𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆

-3-

I never wanted to leave this moment, and I was thoroughly convinced that this was all a dream. Just a few steps away from me was my ex-crush of many years, and now, my boyfriend. I can't help but stare, trace every line of Craig's face, memorize every freckle, and imprint onto my soul how his eyes shifted and danced in the setting sun, their beauty comparable to that of gemstones.

I'm too focused on his features, finally allowing myself to stare at Craig, always feeling too weird to do so before the events of tonight, that I don't notice when he begins talking, rather, I see his mouth moving and zone back in just in time for Craig to say, "Kenny, you're gonna miss the sunset just staring at me the whole time, look."

Willing to do whatever Craig asked of me, even if it meant following him to the ends of the earth, I tear my eyes from his face to gaze at the sun once more. "You're still prettier," I declare after a few minutes of silence.

I glance over to Craig for his reaction, and despite the ever dimming sun and its light, I swear I can see his face flush and he blocks my view of him with a middle finger shoved in my face.

"Oh what's the matter? Is the Craig Tucker flustered? And it was Kenny McCormick's doing? I'm truly shocked," I quipped, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

He drops the middle finger but still hides his face, pretending to wipe his nose, only making his voice more nasally when he murmurs, "Oh shut up."

"Make me," I respond, staring him down with a challenging look in my eyes. Craig's known to be insulting, and I can't back down at a mere 'shut up'. What kind of a coward would I be then?

Instead of some clever comeback or stupid attempt at a joke like I was hoping for, Craig turns his head then leans down just enough to close the gap between our lips again as they connect for the second time tonight. And to think I was missing out on this for years all because there 'was never a good opportunity' to talk to Craig about it. Compared to our first kiss, this one lasts for an eternity, and when we part, I let out a sigh full of tension that melted away with Craig's kiss.

We lean our foreheads together for a minute and just stand there, he grabs my hands and smiles, the warmth of our bodies sharing in the cold. I think this is the happiest I've ever seen Craig, and I couldn't be more in love with him.

"Well," Craig sighs, stepping away and looking back to the horizon, "with the sun set, we can officially start stargazing."

I look up to the sky in amazement at just how many stars there were, most of them tended to be hidden by the light pollution in town, but up in the mountains, it was clearly a different story. Behind me, Craig unlatches the door to the truck bed with a thump, and I turn to see him pulling out a stack of blankets from the backseat. I dash over to help him, suddenly transported to those childhood days with the guys, helping Stan's mom unload groceries but always turning it into a competition.

"What can I do, hun?"

Craig hands me the blankets he was holding and directs me to spread them out over the bed of the truck. So that's what I did while he turned back to the backseat to grab a stack of pillows he's apparently brought with him as well.

"All right, make yourself comfortable, McCormick, we're going to be out here for a while." Craig says, haphazardly throwing the pillows down, only to fix them a second later.

"Is that so? You sure you won't freeze first?" I tease.

"That's what you and the blankets are for. Besides, it's your first night here, you have to stargaze. It adds to the beauty of this place. Although, you do that yourself. Now sit, nerd." As he talks, Craig pats the spot beside him in the truck's bed, already grabbing a blanket to wrap himself in.

Another blush spreads across my checks as I comply, climbing into the truck bed and sitting cross-legged next to Craig. He hands me a blanket as I lean against the cab of the truck, and once I'm settled, I feel a weight on my shoulder, so I look down to see the top of Craig's blue hat as he rests against me, grabbing my arm and pulling himself closer.

"How are you meant to see the stars if you're leaning on me the whole time, goof?"

"Oh, so we're complaining now?" He responds, continuing, "I can see them perfectly fine where I am, and the whole point of stargazing was for you to see the stars, not me. Is it such a crime that I want to be comfortable and lean on my boyfriend?"

"Well when you put it that way..." I trail off, never really complaining in the first place, more distracted by how my heart fluttered at being called 'boyfriend' than concerned with keeping up this banter.

Truth be told, I didn't care all that much about the stars, who cares about balls of flaming gas anyway? Well, Craig did, so I'd start caring for him. During one of the few and far between moments where I talked with Craig's friends, I'd learned of the infamous space rant. Apparently, Craig could talk for hours about how space worked, what constellations were where, the myths behind them, and I thought that if anyone was going to make me love space, it would be Craig.

To try and prompt one of these rants, I asked, "So, what constellations can we see? Because right now it just looks like the sky is covered in snow or dust or something."

"Well, technically, the sky, or space, which is really what you're referring to because the sky would just be Earth's atmosphere, is full of dust. Even weirder is that we are too. Ever heard the phrase 'we are made of star stuff'? It's true, because everything in the universe essentially comes from star explosions, including Earth and everything on it, so humans and plants and animals are all made from star dust, but what's worse is that the phrase can work opposite too, the stars are made of flesh'. Cool, isn't it?" His voice is fast and I'm worried he'll miss a breath and choke, but he's got a smile on his face and he's been slowly shifting off of my shoulder to talk more with his hands. I simply nod along, listening intently to every syllable that escapes his lips.

He sits up now, readjusting so that we're across from one another, and the rant resumes. "Where was I? Oh yeah, what constellations are visible? This kinda varies based on location but if I'm not mistaken, we should be able to see Andromeda and Pegasus - Pegasus is really just a big square though- oh, and Perseus. That one is cool because it goes with the Greek myth pretty well, seeing as Perseus can be seen holding the head of Medusa. Of course, it's a shape drawn based on stars so it's a little... we'll say iffy, but still, they're really neat!"

The more he talks, the wider his smile grows, and I can't help but smile back at the most adorable boy sitting across from me in the bed of his dad's truck. Almost an instinct, I whisper, "I love you."

This seems to push Craig's happiness over the edge, and he does a little kinda shake of his hands, something I'd only seen him do from afar. "I love you too, Kenny," Craig says, the words flowing so naturally from his mouth that I nearly do the same hand flaps out of joy. Instead, I move over to where Craig is sat now and I kiss him, resting my hand on the back of his neck, ever so slightly messing with the hair that sticks out of his hat while he pushes my hood down so he can card his fingers through my hair.

I never wanted our lips to part, but when the kiss ends, we're gasping for air. The atmosphere around us is heavy with the affection felt dripping from our kiss, and to prevent this from turning into a makeout session in the freezing temperatures, I say with a grin, "Crikey."

Craig lightly shoves me away, but he's giggling, so I shove him back then move to rest my head on his shoulder, pulling a nearby blanket around the both of us. Sure, blankets loosely wrapped around two people weren't the best for warmth, but we were comfortable. I matched my breathing to Craig's, felt his heart beat, a little fast from the kiss but still steady, and nothing else in the world mattered in that quiet moment but him and I.