I didn't care about the stars.
Not really.
Neither did Cordelia.
In fact she couldn't name a single constellation, but it didn't matter.
As we wandered a fair distance from the house, we sat in the grass and wrestled a little. It was the first time she had ever played with me so directly.
In the pond—and how my mind travels back to that magic moment—at first, neither of us had even touched.
She had caressed my hand just slightly, but that could have been an accident...
no
. We were playing, wrestling a little, and we did so until we had flattened out a decent amount of tall grasses. Side by side, about an arm's length apart, Cordelia did something to me that would touch me deeper than that moment I shared with her in the pond.
Cordelia held my hand.
O O O
"Do you think the stars will be up there forever?" Cordelia asked Amnesia, seeming particularly introspective tonight. She scooted closer to Amnesia's side, still holding her hand, still laying side by side.
"I do not know that answer." Amnesia replied, her voice a lazy echo in her cloudy head. Had she said it in binary, it would have mattered no more than if she had said it in German, or French, or Gaelic.
The conversation did not even matter.
Mary Celeste turned on her side, releasing Amnesia's hand. For a moment, Amnesia felt a pang of isolation before Cordelia's hand came to rest gently on Amnesia's stomach. She glided it up gently to Amnesia's ribs and held it here, rubbing her fingers over the taught muscles beneath her friend's cotton shirt. "I don't know a lot about the stars, but I think they are pretty."
"They are not that pretty." Amnesia said, feeling Cordelia caressing along her ribs gently. The sensation sent strange electrical shocks into Amnesia's belly, and deeper, and farther down. She took a deep breath in and released it. It was all she could do to keep from shaking. "I can imagine prettier things."
"Really?" Cordelia was unreadable, turning more on her side. She rested on her elbow, while she traced Amnesia with her free hand, running the tip of her finger from Amnesia's forehead down to her belly button, and then to the hem of her denim jeans.
Amnesia gulped, but as she tried to speak nothing came out. She felt her knees jerk a little, but made no effort to stop Cordelia.
"I trust you, Amnesia." Cordelia finally said to her, after moments of considering the situation. "I know I don't talk much, but I have lots to think about. I have lots to say."
"It's okay."
"No, its really
not
