They gazed out from the hilltop, glinting sparks of tension in the warm, muggy darkness. He was pondering the constellations of street lamps and headlights below, forming a halo-ed suburban universe. There, a galaxy of lights around the high school and its football field, here a far off alien outpost at the end of a distant cul-de-sac. “It looks like a starry night today,” she said wryly from the passenger seat. She was hoping to sound joking, nonchalant, though her fingers were digging into the cracked leather, flexed and ready for rapid movement. “Should we make a wish?” The actual stars and galaxies were hiding of course behind the ever-present curtain of smog that always descended over the course of an evening and sat steady till sunrise. Most of the adults in town considered it a natural phenomenon, some quirk of physics unique to their location. Yet he’d traveled the world, and was starting to wonder…

“No wishes, let’s just go. It’s time.”

“Where?”

“I told you, somewhere we can see the stars.”

Top: Express

Skirt: Leaf & Crown

(laser cut at The Build Shop)

Shoes: Jessica Simpson

Jewelry: Boyajian Trend Gallery + Thrifted

Photography: Maya Jaycox

Styling: Dina Arrieta

Mood: Coldplay, wine, and a Star Trek hangover