I feel like I'm edging towards the final act. Of what play, I'm not sure, but there's a sweet finality to my days. Hughes' birthday is in 26 minutes. What did I do for his birthday? I essentially kidnapped the man and then we drove to a campsite from where the sky is chock-full of stars and where Olive was waiting with a chocolate cake, 28 candles on it.

"Such a lively party, thank you so much, Sabine." Hughes smiles sarcastically at me. Olive snorts. I'm standing behind him as he sits on the wooden bench, my hands on his shoulders. I squeeze painfully, making Hughes yelp. "You're welcome, birthday boy."

"Should I start lighting up the candles?" Olive asks.

"No," I say. "There's still ... 11 minutes. They'll melt into the cake."

"It's going to take her 11 minutes to light them up." Hughes tilts his head back.

"Exactly." Olive says, and she flicks her lighter into action.

I consider it. "Okay, fine, light them up, I guess."

"I'm already doing it." Olive says.

"Yes, good." I say.

"Shut the fuck up, sister."

Hughes laughs. I pout my lips.

The candles get lit up and there are still 8 minutes left. I complain about it. Olive makes fun of me for being a tight-ass. Hughes seconds her point. I tell Hughes the next time I kidnap him, it won't be for birthday purposes. We hear a sound in the trees and scream. Then I realize it's only one minute to midnight, and I scream because of that. We start singing happy birthday. Yes, it's creepy to sing happy birthday at a dark campsite with the light of 28 candles flickering across your faces.

"Yayy, happy birthday!" I cheer as Hughes cuts into the cake. He offers Olive the first bite, then diverts it towards me, making Olive boo him. I grin, he grins, then he opens his mouth wide and eats the cake himself. I shut my mouth, which I'd opened embarrassingly wide. Olive cackles like a maniacal witch. Then Hughes offers me the second bite, and Olive, the third. Olive complains about having had too much birthday cake in the past week. Hughes tells her no amount of cake is too much cake.

*

The three of us get into the back of Maryann's pick-up – which I borrowed to kidnap Hughes – and cover ourselves with blankets and play truth or dare. Hughes is drinking from a small flask that Olive takes a sip or two from. They tease me about not being able to drink, and I stick my tongue out.

Dares: howl like a wolf for thirty seconds, get down on the ground on all fours and howl like a wolf for thirty seconds, sing everything you've gotta speak to the tune of any Taylor Swift song for the rest of the game, and weirdly, more wolf-involved stuff.

Truth: would you be an alpha, beta, gamma, or sigma if you were a wolf (gamma is not a wolf thing, Hughes points out. Olive says alpha, I say I would be the sigma wolf because I'm a loner and I love being alone. Olive says that is simply not true and that I start going insane if I don't surround myself with people)?

Also more weird wolf stuff:

Who would you eat first if you were a werewolf (Me: Hughes, Hughes: A tasty old lady, Olive: Children)? Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf (Me: Vampire, Hughes: Vampire, Olive: I hate this game)?

"Are we all feeling okay? Why so much wolf talk, guys?" Olive giggles. We're all giggling. Then Hughes starts growling like a wolf, and it's so fucking funny, I tip over with laughter. "Why does your wolf impression sound so horny?" I wheeze. We laugh scarily loud. Especially Olive. She always laughs very scarily. Mum and Dad scold her a lot for it, which only makes her laugh in an even louder, crazier way.

"Stop, stop, stop." I say, holding my hand up, and pressing the other one to my aching stomach. It takes us maybe 10 more minutes to really calm down.

"Okay, no more weird fucking wolf stuff, guys, please. I am not a weirdo. I don't like participating in these discussions." Olive states.

"You just said fucking wolf." Hughes snorts. So do I.

Olive stands up, funnily tall since I'm almost laying down. "I'm going to pee."

"Not here!" I yell, cowering away.

"She's taking the wolf shit too seriously." Hughes can't stop laughing. Neither can I. We hit each other and laugh and wheeze and pant. Olive huffs and steps over us, hopping out of the truck.

"Is that even allowed?" I say, glancing at Olive as she saunters away into the darkness.

"Free fertilizer." Hughes says normally, then breaks into giggles again. Both of us tip over while laughing this time. Then I grab onto the sleeve of Hughes' puffer.

"Hey, look. Up there." I say, pointing at the sky with my free hand. "This is why I brought you here."

"Ohh." Hughes drawls. "Staaars." He giggles. He throws a heavy arm over me.

"It's nice, no?"

"It is." Hughes says. "I've never seen stars before, thanks Sabine Bowery."

I hit his arm, but it's very weak. "You have no appreciation for anything whatsoever."

"I appreciate life." Hughes announces loudly. We giggle.

"Do you know any constellations?" He asks me. No, I answer. "Really? That surprises me." Hughes remarks. "Why's that?" I ask. "Nuthin'. Just thought you'd know."

"Okay, weirdo." I say. Then I pull his arm off of me and put it under my head, so that I can use it as a cushion. "Big head you've got there." Hughes says. I scoff.

"Come closer, Sabs." Hughes tells me. I do, turning to my side, and basically cuddling into his side.

"I know one." Hughes says. "Hm?" I say. He points at the sky, randomly tracing his finger somewhere. "That's Scorpio." I make more confused sounds. He traces it again, slower. I think I see it this time.

"Looks like a fish-hook." I remark.

"Mhm. And there's ... Pisces."

"Where?" I hold out my own hand. Hughes takes a hold of it. We trace out Pisces in the sky.

"It's big, isn't it?" He says, quiet wonder in his voice.

"That's what she said." I mutter. Hughes pulls our hands down and sighs through his nose.

"We were having a moment."

I turn my head to look at him. He looks at me, too. "I know. I like ruining moments." I smile cheekily. Hughes laughs breathily. He smiles, too.

"I wanna kiss you." I tell him.

"Okay." Hughes says, without missing a beat. And so, yeah, I kiss him for the second time in my life. His lips are cold and bitter. I give him little pecks, many little pecks, and we're both giggling. Then he bends his arm a little, so I'm further pushed into him, and kisses me properly. Then more pecks.

"Hey, hey, ask me why I kissed you." I say when we stop kissing.

Hughes grins. His eyes are brilliant under the light of the star-studded skies above.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

"Because you looked like you needed to be kissed." I say with a proud smile on my face, like a kid answering a question in class.

Hughes laughs. "Why does it feel like I've heard that before?"

I put my hand over his mouth. "One day, I'm going to write that into a movie. And I'm going to make millions off of it."

Hughes takes my hand off. "You're going to steal my line?" He gasps.

"Yes, sir. I have no shame." I tell him.

"Well, I'll be happy for you." He says nobly.

Olive returns then, complaining loudly about the poor peeing conditions here in the forest.

"I don't know what you were expecting." Hughes says, half sitting up.

I get up on my elbows, too. "Did you wash your hands?"

"With what?" Olive sneers.

"Ew, Olive." I exclaim. "You're not getting anywhere near the car until you wash your hands."

Hughes tosses her a bottle of water that was lying around in the truck. "Don't give that back." He tells Olive solemnly.

*

By the time we drop off Hughes at his place, it's about 2 AM. Olive turns the radio up. Hey there, lonely girl, a sweet man's voice sings from the speakers. My sister rolls down her window as we pass out of a tunnel and hangs her head out. I slow down the car a bit. Her black hair ripples with the wind, a content smile on her pink lips. I sing with the man on the radio. Hey there, lonely girl, lonely girl, let me make your broken heart like new.

Olive brings her head back in. "Oh, jeez, will you let me a have a cinematic moment in peace?"

I shake my head, grinning. "Don't you know this lonely boy loves you!" I sing, purposefully off-key.

"I'm gonna jump out, Sabs, on god."

I sing even louder, nodding my head enthusiastically. Olive rolls her eyes and puts her bitch face on. The song nears its end, turning into just music.

"You know..." Olive starts. "I'm really happy to see you and Hughes together again."

I look out at the mostly empty roads in front of us, stretching on endlessly. The lights are all yellow. A town like this, there's still a few people out – teenagers, a few old men. Cats sitting atop high walls with all the haughtiness of lions. The radio's playing more soft songs sung by men.

"It's perfect." I say. "I'm happier than ever to have him back in my life."

Olive nods. She asks, "You guys are just friends, right?"

"Best friends." I say automatically. Olive says something, but I've tuned her out involuntarily. I'm thinking about kissing. Mostly in relation to Hughes, since he's the last person I kissed, but also just overall. It's so fun to kiss people. Why don't we do it more? Why reserve it only for our spouses? I think we should all be kissing more. The world would probably be a better place then.