How Long Is Forever?

"How far away are the stars?" Daphne gazed into the dark sky and wondered aloud. It was a perfectly clear night in August, two weeks left of summer vacation. Her best friend, Lita, suggested stargazing in her backyard as it was the best time of the year to catch a glimpse of a shooting star. The girls stayed up until midnight and then snuck out through Lita's bedroom window to set up a blanket in her backyard.

"Ursa Major," Lita pointed to the Big Dipper above their heads, "is about 70 to 100 light years away from us."

"Okay nerd," Daphne joked.

"You asked," Lita smirked.

The girls sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, staring into the thousands of twinkling stars above them. Lita had always been fascinated with astronomy, and she knew nearly every star in the night sky.

"Okay, but what's beyond what we're looking at?" Daphne asked. She loved the night sky as much as Lita, but the whimsicality and vastness of space and the stars are what intrigued her the most. She understood that a single light year was beyond what human could travel in any lifetime. What she didn't comprehend was how her and her best friend were able to sit in a backyard in Indiana and see millions of stars that were hundreds of light years away.

"More stars?" Lita answered, "And like, more planets and galaxies and stuff. How far beyond do you mean?"

Daphne took a breath and rolled over to her side, facing Lita, "you're the smart one, Lita. Explain to me how space goes on forever."

Lita turned her head, "It just, does, Daph. Like our galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. And then there's all the other galaxies that go beyond the Milky Way. Scientists assume that the observable galaxy is approximately-"

"OMG, nevermind. I don't want a science lesson," Daphne cut her off. "School doesn't start up for another two weeks."

Lita looked back up at the stars, her hands resting behind her blonde ponytail. She knew that Daphne didn't like science or math. In fact, she spent nearly half of their last semester ditching their chemistry class.

"There's no science in fashion design, Lita."

"Yeah, but you need to graduate high school in order to get into fashion school, Daph."

Daphne pointed up to the sky again, "dude, I know you have the science brain, but you can't seriously sit here and look at like a thousand little diamonds in the sky and only think of a physics equation."

"Daphne, it's not just physics. It's a combination of-"

"Or whatever it is. But just look at how beautiful the sky is right now. It's like a work of art that changes every night. Always something new to find," Daphne continued.

"I know, Daph. That's why I like studying it," Lita tells her.

"You need to know how everything works?" Daphne asked.

"To a point, yeah. You know this. I like understanding things, it makes me less anxious."

"It makes you less anxious knowing that the sun is going to blow up in like a million years?"

"Oh so you do listen in science class?"

"Yeah sometimes," Daphne shrugged.

"And that actually won't happen for like, five billion years," Lita corrected.

Daphne looked back over to Lita, "that's an inconceivable amount of time. How does one even calculate that?"

"A lot of math, for one."

"Will we still be best friends in five billion years?" Daphne asked. Lita turned to look at her again, the combination of Lita's dim porch light and the moon shining on Daphne's face.

Daphne and Lita had known each other since the first day of Kindergarten, and every day since they had been self-proclaimed 'best friends forever and ever.' They told each other everything, every juicy secret, and shared every good and bad day. Lita's parents always welcomed Daphne over, which she nearly always obliged seeing as her own parents worked demanding careers that often took them away from home. They had spent weekends together watching movies, reading fashion magazines, and going to museums; activities that piqued both their interests.

This being the summer leading into their senior year Lita had just finished sending in her applications for her dream schools.

"MIT is the goal. But Harvard would be so cool too, dude."

Daphne knew that Lita had always wanted to study at a prestigious university. It had been the topic of a lot of their conversations for years. They both knew that these goals meant that it would separate them.

"If you just applied yourself then you could get into an Ivy League school, too. You're so smart, Daphne, you just blow off class and homework to draw and sew and hang around whatever boy has caught your attention this month."

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want to go to an Ivy?"

It was one of their biggest fights, they didn't talk for almost a week. They made up when Daphne's dad told her he'd be out of town for her 18th birthday.

"He promised he wouldn't leave this time," Daphne sobbed into Lita's pillows.

Daphne noticed Lita studying her face in the starlight, knowing her question had stunned Lita. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her to ask Lita inconceivable questions about the universe, and she gets a sense of pride when she leaves the future astrophysicist speechless.

"In five billion years?" Lita repeated.

"Yeah, when we're like celestial angels living among the planets centuries from now?" Daphne added.

"Is that what you think the stars are?"

"Sure, why not? They don't twinkle for no reason."

"Well, they look like they're twinkling because of the Earth's atmosphere."

"Can you extend your disbelief for more than three seconds? I know scientists have studied this stuff for years but I also know that there's literally so much they do not know about space."

"Daphne, I don't have the imagination you do." Lita says.

"So you think when we die that'll be the end of our friendship? That there's no afterlife or other universe where we keep living and get to be friends still? Like in the sky or beneath the ocean or among the stars and clouds?"

"Don't bring the ocean into this."

"I'm serious, Lita."

"Dude, of course we're gonna be friends forever." Lita assured. "Is this about me submitting my apps today?"

"But how long is forever to you?"

Lita paused again, looking deep into Daphne's hazel eyes. She had never believed in an afterlife of any kind. She believed you had one life to live and to make the most of it.

But she could see how passionate Daphne was about this.

"Until every star in the sky no longer twinkles, Daphne. That's what it means to me."

Daphne looked back up to the stars, "you're just saying that to make me feel better."

Lita turned her glance back to the sky as well, "no. I mean it."

They sat in silence for a moment, both pondering the meaning of forever.

"Daphne," Lita began.

"Yeah?"

"The stars will never stop twinkling."