“Okay,” Raj says. “Here’s the situation.”

“Lay it on me.” I plug in my headphones, so I can work while we talk. “Just know that if a customer comes in, I have to hang up on you.”

“Of course, man, no worries. So - the engine of my truck is making a weird noise that Noah and I can’t figure out. I’ve got a friend in Greenrock who offered to take a look at it for me. Jordan. She said that I can drop it off tomorrow night.”

“Oh, that's good," I answer. "That way you won’t get your car stolen by shady jerkface mechanics who are trying to scam you.”

“Yeah, exactly. Don't want to make Noah have to steal two cars in one month."

"Right, no," I agree. "Maximum of one."

Raj laughs, but quickly grows serious again.

"Problem is, I’ve got an errand I really need to take care of tomorrow night. I’ll explain later, but - basically, I can’t take my truck to my friend’s place. So... any chance you could help me out, brother?”

I was lining up stalks of heather to go into a bouquet, but I stop, glancing down at my phone. “You want me to drive your truck to Greenrock?”

“Yeah, if you don't mind? You can crash at Jordan's place overnight. She doesn’t mind, I already asked. And I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

I take a second to run through my schedule, making sure that I don’t have a class with Ellen.

“I’m sorry,” Raj says, all guilty. “I’m always asking you for favors, man, I know that, but-”

“Raj,” I interrupt, “I was just trying to remember if I’ve got anything going on tomorrow. But I don’t, so I’ll definitely do it. I'm happy to help out.”

Raj breathes out a heavy exhale, and I hear a thump that sounds like him slapping a relieved hand over his heart.

“Thank you, dude! And hey - take Aiden, if he wants to come. Plenty of room in the truck.”

“Cool, but then we can’t leave until he’s done with work. It’ll be a night drive, is that okay?”

“Sure, no problem! Jordan said anytime tomorrow night, or early in the morning, day after tomorrow. I'll send you her number.”

"Sweet."

Raj lets out another relieved breath. I wonder what errand he's got to run that's so important, but he said that he'd explain later, so I don't ask.

“Thanks so much, Jamie," he says again. "Really appreciate it. I know things will go smoothly if you and Aiden are involved.”

A quick succession of mental images flashes through my mind. Aiden and I falling out of a second-story window. Sprinting through the Bratton Collection with stolen property while alarms went off all around us. Detonating Will’s pocket watch. Setting the Ghost Office on fire. Flooding City Hall.

“Um - yeah,” I answer, glad that Raj can't see my expression. “I’m sure that everything will go as planned.”

~~~~

Aiden had to work late, and he went home to change out of his work clothes before we left, so we ended up setting out later than planned. He apologized, but I'm finding myself unbothered. It’s a perfect night for a long drive.

I’m keeping the truck at a slow pace, since I have no idea what kind of engine problem it has. A very light drizzle of rain is sifting down onto the windshield. The roads are sparsely populated, and the melting snow has revealed a soft layer of leaves left over from autumn. They deck out the sides of the forest roads, their colors warmed by the glow of the headlights.

Aiden brought some food for us, as well as a thermos of hot chocolate. The sugary scent of it is drifting up to meet my nose, even with the windows all the way down. Chilly outside air rolls into the truck, carrying the green taste of the forest that surrounds us.

My Companion Plant is being very quiet, but that’s not unusual, and I'm not worried. He’s looking at me from the passenger’s seat, an affectionate smile on his face, his long fingers folded around the thermos. It's clear that he's feeling just fine. He just wants to listen to me, not to talk.

I’ve been chattering away, but I fall silent for a second, glancing over at Aiden.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” he sighs happily. “It sounds - wait, what are you talking about?”

I guess he was listening to me in more ways than one, which I maybe should have guessed. The look on his face alone is enough to make my cheeks flare up. But that noise I heard quickly draws my attention again.

“I meant that.”

Aiden’s eyebrows furrow. He concentrates for a moment, presumably trying to press down the noise, so he can hear what I’m hearing.

A faint, unsettling knocking sound from the engine.

“Raj did say something was wrong with it,” I tell Aiden, who is still listening. “But he was pretty sure it would make it to Greenrock, so-”

“Nope,” Aiden says, straightening up. “No, I think we need to pull over, dude. There’s a turn coming up, can you take it?”

I take the turn, and we leave the main road to coast down a narrow, winding forest lane. It dead-ends at a closed-off hiking trail, shut down for the winter. I turn the truck off, and Aiden hops out to pop the hood.

I get out, too, watching as Aiden summons a few fireflies to see by. He stares at the engine for a long minute, then looks up at me. I can tell by his expression that I won't like whatever he’s about to say.

“Um - I think we could maybe force another mile or so out of this,” he begins slowly, “But-”

“Are you serious, right now?” I stare at Aiden, wide-eyed. “You’re telling me this is the second engine meltdown I’ve had in this amount of time? Cars hate me, dude.”

“Your car loves you,” Aiden says firmly. “Raj’s truck hasn’t really had the chance to get to know you yet.”

“That’s true,” I admit, grumbling. “Well, what do we do? Call Jordan, see if she can come fix it?”

Aiden checks his watch, then winces.

“It’s late, man, and we’re still over an hour away from Greenrock. She’d be getting here at almost one in the morning. I'd kinda feel bad asking her to do that.”

“Oh. Yeah, me too. And Raj isn’t free, which means…” I fade off, blinking at Aiden. “Um - are we stranded here?”

“Until the morning, at least. When Jordan can come rescue us. So - yes.”

I stare at Aiden, then drop my head back and groan so loudly that he huffs out a startled laugh.

“What’s-?”

“Nothing.” I rub my temples, cringing. “I was just determined to prove to myself that it’s actually possible for us to execute a plan without something going wildly wrong. At least once, you know?”

Aiden shuts the hood of the truck, then leans his elbows on it.

“That’s not really our style, though, is it?” he rumbles, smiling at me.

I stop, caught in that beautiful, bright blue gaze. It takes me a second to find my voice, to answer him.

“You seem pretty unbothered by this whole thing.”

Aiden shrugs his broad shoulders, resettles his snapback over his hair.

“I slept a lot of nights like this, when I was traveling. And we’re actually more prepared than you think. My aunt made me pick up my camping stuff from her place last week. I’ve still got our sleeping bags in my backpack.”

I blink at Aiden, surprised and relieved. “Seriously?”

“Mhm.” He strides around the side of the truck, brushes a kiss onto my lips. “Hop in the back, Linden. I'll be right there.”

I look for a complaint to answer with, but come up empty. So I put down the back of the truck bed and climb in. I watch Aiden unzip both sleeping bags until they’re completely open, turned into two giant, thick blankets. I tuck them into the bed of the truck as Aiden spreads his palms and calls more fireflies out from them.

We both pull off our shoes and jackets before we stretch out on our backs.

I expected this to be scary, but - it’s not. Not with Aiden.

His warmth floats gently around us, as does his light. The fireflies keep close, drifting in slow rotations around Raj’s truck.

Aiden has his knees bent, one arm tucked behind his head, the other wrapped around me. His snapback set aside. I snuggle up against him, surprisingly comfortable in the soft nest of the sleeping bags. The drizzle is still coming down on us, but so lightly that it’s not really a problem.

The air smells like rain, and the rich, earthy scent of the leaf bed on the forest floor. Walls of pine needles sway around us, billowing gently in the breeze.

Aiden seems happy, at home in the open air. His calm blue eyes stay steadily on me, a smile lingering on his face. 

We hand the hot chocolate back and forth as we talk. We eat the food we brought. We make out a little bit. Aiden’s huffing laughter mingles with mine, escaping over the side of the truck bed, climbing up into the air.

“So - what do you want our new place to have?” I eventually ask, my head nestled against the warm muscle of Aiden’s shoulder. “Anything specific?”

“Yeah,” he says, after a moment. “Good sunlight for your plants. A nice shower. Someplace not too far out of town, so you can get to the shop easily.”

I prop myself up on an elbow and look down at Aiden, fighting back a smile.

“Um. Those are all things for me, dummy. I asked what you want.”

“Oh.” He pauses, realizing that I’m right. “Well - that’s what I want.”

I bite my lip, then flop onto my back again, suddenly having trouble looking at him.

“What about you?” Aiden asks, trailing his fingertips up and down my arm. “Got anything specific you want?”

I’ve already given this some thought, so I leap right into my answer.

“Yeah. I want someplace with higher ceilings, so you won’t hit your head all the time. Windows that open. A bigger kitchen, more space to cook.”

Aiden’s fingers stop their movements. I look up and find him staring at me.

“What?”

“Nothing, just-” He huffs out a quiet laugh. “Did you not realize that’s all stuff for me? And right after you called me dumb for doing the exact same thing.”

I blink at him, then feel my cheeks start to burn. Aiden lapses back into laughter, which only redoubles when I smack his arm.

“Stop it!” I groan.

Aiden does, but he’s still smiling very widely. He gathers me closer to him, presses a kiss onto the top of my head.

We both fall silent as a distant rumble of thunder draws our attention up to the sky. But it doesn’t look like a storm is coming. The clouds are light and wispy, the rain fluttering down still no more than a drizzle.

The stars have come more fully into their light since the last time we looked up, and the moon has come out to join them.

Aside from the fireflies, we’re wrapped in complete darkness. No light pollution.

The brilliancy of the scattered stars is something heart-stopping.

The sky seems vast, huge, and us, two people - we’re all the way at the other end of the scale. Tiny by comparison. Human and cosmic counterpoints. But in Aiden’s arms, I feel strangely, intimately, deeply connected to it all.

I stare for a few silent minutes, captivated.

“Wow.” I let out a peaceful sigh, then put my hand on Aiden’s chest. “That’s beautiful, don’t you th-?”

I break off, having turned my head and caught Aiden staring not at the gorgeous sight spread above us, but at me.

His blue eyes are wide, catching all the light of his fireflies. A glimmer like molten gold. He looks like he’s in some kind of happy trance, the smile on his face big enough to make the corners of his eyes crinkle up.

Again, I’m stunned into shutting all the way up for a minute. I blink at Aiden, meeting his gaze with questioning eyes.

He runs his fingers through his chestnut hair, doesn’t answer me right away. I sense him deep in the subterranean spring of his thoughts, trying to collect words from it.

I wait, watching him. The drizzle is gently dusting his face, his bronze skin burnished by the golden light. I could lay here and look at him for hours, so it’s easy to give him the time that he needs. Even though he needs a lot.

I stay silent until Aiden takes a deep breath.

“S’gonna sound weird, but… when I was traveling, I used to wonder what it would have been like if I had you with me. Tried to imagine how things would have been different, how it would have felt." He’s speaking slowly, his deep, soft-spoken voice vibrating through the points of contact between our bodies. "I never thought I’d actually get to experience it, but this - this is probably what it would have been like, isn't it?”

I look back at Aiden, a sudden flood of complex emotions taking over my heart, making it difficult for me to find my own words.

“Oh,” I finally manage. “So - how does it feel? Are you happy we got to do it, even if it's just for one night?”

Aiden is a very quiet person. He always has to be listening, so I understand why he doesn’t want to always be talking, too. But he still wants to speak. I’m starting to wonder if this is why he’s developed such an exceptional gift for speaking with his eyes.

Sometimes he turns those blue eyes on me and everything that he’s trying to communicate spills right out, gracefully leaping past all the layers of obstacles his words would have to fight through.

I see it all there in concentrated form. In light, in emotion, in how he blinks, in every subtlety and nuance. In different shades of blue.

This is one of those times. Aiden looks at me, and I know exactly how he feels about us experiencing a night like this together. It’s the same look he had in his eyes on that intimate morning when we decided to bring one of his dreams into the waking world.

I stare into Aiden’s eyes for a long moment, absorbing the message, and he stares back at me. Then he gives me a tiny, shy smile, and lets his gaze blink back up to the sky.

So he’s caught by surprise when I lean over to kiss him, but only for a second. His hand slides all the way up my back, up the nape of my neck, until his fingers sink into my hair.

Aiden can tell me everything with his eyes, but this is my equivalent voice. The best way I know how to answer. I try to tell him everything about how I’m feeling with the long, slow kiss I leave on his lips. Although I’m sure he can hear it in my note, too.

When I draw back, Aiden keeps his eyes closed, taking deep breaths, his eyebrows very slightly drawn together.

When he looks up at me again, his blue gaze is so rich with emotion that I have to break my eyes away. The tidal wave of love in me is so high that it would look like mountains in movement. It’s threatening to overwhelm me.

I curl up against Aiden again. There’s a long silence. I can hear his heart pounding hard and fast, feel it against my cheek.

“Think you can keep us warm all night?” I finally ask, just to say something.

“Yeah,” Aiden answers. “I mean - I’m not even trying, right now. It’s just happening.”

I keep my gaze on the glittering night sky, let my eyes travel over its breathtaking array of light. It’s unbelievably beautiful, but somehow Aiden is what’s too much for my eyes and heart to handle.

I think to myself that the stars and the moon aren’t the only ones who know about the eternal.

I had no idea that I could fall asleep in the bed of a truck, off the side of a freeway, with rain sifting down onto me. But when Aiden and I fall silent, when we close our eyes and bury our entwined bodies beneath the sleeping bag - it’s the easiest thing in the world to slip off into my dreams.