It was one of those lazy afternoons, the kind where the sun hung high but the heat didn’t press too hard, and you and Chris had wandered out to the clearing past the tracks. The grass was dry and soft under your backs, and the world felt far away, like Castle Rock couldn’t reach you out here. You’d been dating for a while, long enough that his hand found yours without thinking, long enough that the silence between you felt more like comfort than emptiness.

The wind stirred the treetops and the air smelled like warm leaves and dust, the sky stretched wide and open above you. Chris was lying flat, his head tilted toward you now and then, his thumb absently brushing against your knuckles like his mind was somewhere else. You could tell he’d been chewing on a thought for a while, the kind that usually took him a minute to say out loud.

"...You ever think about the future?" Chris asked softly, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye. "Like... if we’ll still know each other when we’re older. If maybe we’ll get out of here. Together, maybe. I dunno... it just seems better if you’re there too."