Night Swimming at the Quarry Lake

On the hottest night of July, my friends and I drove out to the old quarry lake after midnight. The water was warm on top and cold underneath, and the sky was full of stars.

We floated on our backs in a loose circle, holding hands so we wouldn't drift apart, and nobody said anything for a long time. Fireflies blinked along the shore. Somebody's phone was playing old Fleetwood Mac very quietly from the beach towel pile.

Then Kenji said, "Are we going to remember this when we're old?" and Lila said, "That's why we're doing it." We all laughed and splashed each other.

I'm twenty-six. I have a job and a lease and a dentist. But for an hour that night, I was just a person floating under the stars with people I love, which felt like the whole point of being alive.