FALL:- BEFORE

A breeze rolls across the rooftop, ruffling the trees around us. We've been lying out here for hours, staring at the sky. There's an empty pizza box between us, along with some snacks we grabbed from the store earlier. We decided to come up here after a few episodes of Twin Peaks. His red sweatshirt is folded under his head like a pillow. I stare at him for a while. His eyes are moving around, as if he's looking for something. Eventually, he points to the right and says, "There's another one! Tell me you saw that."

"What are you talking about?"

"That star is literally blinking."

I squint at the sky. "Yeah, that's really weird."

"I'm telling you, it's a glitch."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you seen The Matrix? This is all a simulation. I just watched a video about this." Daniel pushes himself up and looks around. "See that orange cat across the street? And the houses around us with all their lights on? Nothing but code."

I take this in. "So you're saying, everything is a simulation."

"Exactly."

"Does that include us?"

"Of course not," he says. "We're the main characters." He lies back down, putting his hands behind his head. "As far as I know, you and I are the only thing that's real."

This makes me smile. We stare at the sky again, searching for more glitches in the universe. After some silence, Daniel turns his head again and stares at me. "What are you thinking about?"

I don't answer this.

"Jasmine?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you sad she's leaving?"

I think about this. "No, I'm happy for her. It's what she really wanted, you know? Move out of Chicago and everything. I mean, my parents wanted her to stay home. Took a lot of convincing on her part," I explain.

"But things are really gonna be different now that she's gone."

"You still have me," Daniel says.

I smile again. "That's true."

"And we'll get out of Chicago, too," he adds, folding his arms on his stomach. "Since we're gonna be college roommates, obviously."

"Where should we go?"

"Eh, we'll talk about that later." He sighs, waving the thought away. "We still have the rest of junior year to get through. And our trip to Japan, remember?" There's an annual trip that's coordinated by the school's international club. Jasmine went last summer and loved it.

"Jasmine gave us a list of places to visit."

"I can't wait for the food," he says.

As I move my hand, my fingers graze against his. A warmth goes through me, but I keep this to myself.

"Sorry," we both say.

We lie in silence again. Then Daniel checks his phone. "It's eleven eleven. Time to make a wish."

I glance at him. "Do you actually do that?"

He shrugs. "Sometimes. Do you?"

"Never."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," I say. "Seems a bit silly, making a wish every night at the exact same time. You really think it will come true?"

"I figure it's a numbers game," Daniel says thoughtfully. "The more you put out into the universe, the more chances something happens. The challenge is having to come up with good ones, you know?"

"Wouldn't it make sense to wish for the same thing?"

"Depends if there's something you really want." He looks at me again. "What would you wish for?"

The question makes me go still. Looking at Daniel, I know exactly what my answer would be. But I look away, keeping it to myself. "I haven't thought about it."

"Yes you have. Just tell me."

"I said I don't know."

"Then I'm not telling you, either."

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