One (One Universe)

“No.”
    “You know,” he says, “we don’t even really know how it works. We don’t know if we’ll be able to make it happen again.”
    I put my hand out, palm toward him, and sure enough, it buzzes with the same electric energy I felt between us when our hands swung innocently in the twilight blue, three days ago. I nod my head, look at him boldly.
    “We will,” I say.
    He puts his hand out, too, his palm facing mine, and a puff of air gusts against my palm.
    “That is incredible,” I say.
    “You know what’s incredible?” he asks. He clasps our hands together, closes his eyes, and his feet hover off the ground, even as mine are still firmly planted there.
    “How are you doing it?”
    “I don’t know,” he smiles. “There’s a buzz, like I told you, and I kind of let it…go through me. I don’t know.”
    I reach up, snag his waist with my arm, and imagine myself weightless, just like every other time I’ve ever practiced, and then I’m at eye level with him. He hugs me to him, and I grin.
    God, this feels so good. So good. The floating, of course, but most of all being smooshed up against him. His scent is so heady that it almost makes me forget everything.
    It doesn’t hurt that he’s so cute.
    We hover there, grinning at each other again, and suddenly I feel the need to make some small talk. “Are your glasses going to be okay?”
    “Oh, yeah. They got a little messed up last time.”
    Feeling bold, I unhook them from behind his ears, fold them up, and put them in the front pocket of my hoodie.
    “Thanks,” he whispers.
    I close my eyes and imagine myself as a balloon — or even something lighter and more ethereal, like a cloud. We float up, up, up, twice as fast as we did outside the cornfield, and I hold back a shriek, gasping instead.
    Elias screws his face up in concentration, and I feel it again, that bubble-like feeling around my skin, but this time it’s so tense I can feel it actively pushing air away from me. We move, staying below the treetops, but just as fast as the last time.
    But we’re only up for a couple of minutes this time before a tremble rumbles through my limbs, along with an edge of the aching pain from the day after.
    “Do you feel that too?” I say in his ear, my neck stretching to put lips right up against it. It’s the only way he’ll hear me against the roaring of the wind.
    “Yeah. We should get down.”
    How will I ever tell the difference between feeling weak and feeling the way it feels to be close to him?
    Our feet pound down on the ground, and immediately my head starts to throb. My legs feel like rubber. I double over, elbows on my knees, and then my legs give out completely. I plunk down on my bottom right there in the tall grass, which rasps against my arm and face while Elias does the same right next to me.
    Elias peers at me, his brow furrowed. “You okay?” Then he says, “Whoa,” and lays flat on his back.
    I close my eyes and tilt my head back, trying to calm the spinning and throbbing. When I open my eyes, I see two silhouettes tromping toward us through the tall grass.
    “Hand check!” a low boy’s voice calls, and Elias laughs.
    “Daniel. Jerk,” he mumbles. Then he calls, “Did you drag Leni out here, too?” Leni’s laugh rings out like a bell in the clear, cooling night.
    When they reach us, Leni stretches her hand down to help me up. “Yes, moron, I’m here. There’s nothing I love more than ditching our class, in the dark, when my mom’s the chaperone, to make sure you’re not getting in trouble.” I grunt and wince as I get to my feet, and Leni eyes Elias, who pushes himself to sitting, then to standing. “But, really, what were you two doing out here?”
    “Check this out,” Elias says, and I see his whole body tremble a little. He grabs my hand, and his feet hover off the ground a few inches, maybe a foot. Then he lands and takes a deep breath.
    Daniel’s eyes narrow. “What is going on, Elias? What have you two been…?”
    I beam. Elias’s gaze shifts between the tree line and me. He seems on edge.
    “Is it okay if we show them?” I ask.
    “Uh…yeah. I just…let’s do it fast. I don’t want anyone to see…that we’re not with the class.”
    I nod. “His One is pushing air and mine is floating, right?” I say to Leni and Daniel, bouncing with energy now. “So when we touch…” I loop my arm around his waist and look up at him.
    Elias stops looking so worried and flashes me that damn