Constellation

“That one over there is Aquarius,” she said as her finger traced along the outline of the infamous water bearer. “It’s one of the first ones I learned since it’s my zodiac sign.”

“Really?” he asked as his brown eyes wandered over to her. “I’m a Virgo, do you know where that one is?”

Her eyes scanned the night sky in search of the virgin, which she found with ease. “There it is,” she announced, her finger trailing along the stick-figured body in the sky.

“Wow, you’re really good at this,” Logan remarked as he folded an arm behind his head.

“Well, when I was little, my mom bought me a telescope, and we’d spend hours at night just staring through that telescope and trying to find everything in the little constellation book. It’s a lot easier to see them out in the country. The sky is so much clearer there.”

He could detect the tug of homesickness in Kandi’s words. Though she would never admit it, he could tell she missed her home. There was something about being out here in the city, something about being responsible for so many things at such a young age, that sudden thrust into adulthood, that made her long for a simpler time. A time before she had become this thing that she was now: a creature in the nature documentary that was young Hollywood. With so many eyes and ears tuned into what she was wearing, where she was going, who she was doing what with, Kandi could feel herself begin to cave under the pressure.

But Logan understood how she felt; that same pressure weighed him down, and neither of them could really shake it.

But if they weren’t both out here, living some farfetched celluloid dream, they never would’ve met each other. The world works in mysterious ways.

In the months that passed, the rooftop of their apartment complex had become their own little paradise, an escape from the bright lights and traffic below. It wasn’t much, just a faded patchwork quilt, a couple bottles of Mountain Dew, and a canopy of stars, but it was exactly what they needed.

“The only one I really know are the two dippers and Orion’s belt,” Logan chuckled, the expression accentuating the dimples in his cheeks.

“Well, that’s a good start,” she laughed as she rolled over onto her side, her head propped up on her arm as she looked over at him.

It was the way that her hand rested so effortlessly on his stomach: soft but with just enough pressure. The way she didn’t feel the need to get so…made up around him anymore, completely comfortable with no makeup and her wavy hair thrown up in a messy bun, loose chestnut strands falling around her face, that was what he found to be the most beautiful.

Logan rose up off of his back, letting his body weight rest against his palm as he leaned towards her, close enough to feel the warmth of her breath against his fair skin.

“I love you,” he spoke softly, and though he was only seventeen, he knew his feelings were real.

She was his summer sun, his autumn moon, his Cassiopeia shining in the night sky.

“I love you too, Logan,” she said as her lips curled up in a smile against his, arms slung around his neck, pulling him closer.

His lips strayed from her smile to the corner of her lips, kissing softly before drifting upwards to the tip of her nose then the middle of her forehead. Kandi couldn’t help but giggle at the sensation of the brush of his lips against her skin, causing him to laugh slightly along with her.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked between breaths, staring into her deep brown eyes.

“I’m sorry, it tickles,” she mumbled, tilting her head back before her giggles erupted from her chest again.

He stared at her, eyebrows raised, a slight smirk on his lips, and she took a deep breath, collecting herself before collapsing back onto the quilt, pulling Logan down with her.

Their lips melted into one another, her tongue delicately probing along the roof of his mouth before he broke away. His kisses traversed along her jaw, lips sucking at her pulse for a moment before continuing down her neck. Her fingers tugged at the short espresso tufts of hair at the nape of his neck as his lips played connect-the-dots along the freckles on her shoulder, her own personal constellation.

As their lungs expanded and collapsed, forcing heavy breaths past their lips, her fingers dug into his shoulders, one hand stroking down his stomach, fumbling with the button on his shorts. Logan could feel the lace trim of her white camisole tickle his chin as his tongue washed over her collarbone. He could feel her body begin to give beneath him, her back arch upwards towards him as their hips grinded into each other.

As Kandi pulled down his shorts, Logan pushed her top upwards towards the base of her shoulders, silently coaxing her to take it off as his lips pressed against the milky skin just above her navel. Instead of immediately giving in, the girl gripped the hem of her boyfriend’s cotton t-shirt, slowly pulling the material up his back as his brown eyes gazed up at her.

They both paused, pulling their shirts up over their heads of brown hair and letting them fall to the ground beside them.

Beneath the canopy of stars, atop a faded patchwork quilt, Kandi and Logan laid there, skin against skin, as their lips played connect-the-dots along each other’s body.