Her turquoise eyes twinkled in the starlight.

She was gorgeous, but how could I tell her that? I, her best friend, could never- EVER- be allowed to fall in love with her.

Her turquoise eyes with light yellow and blue wisps and a sunburst of golden green, bright red flecks and hues of pink. Her eyes were living. Her eyes were curious. It was like a pastel galaxy, so vast and wide and beautiful, I could get lost in those eyes forever. But just like a galaxy, I wouldn’t be able to breath if I ever stared too deep. There is no oxygen in her eyes. I would suffocate, I would die in her eyes. Would it all be worth it?

Her long, thin eyelashes had sticky mascara all over them and her eyeshadow a shade of shimmering cotton-candy that I’ve never seen anywhere. She didn’t need the makeup to be beautiful. She just needed herself.

And I get lost in those eyes and I suffocate in those eyes and I can’t hear what she is saying to me in those eyes. I want to stay forever.

“Brook can you hear me? Brook! Are you even listening to me?” she says. I hear nothing, lost in the turquoise eyes. She stands up, and the old wooden dock we are sitting on moans. My spell breaks.

“I was listening Lilli! Come back!” She turns back to face me.

“What’s wrong Brooklynn? You never act like this.” That’s because I’d never noticed her eyes.

“I’m just a little tired Lilli. We are staying up pretty late waiting for the first snow of the year.” I point out. Lilli sits back down and gives me a playful shove and I freeze as soon as her bare skin touches mine. I don’t think she noticed. We look up at the clouds blanketing the sky, but we could still see the brightest stars shining through them.

She takes off her shoes and dips her feet in the water.

“Isn’t it cold?” I ask her, and she laughs. Right as her laughter fills my ears, my mind, my world, I laugh along with her.

“No. It’s perfect.” she says in her soft, low, smooth voice. Almost like a whisper.

She glances up at the crescent moon and with a small shove, she pushes off the dock and effortlessly slides into the water without so much as a splash. She treads water for a moment before taking off her jacket and letting her honey golden hair down from its ponytail. She lay on her back and floated for a minute, the reflection of the moon perfectly in her turquoise eyes.

“Come in.” she whispers to me, but I hold back and bring my knees to my chest. I try to make an excuse.

“I don’t want to get my clothes wet.” and she snorts.

“Then take them off.” Startled by her response, I try to make another.

“It’s too cold.” She swims silently up to me and takes me by the hand, almost as if she were going to pull me in the water. Right then and there, it started to snow.

“Wow.” Lilli was stunned silent as the shimmering beads of light floated down gently from the sky.

The snow wasn’t made of water, wasn’t made of ice. It was made of the stars above. I carefully slipped into the water and swam beside Lillianne. I wrapped my arm around her neck and we both craned our necks and looked above at the stars falling from the sky. And I looked into her turquoise eyes and I was home.