Flashes of Our Endless Summer Love
Chapter 2: Sunset
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URma_gu1aNE
When I go downstairs to go from one class to the next, I see you standing on the floor below. You’re talking to your friends. Still, you don’t seem to notice me. I walk past like I’m a ghost you’ve never been able to see. Seeing you from up there, it reminds me of the day you suddenly started talking to me. I hate your smug face for ever thinking it was okay to approach me.
“Hey, Maggy! What are you doing up there?” Your voice shouted from the road.
I pushed myself up from my lying position on the roof and looked down at you before laying back down. “Mia.”
“Huh?”
“It’s Mia!” I repeated.
“Didn’t I say that?” You called out accusingly, yet also in defence.
“No.”
“Oh.” There were a few seconds of silence before you piped up again. “Well, should you even be up there?”
I rolled my eyes and sat up, making eye contact with you. “No, but I’m up here and nobody can stop me.”
“That’s reasonable.” You nodded, putting your hands in your front pockets.
“That’s what I thought. I like watching the stars.” I looked up and reached out to the night sky with my arms.
“I can appreciate space.”
I looked around myself and how big the roof was. There was space. “Wanna come up here and join?”
“How?”
“Jump!”
“Jump?” You snorted.
“Jump.” I confirmed.
“I can’t jump that high.”
I sighed loudly and started shuffling down. “Guess I’ll just have to let you in then.”
I crawled back down to my window and went inside. To a bit of my surprise, you were waiting at my front door. You did like space after all. I took you up to my bedroom and crawled out onto the roof. I had done this a million times. You tried to replicate my movements, but did them very clumsily. Over the course of summer, you got quite the hang of it.
We both laid down on the sloping roof, looking up at the starry night sky. I tried to imagine the way Vincent van Gogh viewed it. I knew he was looking out from a window at some asylum in France. It couldn’t be that difficult, right?
“What are you thinking?” I asked after a few minutes.
“Hmm?”
“What are you thinking?”
“About what?” You turned your head to look at me in confusion.
“In general.” I shrugged and picked at my nails, still looking up at the sky.
“How annoying it is that my friends have always been at home during the holidays and I haven’t. Now I’m here by myself, and they’re all gone.”
“Oh.”
“What about you? What are you thinking about?” You turned it on me.
“It seems so reachable, so close, but it’s all so far away.”
You chuckled. “Those stars really do create some large optical illusion, don’t they?”
I shook my head softly, taking my time to look at individual stars. “I just feel like I've been stuck here my whole life. There must be something else out there, waiting, you know?”
“Are you talking about aliens?”
“No. I’d just like to get out there and do something. There’s nothing here. The universe goes on for ages and I’m stuck here in this town, in this state, in this country, on this planet.”
“I want to travel the whole world,” you confessed to me. “I want the band to take off and see places I can only dream of.”
“We could run away. Just leave… never look back. I don’t even care where we go, just far away from here. And what would happen? Would anything change? For the better, for the worse?”
“Honestly, I think a police case would happen.”
“Hmm…” I breathed out deeply and put my hands down on my stomach.
We just laid there for a bit, both continuing our thoughts personally in silence until you broke it. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“Why wouldn’t I take the opportunity to rant?” For the first time since we got up on the roof, I looked at you and saw you already looking back at me. “How would you like to see a planet?”
“See a planet?” You raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, come on.”
I took you back into my bedroom. We never expected you to come in there more frequently, but you did. I set up my telescope for you. It faced right outside my window, pointed up high into the sky. It didn’t take long for me to find you something to look at. It was the planet Jupiter. You were so amazed that you could actually see a different planet for yourself that wasn’t just a photograph.
I couldn’t stop grinning. “Can you see its moons?”
I shouldn’t have let you in that night. It was a big mistake. I didn’t think through the consequences. But you don’t care, right, Alex? You never cared. You were too busy with yourself.
When I go downstairs to go from one class to the next, I see you standing on the floor below. You’re talking to your friends. Still, you don’t seem to notice me. I walk past like I’m a ghost you’ve never been able to see. Seeing you from up there, it reminds me of the day you suddenly started talking to me. I hate your smug face for ever thinking it was okay to approach me.
“Hey, Maggy! What are you doing up there?” Your voice shouted from the road.
I pushed myself up from my lying position on the roof and looked down at you before laying back down. “Mia.”
“Huh?”
“It’s Mia!” I repeated.
“Didn’t I say that?” You called out accusingly, yet also in defence.
“No.”
“Oh.” There were a few seconds of silence before you piped up again. “Well, should you even be up there?”
I rolled my eyes and sat up, making eye contact with you. “No, but I’m up here and nobody can stop me.”
“That’s reasonable.” You nodded, putting your hands in your front pockets.
“That’s what I thought. I like watching the stars.” I looked up and reached out to the night sky with my arms.
“I can appreciate space.”
I looked around myself and how big the roof was. There was space. “Wanna come up here and join?”
“How?”
“Jump!”
“Jump?” You snorted.
“Jump.” I confirmed.
“I can’t jump that high.”
I sighed loudly and started shuffling down. “Guess I’ll just have to let you in then.”
I crawled back down to my window and went inside. To a bit of my surprise, you were waiting at my front door. You did like space after all. I took you up to my bedroom and crawled out onto the roof. I had done this a million times. You tried to replicate my movements, but did them very clumsily. Over the course of summer, you got quite the hang of it.
We both laid down on the sloping roof, looking up at the starry night sky. I tried to imagine the way Vincent van Gogh viewed it. I knew he was looking out from a window at some asylum in France. It couldn’t be that difficult, right?
“What are you thinking?” I asked after a few minutes.
“Hmm?”
“What are you thinking?”
“About what?” You turned your head to look at me in confusion.
“In general.” I shrugged and picked at my nails, still looking up at the sky.
“How annoying it is that my friends have always been at home during the holidays and I haven’t. Now I’m here by myself, and they’re all gone.”
“Oh.”
“What about you? What are you thinking about?” You turned it on me.
“It seems so reachable, so close, but it’s all so far away.”
You chuckled. “Those stars really do create some large optical illusion, don’t they?”
I shook my head softly, taking my time to look at individual stars. “I just feel like I've been stuck here my whole life. There must be something else out there, waiting, you know?”
“Are you talking about aliens?”
“No. I’d just like to get out there and do something. There’s nothing here. The universe goes on for ages and I’m stuck here in this town, in this state, in this country, on this planet.”
“I want to travel the whole world,” you confessed to me. “I want the band to take off and see places I can only dream of.”
“We could run away. Just leave… never look back. I don’t even care where we go, just far away from here. And what would happen? Would anything change? For the better, for the worse?”
“Honestly, I think a police case would happen.”
“Hmm…” I breathed out deeply and put my hands down on my stomach.
We just laid there for a bit, both continuing our thoughts personally in silence until you broke it. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“Why wouldn’t I take the opportunity to rant?” For the first time since we got up on the roof, I looked at you and saw you already looking back at me. “How would you like to see a planet?”
“See a planet?” You raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, come on.”
I took you back into my bedroom. We never expected you to come in there more frequently, but you did. I set up my telescope for you. It faced right outside my window, pointed up high into the sky. It didn’t take long for me to find you something to look at. It was the planet Jupiter. You were so amazed that you could actually see a different planet for yourself that wasn’t just a photograph.
I couldn’t stop grinning. “Can you see its moons?”
I shouldn’t have let you in that night. It was a big mistake. I didn’t think through the consequences. But you don’t care, right, Alex? You never cared. You were too busy with yourself.
