Ginette suddenly shivered. Not from the cold. But because her natural state had been disrupted and she had too much energy and nowhere to put it. Like when a charged particle from the sun collides with an atom in the Earth’s atmosphere and disrupts its natural state. The energy it creates has to be manifested in some way. In the case of an atom, as light. In the case of Ginette, as a shiver.

“You okay?” asked Pete.

“Yeah.” Ginette shivered again. She felt depleted—but exhilarated. And like she had just been revived from a deep sleep.

“Are you cold? Do you wanna go?”

“No, no, I just wanna sit. Here. Like this. Close.” She realized that she wasn’t actually sitting close to Pete at all. So she slid closer to him.

And they sat in the stillness and the silence. And the silence no longer seemed like it was full of sound. And the stillness no longer seemed like it was full of motion.

And neither of them knew what to say. Maybe because so much had just been said.

And for a while neither of them knew what to do.

Until Ginette decided that she wanted to be closer to Pete. So she slid a little closer to him and said, “I feel so close to you tonight.”

“I’m glad,” laughed Pete. He felt close to her, too.

“It’s nice to be close,” continued Ginette. “Like we are.”

“Yeah,” agreed Pete.

Ginette slid closer to Pete. And they both chuckled as she did.

And then she slid closer to him again. And Pete chuckled with her as she did.

And then she slid closer to him again. Until she was sitting right next to him.

And then Pete lifted his arm and put it around Ginette and pulled her in even closer to him.

And Ginette tucked herself into Pete’s long torso and leaned her head on his shoulder, chuckling some more as she did so.

“What?” asked Pete.

“This is just … really nice.”

“Yeah. It is.”

Ginette laughed a funny little laugh. And her heart raced.

And Pete laughed a funny little laugh back. And his heart raced.

And then their hearts stopped racing and they felt a calm like no calm they had ever experienced.

And Ginette took Pete’s hand in both of hers. And held it.

And they sat in silence and took in the night sky.

And enjoyed the serenity.

And Ginette wondered if maybe this was the great thing that she felt like she was about to experience. Because it sure was great.

After a few of the best moments either of them had ever experienced, Ginette said, “You know, right now, I think I’m about as close to you as I could possibly be.”

And she laughed a little, wondering why she had said such a thing, and looked up and out at the night sky.

And Pete thought about what Ginette had just said—that she was as close to him as she could possibly be.