Since You've Been Gone

by Morgan Matson

On the floor in front of me there was a digital camera, a thick biography on John Lennon, and a baseball cap with a robot where the team name normally was.

“Working,” I said. I tapped on the gauge. “But don’t look at this. It’s always stuck on half empty.” Frank leaned closer, contemplating it. “I would say it’s half full.” He smiled at me, and a moment later, I got the joke.

“I think it started with the Beatles. My cousin was listening to them a lot, and told me that they had secret codes in their lyrics. And I became obsessed.”

“Nothing worth doing is easy,” Frank said. “Especially not in the beginning. But I’m not about to give up.”

Yesterday The Beatles

Blackbird The Beatles

“I’m sure the Beatles sang songs about trucks occasionally.” “Not that I can think of,” Frank said immediately. “Unless you mean the fire truck in ‘Penny Lane.’ ”

“Do you not like the Beatles?” Frank asked, sounding shocked, as we finished our cool-down and started walking back toward my house. “Do you also not like sunshine and laughter and puppies?”

For the last three days, they had been starting their sentences with only the titles of Beatles songs. They were allowed to speak normally to everyone else—and they’d put the game on hold when they were at work—but with each other, they were locked in, trying to prove who was the bigger fan.

“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”

“You’re the brightest thing in the room,” he said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. “You shine.”

It was like hitting the snooze button on your alarm—your sleep in that window is never very good, since you know it’s borrowed time, and that it will be over all too soon.

it felt like I was being attacked.

It was like swimming under the stars, like sleeping outside, like climbing a tree in the dark and seeing the view. It was scary and safe and peaceful and exciting, all at the same time. It was the way I felt when I was with him. “Like a well-ordered universe.”

Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) Looking Glass

Here Comes the Sun The Beatles

Under Pressure David Bowie and Queen

A Well-Ordered Universe Curtis Anderson