The Science of Growing Apart

20- Dream

"So like I was saying," Casey said in his nasally seventeen year old voice. "The mesophyll of these leaves is really intricate. There's so many more layers inside of that layer. For example, you have the palisade mesophyll, spongy mesophyll, and they all work together to create photosynthesis."

I watched his eyes glow with the brightest passion I'd ever seen. His face glowed a light pink as his words flew out of his mouth in such a rapid pace that I wasn't sure he was even breathing anymore. I didn't care about the composure of a leaf, but I could listen to him talk about it forever.

We were sitting together on a park bench outside of the Botanical Gardens eating lunch and he was so enamored with a new type of leaf on display that it kickstarted this entire excited rant.

"Is this boring, Josie?" he asked me after he'd run out of fun facts to spew out.

I shook my head, taking a bite of the street corn we'd gotten from a food truck by the street. "I'm not bored. Tell me, Casey, why do leaves change color in the fall?"

I leaned back on the bench, staring up at the sky as his voice lulled me into a sense of deep comfort that I'd never known before. "Basically, chlorophyll starts breaking down, they stop producing food. It's actually really interesting, because at the same time, the tree seals the cut when a leaf starts detaching from its base, so that when the leaf is finally blown off by the wind or falls from its own weight, it leaves behind a leaf scar."

"A leaf scar," I repeated, returning my gaze to his bright blue eyes. I could stare at those eyes all day long. His school was so far away from where I lived that I didn't get to see him as much as I'd like, so I stared as much as I could to really absorb as much of him as I could. "So the tree never forgets its leaves. That's sweet."

"It's just science," he said with a shrug.

A gust of wind blew passed us, ruffling his shaggy blond hair. I was suddenly jealous of the wind for getting to play in those soft tresses like I wanted to do so badly. "I think it's poetic. No matter how far away the leaf goes, it'll always be a part of the tree."

"Because a special layer of cells develops and gradually severs the tissues that support the leaf."

I started to laugh, because he clearly could not see the leaf and the tree in anything other than its literal form. It was that adorable obliviousness that I kind of loved about him, but it could also be somewhat frustrating sometimes. Like when I would try to tell him how I felt and he could stumble all the way around the point without actually getting it. I'd tried being blunt about it. One time, I just said, "Casey, I like you" and I held my breath until he smiled at me and said, "Yeah, I know that, Josie. We're best friends. I like you too."

"What else do you want to know?" Casey asked me, taking a bite of the street corn.

I closed my eyes to appreciate the smell of his musky cologne when he leaned toward me to get to the corn, but when I opened my eyes again, the breezy sky was gone and I was staring at the ceiling of my bedroom.

"Casey?" I started looking around for him and he quickly appeared beside me, only he was twenty-four year old Casey now, muscular and sweaty with a towel wrapped around his hip bones.

"What do you want to know?" he repeated the question in his deep, smooth grown up voice as he rolled his body on top of mine.

"I... I..." I stammered out, not really sure how to answer that question because we obviously weren't talking about leaves anymore.

He wrapped his hand around one of my wrists and placed it on his hard stomach. "You want to know what this feels like?"

It's a dream, and I couldn't actually feel his skin, but I could see my hand being moved along the surface until I got to his buff shoulder. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest and I'd never felt so turned on in my entire life. I'd never wanted anything more.