My parents weren't home yet, but I knew they'd be home soon. I didn't want them to see me upset. I needed to get out of the house.

                It was starting to get dark out. I'd told my friends I'd text them when I was ready, and they'd left me alone.

                Michigan was my only comfort right now, his head nuzzled in my lap as I stroked his fur. I was going crazy, sitting in the house trapped with my thoughts.

                "Up, buddy," I said, nudging Michigan's head out of my lap. I kissed his head as he picked it up. "Thanks for the comfort. You're the best boy."

                He licked my face as I pulled it away from his. I smiled a little, petting behind his ears before getting up and grabbing my phone. I changed into swim trunks and a T-shirt before calling Silas.

                "Yea?" he answered.

                "I'm picking you up. Wear swim trunks," I said.

                "I could be busy," he said.

                "You could be. But I'm willing to bet you're just sitting at home," I said. "Come on, stars."

                "Fine. But don't think we're doing this all the time," he said, and hung up.

                I left a note for my parents before getting in the car and driving to Silas's house. I could've called one of my friends, but I just didn't feel ready to talk about it with them yet. I didn't want them to look at me with worry. It would drive me crazy.

                Silas was a neutral party, though. Doing something with him meant I could pretend everything was fine, just for the night. Just until my brain could convince my heart that everything really would be fine.

                So I pulled into Silas's driveway. He opened the front door and came out, getting into my car.

                "What's this all about?" he asked, dressed in swim trunks and a tank top.

                "You'll see," I said, holding the aux cord out to him.

                He took it and plugged it into his phone, picking a song. We rolled our windows down, the air outside cooling as the sun set. Silas looked out as the sun slipped below the trees and out of sight as we drove. That fascination on his face made me feel better.

                I'd broken up with my boyfriend today. My mind was on the ugly feeling, that sucker-punched feeling in my gut. But Silas sat next to me, fascinated by the sun setting, amazed by something as simple as a sunset. I took a deep breath of that fresh air rolling over us, my body relaxing a little.

                I parked and understanding came over Silas as we got out of the car and walked the trail together, the sound of the waterfall coming closer and closer. When we emerged in front of it, I looked around to make sure it was just the two of us here.

                "Swimming and stars. I thought you might like that," I said.

                He just stared at me for a moment before finally speaking. "Why? Why do you care if I like it or not?"

                I turned to face the waterfall, my eyes tracing the flow of the water. "I'm so used to all of this. To swimming at the base of waterfalls and watching the stars and just experiencing nature so closely. I forget other people don't have that luxury. I want to share it with everyone I can."

                "It ain't that special. Stars are everywhere," Silas said, but he was watching the water flow too.

                "Ray said you had never seen a waterfall before he took you to Niagara Falls," I said. "Now you can see one whenever you want."

                He went to the edge of the water and poked his toe in. "You shouldn't care, though. We ain't friends."

                "We're not enemies, either," I said. "There's no harm in showing someone something if you think they'd enjoy it."

                "Well, we're here. Might as well," he said, tugging his tank top off and lowering himself into the water.

                I pulled my shirt off, picking his tank top up and setting both shirts down a safe distance from the water. I got in, shivering as my body adjusted to the cool water.

                Silas swam close to the waterfall, shaking his hair out of his face as the water splashed him. He stared up at it, hesitantly reaching an arm out into the falling water.

                It washed over his arm, hitting the rest of his body as it cascaded down. I swam near him, giving him his space as he interacted with the world. His eyes were wide with amazement, his body slightly leaning back to avoid the full force of the waterfall.

                "Silas," I said after a few minutes, swimming up next to him. I held my hand out to him. "Let me show you something."

                He eyed my hand, and I was positive he wasn't going to take it. But then he reached out, grasping my wrist and nodding. Close enough.

                "Hold your breath," I said, and he did so. I held mine and tugged him through the waterfall, both of us keeping our hold on each other so we wouldn't slip under the surface with the force of the water hitting us.

                We emerged on the other side and let go of each other. We both pushed our hair out of our faces, looking at the little gathering of rocks behind the waterfall.

                It was a small, isolated area, cut off from the rest of the world by the curtain of water continually falling over it. I sat on one of the rocks, and Silas came over to sit next to me.

                "We grew up swimming here. Me, Akira, and Jack. Our parents would bring us all the time. My parents liked to come have picnics here, and then they'd take me swimming. My dad would hold my hand when we'd go under the waterfall to sit here," I said, raising my voice so he could hear me over the sound of the water. "This has always been a happy place for me. Did you ever have a place like that?"

                He watched the waterfall and slowly shook his head. "Nah. No place like this where I come from."

                "What did you and your friends do growing up?" I asked.

                He shrugged. "We grew up. That's all there was to focus on. No time to play around." He paused, looking down at his hands where they rested in his lap. "Well, actually, we used to play in this kid's yard. Had a fence and an old hoop, so we'd play basketball. At least for a while."

                "Why'd you stop?" I asked.

                "We accidentally hit the ball over the fence. His neighbor stabbed it and threw it back. Hard to play without a ball. He got his hands on another one, but the guy he stole it from broke his arm a week later," Silas said. "It wasn't worth it anymore."

                I didn't want to push him or ask him anything personal, so I just nodded, and the two of us returned to watching the waterfall. It didn't surprise me he'd grown up around violence like that, but it didn't change the way I saw him now, either.

                I looked at the waterfall, remembering the date I'd gone on with Roan here. He'd surprised me, picking me up in the afternoon without warning. He'd taken us here, having picked up food from my favorite restaurant. So we'd sat and ate and swam and kissed and laughed. He'd hugged me tightly as the sun set, telling me he loved me and he was glad I'd had a good time.

                I clasped my hands together tightly. I'd done the right thing for both of us. Those days had passed. Dates went from carefree to carefully maneuvered to avoid a fight. Things hadn't gotten so bad between us that we could never have a civil conversation again, but if we'd stayed together, that easily could've happened.

                "You're off tonight," Silas said, finally looking at me.

                I just gave a weak smile, not wanting to burden him with my problems. "I just needed some fresh air and some nice sights, I guess. I figured you could use more of that, too."

                He stood up, getting back in the water. "Can't see the stars from here."

                I got up and held my arm out to him. He grabbed my elbow this time and the two of us trudged back through the waterfall and out the other side.

                It had grown dark outside, and the stars shimmered over us brilliantly. Silas released my elbow and allowed himself to float on his back, looking up at them. I copied him, the water moving us lazily around as we took in the sight.

                "How do you know so much about the stars?" he asked.

                "My parents," I said. "They always liked to take me outside and teach me about the stars. Sometimes we'd have a little bonfire with s'mores and my dad would tell me all about the constellations."

                "Your parents, huh? Ray didn't know any of that shit about stars," Silas said.

                "I'm sure he's taught you plenty of other things. If I asked my dad to teach me proper workout techniques, he'd yank his hearing aids out and claim he couldn't hear my question. People have things they know and things they don't," I said.

                "Ray knows a lot. He was a marine, so he's been to all sorts of places," Silas said. "He tells me about them, sometimes. You ever traveled much?"

                "Yea, we've traveled around a bit. Other states mostly, but we've also been to Canada. I'd like to travel outside of America and see other countries," I said, thinking again of how Roan just didn't fit into that dream of mine. "I want to work during college so I have money saved up to travel when I graduate. Maybe do a semester abroad somewhere."

                "I want to go somewhere by the ocean," he said. "I want to go snorkeling."

                "You could start off with snorkeling and work your way up to diving. That would be fun," I said.

                Silas looked over at me a little surprised. "What, you ain't gonna laugh at me for wanting to snorkel?"

                "Why would I?" I asked in confusion. "The ocean is fascinating. Why would I laugh at you for wanting to explore it?"

                "You're a weird guy," he said, shaking his head a little and turning to look back up at the stars.

                I frowned, though. Had someone laughed at him before for saying it? It made me so upset to know that people expected to be laughed at for their dreams.

                That's why I was always grateful to my parents. When I told them I wanted to be an adventurer as a child, they didn't laugh or tell me I needed to be realistic. They asked me where I was going to adventure to first.

                I wanted to be like my parents. I wanted to encourage people. I wanted Silas to feel comfortable saying things like that without expecting to be made fun of.

                "Hey, Silas, you like the water a lot, right? Do you have a favorite marine creature?" I asked.

                "I like...sharks," he said, speaking slowly, waiting for me to start laughing. I didn't laugh, though. I just nodded at him. "We really don't know that much about 'em. I just, y'know, I think they're interesting."

                "Oh, I watched this really interesting documentary about the New Jersey shark attacks of 1916! I can't remember the name of it, but I'll look it up and text it to you when I get home," I said. "There's also a good two-part documentary on the behavior of sharks that I can send you the name of."

                "Sure," he said, suddenly sounding awkward.

                I turned my head to look at him, but he was still looking at the stars. I frowned to myself, realizing that this kind of awkwardness probably meant he wasn't used to people encouraging his interests.

                "Are you doing anything tomorrow?" I asked.

                He shrugged, which caused him to have to readjust before his body stopped floating on the water. "Don't know."

                "Let's watch Jaws tomorrow night. It's been a while since I've seen it. Oh, we can watch Jaws and then watch that New Jersey shark attack documentary I was telling you about! Jaws wouldn't have been written if that string of attacks never occurred," I said.

                Silas laid there for a few moments, body rocking on the water. "Yea, I guess. Only if I ain't busy."

                "Just text me and let me know. I think it'll be really fun," I said.

                It would make me feel better to make someone else happy. It was mutually beneficial for the two of us. Plus, who didn't love to watch Jaws?

                "If I'm not busy, we can watch at Ray's. He's got this good setup for movies," Silas said.

                "Sounds good to me. I'll get us some snacks before I head over," I said. "Any snack requests?"

                "Those Reese's pieces candies," he said.

                I laughed. "Sure, I'll get a few packs of those."

                "If you forget them, I ain't letting you into the house," Silas warned.

                "Calm down, I'll have plenty of them," I assured.

                "You better." He was trying to hide a smile, but I caught the faintest glint of it as he turned his head away from me.

                The two of us floated there, watching the stars. Silas hesitantly pointed out the big and little dipper, looking pleased when I told him he'd gotten it right.

                As it got later, the two of us swam around, the water refreshing now that we'd adjusted to its temperature. Silas seemed at ease, diving under the water and coming back up to look at the stars. We didn't talk much, but Silas seemed more comfortable that way, so I didn't try to strike up conversation. I grabbed my phone at one point, taking another picture of us with the waterfall and the stars in the background. I wanted Silas to be able to look back on nights like this and remember his own fascination at the sights around him.

                Eventually though, the two of us climbed out of the water. We grabbed our shirts and started the walk back to the car.

                Silas shivered a little. "Did you bring a towel or something?"

                "I did, but I left them in my car," I said. "I wasn't trying to ruin my nice car seats."

                We reached the car after a little, and I opened the back door to get the towels. When I held one out to Silas, he didn't notice. Instead, he was too busy looking up at the sky.

                But then he noticed me and he took the towel, wrapping it around his waist and climbing in the car. I got in, heading back towards Silas's house. I rolled the windows down for us, Silas's gaze fixed on the stars again as I drove. We didn't put any music on or talk; we just enjoyed the quiet of the night.

                I pulled into Silas's driveway, surprised that there was a light on in the living room. Silas rolled his eyes.

                "He always does that. Waste of his time. He should just go to sleep," Silas grumbled, pulling his tank top back on.

                "He's probably just staying up to make sure you come home safe. My mom..." I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed a little. "Well, she tries to stay up, but she usually falls asleep and just wakes up when she hears me coming back in."

                Silas slipped out of the car. He paused with his hand on the door, ready to shut it.

                "Text me about tomorrow. I've got Jaws on DVD, and I'll download that documentary," I said.

                "Sure. Night," he mumbled, shutting the door and hurrying into the house before I could say anything else.

                I smiled, feeling a lot better after that. I backed out of his driveway, hoping he felt as good about tonight as I did.

                These were the things that made me happy. Teaching other people about things that fascinated me, and letting them teach me about things that fascinated them. Silas might be uncomfortable with it all right now, but hopefully he'd learn that I wouldn't make fun of his dreams and interests.

                If he was free, then tomorrow could be a lot of fun, and a good chance for us to get to know each other better. I wanted to get to know Silas better, maybe even strike up a friendship with him. Tomorrow would be my best chance at doing that, so as I drove home, I mentally planned how to make it a great night.

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A.N.- False alarm, I panicked myself so much over how behind I was that I speed wrote some new chapters to catch back up, so regular updates are back!