hammered in his chest. “…Really?”
Kyle nodded, a hand coming up to cover his smile. “I always catch you staring at me in class.”
Eric huffed defensively. “We all got eyes Kyle, I can look wherever I want.”
“You always ask me to pair up with you on projects.” Kyle scooted closer, their arms pressing together now.
“You’re a 4.0, straight A student, no shit I wanna partner with you.” Eric let out a nervous breath.
“You always insist on driving me everywhere, even if you’re not even coming with me, fuckin’ dummy,” he laughed and Eric hoped it was dark enough that Kyle couldn’t see him turning red.
“We live close by and my truck is fuckin’ sick, better than your dumb Civic…”
“Every day, without fail, you ask me what I want for lunch and then go and get it during your free period. You go out of your way to bring me lunch, dude.”
“Hey, it’s not all about you, dummy. I wanna eat good food too, the fucking cafeteria sucks.” Eric found himself looking everywhere but at Kyle.
“You’ve lent me money so many times, and I noticed that you never ask me to pay you back. Like, when Kenny asks for money you go on and on about charging interest and all that shit, but you never say jack when it’s me.”
“I’m not fuckin’ broke, so it doesn’t matter to me,” he grumbled. This was a losing fight. Maybe Kyle was right.
Eric’s eyes snapped back as Kyle’s hand rested on his own. “I thought it was cute, you making an effort to be so sweet to me.” He said shyly, not able to hide his own blush. His pretty face was so close. Eric’s other hand came to caress Kyle’s cheek, drawing his eyes back up to look at him.
“What’d you wish for?” Cartman asked him, voice barely above a whisper.
Instead of answering, Kyle just gave him a knowing smile and closed the distance between them.
They pulled away from the chaste kiss only to come together again, again, again…
Eric’s breath was sweet. He kissed slowly like he was savoring every moment he got. His lips were warm, each touch making it harder for Kyle to feel his face. Eric’s hand, as rough and calloused as it was, felt soft against Kyle’s face. He felt himself melting into Eric, coming chest to chest with him, relying more on the hand at his waist to keep him upright.
His mouth was sweet. Soft lips parted without a fight when met with Eric’s tongue. It was cute how Kyle clung to his shoulders like he was worried he might blow away with the wind. Each time they parted, he made a small noise before they joined again like he couldn’t stand to be separated from Eric.
He pulled Kyle onto his lap, and Kyle slid the letterman jacket off.
The moon was high in the sky, and meteors long since moved on with their travels.
The field swayed slowly in the wind.
The crowd packed their things and dispersed.
In the dirt lot, the Toyota pickup was the only car left.