Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

At the village square—a rectangular green surrounded by rows of shops on three sides—they head straight for the stone fountain at the center, where the shallow water is littered with pennies, glinting like stars in the moonlight. The rain has stopped now, but there’s still the memory of it in the air, which smells as damp and cool as spring. They hoist themselves onto the ledge, their legs dangling as the water burbles at their backs.

“Remember the first time we came here?” Aidan asks, shaking the bag of Skittles in his hand. His eyes are on the train station across the street, where a few people are milling around on the platform, waiting for a late ride into the city.

This time, it’s Clare’s turn to be confused. “Not really,” she says, trying to think back. They’ve sometimes wandered over as a group after grabbing a bite at Slices, but she can’t remember a specific moment with Aidan, nothing meaningful enough that it would have earned a spot on the list.

“We weren’t together yet,” Aidan says, passing her a few Skittles. “But I liked you. A lot. And Scotty had the idea to get ice cream, but he didn’t have any money—”

“Oh, yeah,” Clare says, giving him a light whack on the shoulder as it comes back to her. “So he waded in to collect a bunch of change.”

“And you started splashing him, which turned into a big water fight.”

“I totally remember that. I just forgot you were there.”

“I find that impossible to believe,” he says with a grin. “I’m completely and totally unforgettable. Not to mention the fact that—”

“Aidan,” she says, and he pauses right on the cusp of a speech.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

He laughs. “Fine,” he says. “But you always think you were the one to notice me first. Clearly I noticed you, too, though. Before we were anything.”

Clare lifts her eyes to the moon, which is bluish and nearly full, big as a spotlight and almost as bright. “Before we were anything,” she repeats, leaning back to trail her fingers through the cool water. “It seems like a long time ago.”

Aidan nods, scratching at his chin. “Hey,” he says. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“It’s okay.”

“Not really,” he says. “It’s just that my dad made me—”

“You don’t have to explain. It’s my fault. I don’t know why I’m so weird about saying it. They’re just three stupid little words, right?”

“Well,” he says with a smile, “they’re not the stupidest.”

“I don’t know,” Clare says. “I mean… I is kind of silly, right? Bringing only one letter to the table seems like a pretty weak move.”

“And how about you?” he says, laughing. “Three letters when one of them already says it all?”

But they end it there. Neither is ready to say anything about the final word, the one sandwiched between the other two, though it hovers there anyway, as hard to ignore as if it were written across the sky in blinking red lights.

Clare swirls her hand through the water once more, then pats it dry on her dress. “I just realized I forgot to get a souvenir at the bowling alley.”

“It wasn’t exactly our finest moment,” Aidan says, turning to look at her. “I’m not sure it’s something you’ll want to remember.”

“I want to remember it all,” she says.

In the distance, the sound of a train whistle cuts through the night, and a half second later the bells on the signal lights begin to chime. When the train arrives with a rush of noise, coming to a clattering halt, they watch as a few people step off, then cross through the shadows of the streetlights to their cars.

“Do you ever imagine living here?” Aidan asks, tracking the train as it pulls away again, the red lights growing more distant. “Not like we do now. But the way our parents do. Coming home on the train after work, making dinner, having a house and a yard and all that stuff. Gardening on the weekends.”

“Gardening?”

“Well, raking leaves, maybe.”

She shakes her head. “You know that’s not—”

“I know,” he says, holding up his hands. “You’re gonna be off doing something brilliant. You’ll be some kind of lawyer or banker or journalist, with this crazy apartment in a big city. You’re gonna take over the world. But after that…”

“After I take over the world?” she says with a smile. “I might be kind of tired after that.”