“Do you believe in alternate universes?”

Rose snapped out of her reverie, nearly spilling her tea as she looked across the table at Claire. “Do I–Do I believe in what?”

“Alternate universes. You know, like the idea that we make a million different choices every day, and if just one of those choices was different we probably wouldn’t be who we are, where we are now. Like there’s a universe where we’re not sitting in this tea shop, we’re on a beach somewhere, or hiking in the mountains, or water skiing.”

“But I don’t know how to water ski,” Rose said, trying (not for the first time) to figure out where Claire got all her random ideas.

“And of course,” Claire continued undaunted, “there would have to be an infinite number of other universes, ones where we’ve never met at all. Those are probably the majority, actually.”

“Well that’s just depressing,” Rose said. “I don’t know if I want to believe in alternate universes.”

“But there would be a lot of good universes too,” Claire said. “Loads of them. Imagine anything about your life you wish was different; there could be a universe where it is. Anything that ever happened that you wish had happened differently, or not at all. It could be true.”

“Okay,” said Rose, deciding to play along and see where this game was going. “What would you change if you could live in your perfect world?”

“I think I’d start with my first kiss,” said Claire without hesitation. Rose blinked. All at once she found herself sitting on the couch in Claire’s living room on the night she’d had dinner with Claire’s mother and little brother. Claire, sitting on the couch next to her, kept talking as though nothing had happened. “I mean, the first kiss is pretty important right? That has to be one moment in your life you want to be perfect.”

“Well, I guess,” Rose said, feeling more than a little hurt. “I’m sorry if it wasn’t so great for you…”

“Oh, I didn’t mean I wanted to change you!” Claire said, her ears turning pink with embarrassment. “You were wonderful. In fact,” she said, leaning in towards Rose with her mischevious grin, “I wouldn’t mind having that first kiss, that veryfirst kiss, again.” Rose caught her breath as Claire’s lips neared hers, and she in turn leaned in the way she had in that kiss that she remembered so well. But then Claire stopped, and pulled back to look at someone over Rose’s shoulder.