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Cicadas chirped as a night breeze swayed past blades of grass. The beads of sweat on Ochako’s skin from hiking through the forest had dried hours ago. The online evidence that remained of how Ochako had herded campers along a trail in the woods was the fatigue weighing down on her eyelids.
But even as a million yawns had threatened to escape her throat after a long day beneath the searing summer sun, Ochako had still abided by her fellow camp counselor’s request to go stargazing together.
The sting of the peeling sunburnt skin on her nose didn’t matter. Neither did the itch of mosquito bites on her skin. Every sensation was dulled in comparison to how her heart raced as Himiko sat beside her on the dock by the lake just beyond the camp cabins.
With her hand wrapped around Himiko’s, Ochako marveled over how soothing Himiko’s touch was. Cool and calming. A lot like jumping into a pool on a summer day with the sun beating down on anyone who had dared set foot outdoors.
Craning her neck upward, Ochako smiled at the sky gradually going from navy to an even deeper hue. Ochako shut her eyes and pictured a full skirt with gold star details swishing across a wood dance floor.
“The sky is the same color as a dress I wore to a high school dance.”
“I never went to one of those,” Himiko sighed wistfully.
Ochako’s eyes widened enough to give the frogs that had crowded around the camp’s lake a run for their money. “You never went to a high school dance?”
“Nope. I haven't ever gone to any school dances. I was homeschooled.”
Himiko’s sharp-toothed smile dropped ever so slightly. Her eyes grew glassy as the wooden boards of the dock at the edge of the lake creaked beneath her. A few blonde wisps of hair escaped Himiko’s space buns and draped across the nape of her neck like a funeral veil.
Reaching out, Ochako set a gentle hand atop Himiko’s. “Oh… well, you weren’t missing out on much. School dances are overrated.”
“Yeah right. You don’t need to lie to make me feel better, cutie.”
“No, I’m serious.” Ochako snorted. “Like the school dance when I was in ninth grade was a disaster.”
“How so?”
Ochako was hypnotized by how Himiko’s eyes shone gold like the fireflies dancing atop the surface of the water. In a hushed whisper, Ochako cupped a hand around her mouth and confided in Himiko.
“The seventh graders were at the dance too – it was the first time they were invited. Anyways, they spilled punches and chips all across the floor.”
“Oh no! Your heels must have gotten so sticky.”
“Tell me about it. And it gets worse.” With a dramatic huff, Ochako fell back against the dock with enough force that the support beams shook a little. “The younger students popped all the balloons that the dance committee had blown up. And they tore up a lot of our streamers too. And someone convinced the DJ to play nothing but What’s Your Name Pussycat for the entire night.”
“Well, it is a catchy song.”
“Not after hearing it a dozen times in a row,” Ochako said. “Plus, I think it was some sort of mind game. There’s this dip in the song that makes it hard to tell that the song is on repeat until like the third time it plays. I kept questioning my sanity because the song seemed a lot longer than I remember.”
“Ha, lowkey that is kind of a good prank. Maybe I should pull it on Shiggy one of these days.”
Ochako raised a brow as mischief tugged at the corners of Himiko’s lips. “Are you sure that pulling that prank on our boss is a good idea?”
“When there’s a shortage of camp counselors and he can’t fire me? Absolutely!”
Rolling across the dock while giggling, Ochako and Himiko intertwined their fingers again. As the laughter died out, they sunk into a comfortable sort of silence. A symphony of firefly wings buzzing was accompanied by the melody of ripples rolling across the water. An owl cooed in the distance sounding like a lullaby meant to help anyone still awake fall asleep.
Shutting her eyes, Ochako felt no need to speak up and fill the quiet. Because with the weight of Himiko’s presence beside her and the sounds echoing through the forest, silence had never been less empty.
At last, Himiko slowly sat up and pressed a soft kiss against Ochako’s forehead. Fang-like canines grazed ever so slightly against soft skin. “The forest sounds really pretty tonight, huh?”
“Yeah. Like a song almost.”
Ochako leaned in and briefly smacked Himiko on the lips. She tastes like her pomegranate chapstick and the sunscreen she had lathered herself in while kayaking during the daytime. As she pulled away, Ochako found herself swaying to the music of the wind rustling through the leaves overhead.
Rising to her feet, Ochako bowed a little and held out a hand to Himiko. “May I have this dance?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Constellations glittered overhead as Ochako held her hand to the small of Himiko’s back. She eased Himiko into a waltz at first, but as Himiko’s brows furrowed with confusion the girls settled on simply stepping back and forth slowly. There was no particular rhythm to the steps. Just a gradual ebb and flow.
As a frog croaked through the night, Ochako stared up at the sky and managed to spot pisces amongst the stars. Holding up a hand to spin Himiko around, Ochako recalled the myth of two fish connected and wondered whether there was some sort of invisible string between her and Himiko together.
And as Himiko and Ochako twirled in tandem on the dock, Ochako couldn’t help but wonder whether she and Himiko were written in the stars. Maybe regardless of the lifetime they were bound by the stardust they were both made of. While Himiko’s bright smile shone in the moonlight, Ochako realized that she couldn’t imagine a world in which she wasn’t standing right beside the cutest girl in the world.