The Only Exception

"I have a surprise for you," Alex announced as he stepped into Sunday's bedroom.

She looked up from the book that she was reading. "A surprise?" she asked hesitantly. While she had forgiven Alex quite completely for the party mishap, the incident had detracted from the implicit trust that she had previously regarded him with.

"You'll love it, I promise," Alex insisted when he noticed that Sunday hadn't yet moved to follow him from the room.

Biting her lip, Sunday sat up and dropped a marker into her book. "Do I need to change?" she asked. It had been an unseasonably cold day, which caused Sunday to abandon her usual outfit of a dress and flipflops. She was clad in one of the few pairs of jeans that she owned and a white t-shirt.

"Nah," countered Alex as he crossed to her closet. He pulled out a warm looking grey sweater and a pair of dark blue Converse. "You should be okay."

After Sunday had pulled on the shoes and sweater, she pushed her cell phone into her back pocket and walked with Alex from her room. She pretended to be oblivious to the hand that he offered her, for lately Sunday had felt uncomfortable holding Alex's hand. She had tried to keep a distance from him physically in the week that had passed since she had found herself crying on his shoulder in Henry's room.

Alex pretended not to notice that she had disregarded his awaiting hand as well. Things felt different between them, and though he couldn't stand it, Alex was trying to be understanding. She just needed some time to realize that he wasn't going to hurt her again, which he gathered was the problem that she had with the party. She had felt betrayed by him.

"I'll have her home around twelve, Mrs. P." Alex saluted Sunday's mom as he held the door open for Sunday. Mrs. Phillips, who was still not overly kind to Alex, merely rolled her eyes. It didn't vex Alex though, because she was at least allowing him to take Sunday with him.

Before Sunday could slide into the passenger seat of his rental, Alex took both of her hands in one of his. "What?" she asked with a questioning gaze.

"You've gotta put this on," Alex declared, pulling a blindfold from his pocket.

She raised both of her eyebrows. "Are you kidding?" she inquired, "Please say you are."

"I told you it's a surprise, didn't I?" Alex asked with large grin.

Though she heaved an exasperated sigh, Sunday couldn't repress the smile that Alex's excited expression brought to her face. "Okay," she relented. "Go ahead."

After he had slipped the blindfold over her eyes and done a few weird actions and expressions to make sure she couldn't see, Alex guided Sunday into her seat before he jumped into the driver's side. "I am going to like this surprise, right?" Sunday verified.

"I think you'll love it," responded Alex as he started on the path that he had already driven once that morning.

"Why are we going so late?" was Sunday's next question. It was already ten o'clock at night.

"Ambiance," Alex answered simply. This must have been an acceptable answer, because Sunday smiled and abandoned her questions.

The destination of Alex's surprise had taken a bit of research earlier in the day, but once Alex had located it, he knew that he had to take Sunday. So he had met with the owner, who was quite reluctant to allow Alex to use the property for the night. After Alex had explained Sunday's partiality for stars and promising (several times) that he was not bringing her there for unmoral reasons, the man had given Alex the spare keys to the building with orders to simply lock them inside when he was done.

The building was located roughly thirty minutes away from Huntington Beach, but Alex managed to make the drive in a little more than half that time due to his neglect of the posted speed limits. As soon as the car stopped, Sunday reached for her blind fold. Alex caught her hands before she could lift the material from her eyes and lowered them as he promised, "Just one more minute."

After yanking the keys from the ignition, Alex jumped out of his seat and crossed to Sunday's side of the car, opening her door a moment later. Taking both of her hands in his, he helped her from the car and began to lead her towards the structure looming before them. Despite her initial reluctance, Sunday had transformed into a good sport, smiling as she let Alex lead her around.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asked after she heard the sound of a door closing.

"No," Alex countered, "Sit down and lean back."

Sunday allowed herself to be gently pushed into a seat and released Alex's hands so that she could lean back. "Now?" she asked, biting her lip in anticipation.

There was no response. Eyebrows furrowed, Sunday sat up. Though she couldn't see clearly through the blindfold, she was able to discern the general shape of Alex. But when she looked around, he was nowhere near her. "Alex?" she called as a sinking feeling invaded her stomach.

Although Alex didn't answer her, there was the hum of electricity and things became brighter. Sunday reached for her blindfold once again, only to be stopped by someone's hand. "Alex?"

"Lean back," he ordered, pushing her shoulder to the back of her seat.

Feeling a little frustrated and impatient, Sunday did as she was told before she crossed her arms. "What good is a surprise if I never get to—"

She abandoned her little rant as Alex pulled the blindfold from her eyes. She was staring up at a dome-like ceiling, and above her tiny lights were gleaming, forming the shapes of different animals and objects. "The... constellations?" Sunday guessed, unable to think of what else the lights could represent.

Alex nodded, looking eager to see her reaction.

"Where are we?" she continued.

"Tessmann Planetarium," Alex finally apprised.

A small smile broke out on Sunday's face. "A planetarium?" she repeated. "How did you manage that one?"

"Well, it took a little while to convince the owner that I wasn't bringing you here to do some amoral things," Alex admitted with a sly grin, "but eventually, the Gaskarth charm won out."

Sunday giggled before something on the ceiling caught her eye. "That's Pegasus," she told Alex as she pointed to a group of dots that were connected to form a winged horse. "The nose—that star right there—is a star called Enif, which actually means nose in Arabic, I believe. It's the brightest in the constellation and is technically considered a dying star. He's only got a few more million years left."

She gave him a sheepish look before she confessed to Alex, "Pegasus is my favorite constellation."

The look of pure delight that gleamed in Sunday's eyes made the amount of money that Alex had paid for use of the planetarium after hours very much worth it. She looked so at home and so excited about the lights that were twinkling above them. "Tell me more," Alex requested, eager to hear her talk about her favorite things in the world.

And she obliged him. "That's Monoceros," Sunday pointed to a unicorn, "and that constellation was discovered in 1613 by a man named Petrus Plancius, who was one of the founders of the Dutch India Company. It's my second favorite constellation."

He discovered through the course of the night that Sunday had many favorites when it came to celestial objects. She could tell him what every constellation was called, what it's brightest star was and not only the date of it's discovery, but also to whom the detection was acredited to. There was a commentary to the show, provided by some well-known astronomer that Sunday was very aware of but Alex had never heard of, and whenever he mentioned something that Sunday hadn't known, she would exclaim, "Did you know that? I didn't! But how great is that?"

The show lasted a little over an hour and a half, and by the time it was over, Sunday seemed both on the verge of sleep but also quite exhilarated. "That was amazing," she beamed as they walked out of the building. "Thank you so, so much, Alex."

She had her hand on the handle of the car door when Alex remembered the box in his pocket. "Hey, Sun, come here," he beckoned, standing near the head of the car.

"Sure," she agreed, closing her door and walking closer to him. "What's up?" she asked as she leaned on the hood of the car.

Alex pulled the box out of his pocket and held it out for her. Sunday's eyebrows rose slightly and a smile was causing the ends of her mouth to turn up slightly. "For me?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alex nodded, feeling oddly nervous.

Her long fingers took the square, black box from his hands, and before Alex could justify his gift, she had opened it. Sitting on the white satin within the box was a small star made entirely of bluish-silver colored diamonds. "This is for me?" Sunday breathed as a finger traced the star.

"Yeah," Alex repeated. "I just thought that you'd like—"

There was no doubt that the night had been full of surprises. Sunday had been completely shocked when she had opened her eyes to find herself sitting in a planetarium with Alex. Alex had been a little taken aback to see that he had managed to restore Sunday's trust in him enough to let him lead her to the undisclosed location. And Sunday had surely been stunned when she saw the beautiful star necklace that Alex had purchased solely for her.

However, the biggest surprise was Sunday's response to the gift. When Alex opened his mouth to explain his present, a number of things had begun racing through Sunday's mind: words of gratitude, a few declining sentences from the part of her brain that thought the gift was too much and lastly, a few emotions that Sunday didn't quite know how to process.

But it was late, Sunday was tired and she was quite overwhelmed by the acts that Alex had presented her with that night. So she did the only thing that seemed to make sense to her at that moment.

Alex wasn't sure how it started, but he knew that something was about to happen when she gave him this calculating look. He didn't speak, a little confused at her expression. Sunday leaned in a little bit, pausing when her nose hit the tip of his. He chuckled and pulled his head back a little bit, but one of Sunday's hands reached up and gently guided his cheek back towards her. This time, she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly before she closed the gap between them.

She just touched her lips to his, unsure of what she was doing was acceptable or whether he was going to be very unhappy with her. But when she felt Alex's lips smile a little bit and he wrapped his arms around her waist, Sunday figured that what she was doing was okay, and she decided to try it again.

His lips weren't overly soft, but they were warm and oh so inviting. There was no doubt in Sunday's mind that she wasn't ready for an intense sort of kiss—the ones that she saw on soap operas and in the rain at the end of movies—because she knew she'd have no idea what to do, but the sweet, short kisses that they were sharing right now were not bad.

In fact, Sunday liked them a lot, a realization that made her blush.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sunday dropped back onto her feet (Alex was too tall for her to kiss without standing on her tip-toes a little bit) and tried her best to avoid his eyes. "Thank you for the necklace," was the only thing she could think to say as she wrapped an arm around him and pressed her cheek to the soft material of his t-shirt.

Alex grinned and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "You ready to go home?" he asked.

"No," Sunday admitted. She didn't want to leave. She would have been content to stay at the planetarium forever with Alex, kissing him and looking at the stars when she couldn't kiss him any longer. But for the most part, Sunday was a fairly sensible person she knew that she had to go home.

With a laugh, Alex reminded her, "I have to take you home some time."

Sunday made a face, but relented. "Alright, alright," she sighed. Alex released her and started walking to driver's side of the car, but Sunday stopped him with a, "Do me one favor though."

He paused. "Sure," he agreed.

With a childlike grin, Sunday held out her necklace. "Put it on for me, please?" she requested.

Alex smiled before walking back towards Sunday to clip the diamond necklace around her neck. "Sooo, do you want to talk about... that?" Alex asked as he struggled with the clasp on the necklace.

Sunday shrugged. "Actually, I want ice cream. And maybe to watch a movie. If my mom's asleep, we could watch Beauty and the Beast," she proposed to Alex.

He laughed. "I would love to watch Beauty and the Beast with you, Sun," Alex agreed as he pulled out his phone to text Jack that he most likely wouldn't be home tonight, so they didn't need to leave the alarm off for him.