The early stars were like pinpricks in the twilight. The March weather had been lenient enough for Mattie and Gordie to not have to wear jackets that evening as they laid on a blanket on a secluded hilltop, and it had been a nice change from the practically sub-zero temperatures they'd endured that winter. But, the weather had turned cold and biting as the stars began to appear. They didn't mind. They were using each other for warmth.

"I'm hungry," Mattie whined.

"You're always hungry," he said back, equally as irritable. "I don't see why you won't just let me take you home. It's cold."

"Because I love you!" she giggled. "And we're spending quality time and you should be loving it too."

"Of course I am," he said, and snuck a kiss. He breathed in the sweet smell of her mane of hair.

Curling her legs around his, she said, "I wonder what time it is."

"Is there somewhere you need to be?" he asked, kissing the hollow of her neck.

"Only right here," she replied cheerfully. She loved how the moonlight fell on the apples of his cheeks and she loved the light that it sparked in his eyes. Looking at him, she suddenly felt ugly. She was small and inferior sitting next to this perfect boy. She didn't understand why he wanted to be there with her. "Gordie?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you here?"

Taken back by the question and by the strange sound in her voice, he said, "Because you are."

"But why did you pick me?"

"Because you're special," he said, smiling. "You think I'm better than you or something?"

She paused to think. "When up next to you, yes."

"Mattie," he exclaimed softly. "That's crap."

"I don't think I'm good enough for you sometimes," she muttered.

"Well stop that," he said, a worried laugh in his voice. "You're perfect to me."

Smiling deeply, she rested her forehead against his and whispered, "Thank you, Gordie."

"Is something worrying you?" he wondered, concerned. He drew her closer so that she fit just right in his arms.

With her cheek against his chest, she could feel the rise and fall of each breath and she could hear his heart through the fabric of his shirt. "Not really. It's just that sometimes I look at you, and you're just so overwhelmingly…perfect, I guess. And I just wonder why you want to be with someone so flawed."

"Mattie," he said. "Nobody's perfect, especially not me. But me and you together…that's perfection."

It was the writer in him that came up with the things he said, and she loved him for it. Because he was the one person that made her feel special and worth something.

She touched the side of his face. When she spoke, he realized that her voice was as shaky as her hands were. "Gordie…"

"Huh?"

"May I make a proposal regarding tonight's activities?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes, I want to, Mattie."

"Right here?"

Right there, they became shadows under the twilight, and it was perfect.