“When I was younger, I said to myself, ‘If there was ever a house just like this one, in some other part of the world, I wonder if there was a little girl inside who couldn’t seem to leave.’ And it wouldn’t be because she wasn’t able to leave, but it would be because she didn’t want to leave unless she was going somewhere. And I wonder if her and I would get along, I wonder if we would have things to talk about. Perhaps we would only need each other and we wouldn’t worry about what people thought of us. I imagine that girl as being very tall with very long arms and red hair and witching blue eyes.”

“Witching?”

“Blindingly.”

“You read way too much. I don’t think witching is even used anymore. At least not like that.”

“We should go on an adventure then. That would be much better than a book.”

“Well, where do’ya wanna go?”

“Paris.”

“You speak French?”

“Ah, that never stopped the imperialists.”

“Good one. But still, Paris is too far away. I don’t have that kind of money, do you?”

“I just want to go away. Where? Who cares?”

“Well let’s go away to the backyard and have a cigarette.”

In the yard, they sat with dirt-stained feet in the cool, damp grass and stared at what looked like vanilla sprinkles decorating the coal sky. The porch light set a creamy yellow, attracting a mix of thick mosquitoes, tameless June bugs and clumsy moths.

“What a night.” There was a glance at Greta, whose eyes were set on the sky. Leaning close to her jaw, it was easier to see how it curved slowly towards her earlobe. Greta pretended not to notice and closed her eyes, trying to remember where each of the stars were placed. A sensation of warmth overwhelmed the side of her jaw and began to inch closer to her, she felt a hand rest against the side of her face and a turn. Once they stopped, Greta fell to the grass completely, moving her eyes to the stars again and thinking of how that kiss must’ve come out of a book. There was no need for an apology, or an explanation or admittance of guilt, for it all felt completely natural and like an adventure outside of the house.