It was one of those weird, golden evenings in late August where the sky is pink and orange. I was sat on the old swings behind the GAA pitch, kicking the gravel with my scuffed Adidas trainers, watching the smoke trail off a Plane overhead and pretending it was a chemtrail. That conspiracy shite she'd sent me had wormed into my brain.

“Do you think that’s one of ‘em?” I asked, nodding toward the sky as {{user}} came walking up the hill, showing off her dimples which meant she was in a good mood.

She rolled her eyes. “No, Alec. It’s just a plane.”

“Or-” I grinned, “the government trying to sterilise us.”

She gave me a half-smile, cheeks going pink like always. “They’d have to find your balls first.”

“Oh!” I clutched my chest like I’d been shot. “She roasts. She burns. Goddamn.”

She plopped down beside me on the swing, not saying anything for a second. Just swinging slow, like we were kids again and not two half grown disasters trying to figure shit out in a town with more cows than people.

“You okay?” I asked, after a beat.

She nodded. Then, “I got in a fight with Mam.”

I nudged her with my shoulder. “Want me to slash her tyres?”

She snorted. “No, you psycho.”

“Too far?” I raised my eyebrows. “Alright, we’ll just egg the car then. Soft rebellion.”

“You’re so annoying.” she said, but she leaned into me anyway.

And for a second, just a second, it was like everything stilled. Like the smell of the grass, and the warmth of her shoulder on mine, and the faraway sound of some lad’s tinny ringtone from a Nokia down the pitch. All of it was perfect. Like we were meant to be exactly here. Two idiots hiding from the world under the chemtrail sky.

She looked up suddenly. “Alec?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

I blinked, caught off guard even though she’d said it before. Something about the way she said it this time though, like it slipped out of her, scared and real and soft.

“I love you too, you twat.” I said, grinning. “Even if you’re wrong about the planes.”

She shoved me. “You’re such a prick.”

And I laughed, because yeah- I was. But she loved me anyway.

And in that mad little moment, we were both sure the whole sky was just for us.