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August 13th, the expected maximum of the yearly Perseids. Franziska had been invited by Adrian to spend a week at a little cabin on the countryside that she had rented to disconnect for a few days during her vacation. It was the perfect opportunity to stargaze and spend a few days away from the usual light and noise pollution from Los Angeles, and Franziska had gladly accepted Adrian’s kind offer to stay with her.
There was, however, just one little problem: Franziska had come unprepared, surprising as it could sound. She had brought enough food to last them for almost two weeks. She had brought a portable stove, just in case the one from the cabin malfunctioned. She had brought not one nor two, but three whips, should the need to use them for self-defense arise, for crying out loud!
And yet, the only thing Franziska had not prepared for was for it to be this cold in the middle of August. She had spent years living in Berlin, bracing cold winters like it was nothing, and yet here she was, teeth chattering during a nightly summer trip in rural Southern California, of all places.
She kicked a pebble as she sunk her nails on her arms in an attempt at getting some blood circulation back on her arms. It wasn’t her fault that the weatherman was an untrustworthy fool, really — she would have come prepared for the cold otherwise, like any von Karma would do!
And to make matters worse, she felt an itchiness all over her arms. It was only the first night there, but she couldn’t help but wonder how many mosquito bites she had gotten just in last fifteen minutes.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard yet another mosquito buzzing right past her and she unleashed her whip with a grunt, throwing a random attack in the general direction of the sound. The buzzing stopped after that.
Adrian’s voice brought her back to the matter at hand.
“Come here,” she said, patting the empty spot beside her on the blanket they had placed on the garden to have a picnic while they watched the meteor shower. “Let’s lie down and watch the stars together.”
Franziska let out a faint huff, but complied. The ground under the blanket was hard and full of tiny rocks that kept on pricking at her back and legs, no matter how Franziska positioned herself, but if Adrian had a similar problem, she didn’t show it, so Franziska decided to keep her grievances to herself — seeing all those stars twinkling above them from that far away was a magical feeling, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin the moment when Adrian seemed to be enjoying herself.
The wind howled around them, and Franziska gently rubbed her bare arms with her hands once more. Foolish weather reports, made by foolish fools… she thought.
Beside her, Adrian shifted a bit until her head was resting on Franziska’s shoulder. She then nuzzled against Franziska’s neck, looking up at the sky as she adjusted the shawl she was wearing until it was covering the both of them. Did Adrian know she was cold? Was that why she had told Franziska to lay down by her side, to find an excuse to keep her warm? Franziska did feel her face heating up as soon as Adrian wrapped the shawl around her, so her plan seemed to be working, at least.
“Oh, a shooting star!” Adrian said, pointing right above them. Franziska could almost hear the smile in Adrian’s voice, and she found herself holding her breath in awe. “Quick, make a wish!”
Franziska stared at the vanishing glowing trail for an instant. Even though one of her reasons to come here with Adrian had been to watch the Perseids, she had always considered herself a realist, never one to believe in foolish things like meteor showers granting wishes.
But still, at that moment, with Adrian’s head resting against her shoulder as they shared a shawl to keep themselves warm under that tapestry of twinkling lights, she found herself making a single wish: Let us repeat this moment again next year— no, not just next year. Let us repeat this every year.
“Look, another one!” This time, Franziska didn’t look up, but to Adrian, lying by her side, hair slightly rustled by the breeze. “Isn’t the view amazing from here?”
Her eyes were glued to Adrian’s face, to the way her eyes sparkled like a child’s on Christmas Day as she stared at the vast skies above them in search of shooting stars. She had to agree with Adrian there — the view was amazing, even when she wasn’t talking about the stars.
“It is.”
Before she even realized what she was doing, Franziska was finding herself reducing the distance between them.
“What is i—?” Adrian started.
Before she could finish the sentence, Franziska shut her up with a kiss. It was a gentle thing, a slow brush of her lips against Adrian’s as she inhaled the scent of Adrian’s floral perfume. In that moment, it was just Adrian and her, warming each other’s bodies under the starlight.
When Franziska finally pulled away, Adrian was staring at her in shocked silence, and Franziska’s heart sank. She had overstepped, hadn’t she?
She was about to excuse herself and sit up to get away when Adrian grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her waist and straddling her, casting the shawl aside as she pressed their lips together once more, this time more passionately.
“You know…” Adrian said once they pulled away, a bit out of breath after their impromptu make-out. “These Perseids are really good at granting wishes... I got mine in less than five minutes.”
So that had been her wish, huh? Franziska thought. “Well, forget about those foolish meteors, then.” She grinned, leaning in to kiss Adrian again. “I’ll grant all your wishes myself.”
Franziska was sure there were plenty of beautiful marvels above them, like constellations and flashing meteors crossing the firmament. But that night, she was more interested in the earthly wonders by her side.