Love Among the Pizza Boxes

So now we’re outside.
And we’re sitting on the grass under a tree on the way back from Village Inn.
Hopefully Shayla won’t be missed too much down at the observatory.
She’s sitting cross legged next to me, staring up at the sky, occasionally naming off clouds.
“Cirrus,” she says and points to one.
And then she leans back on her hands and tilts her head.
“Cool. I wouldn’t know.” I nod once and lean back on my hands, too. “I learned about clouds a long time ago, but I don’t remember now.”
“Ahhh…” She nods and keeps looking at the sky. She’s silent for a while and then she looks at me hesitantly. She then proceeds to lean against my side.
Whoa.
….. Whoa.
Well this is nice.
I lay my head down on hers and I don’t really know what else to do. So we just stay there like that.
She breaks the silence after a while. “Do you think the sun gets lonely up there?”
“Hmmm. Well, the sun’s bound to have the company of Mercury, don’t you think? I mean, since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.”
“Very good. But no- The sun is millions of miles away from Mercury because if Mercury was any closer, it would succumb to the sun and would be sucked in to it because of the sun’s massive gravitational force. It’s the same with the stars, they would get too close to the sun and then they would die. I don’t think the sun means to do it. I just think the sun really needs another sun to give it a hug. Y’know? The whole galaxy revolves around it, but it’s all alone.”
“Huh.”
Never really took the time to think about it like that.
What if the sun had a personality?
That’d be weird.
Maybe the sun is lonely and has pineapple friends, too.
“Maybe it talks to all the stars around it and maybe the planets too, but they’re too far away to hear. And that makes the sun sad, so it hides behind the clouds.”
“That seems like a really empty life.”
The poor sun…
All alone up there in the big ol’ galaxy with no one to talk to.
“Yeah, it does.” She pulls away and looks me straight in the eye.
I look her right back in the eye.
And I think about the ice cream place.
And then I think about Sora. And how pissed off I was at him when he showed up and completely ruined the moment.
But no Sora. Sora isn’t around this time to screw things up.
She’s leaning in now.
And so I lean in too.
And we’re really close now. Our noses are touching like last time.
She breathes in slowly, her eyes are closed.
And it’s happening.
So I close my eyes.
And I watch as fireworks explode on the inside of my eyelids.
Ha.
And I always thought people just said that.
But it really does happen.
And that was it.
She pulls back and stares at me with those eyes.
Those eyes.
And I feel like I should say something to fill the silence.
But I don’t.
And I can feel her breathing because she’s still pretty close to me.
“You look scared.” She chuckles sort of.
I break into a smile.
Still don’t know what to say.
“You’re looking at me like I just gave you a ring and a promise. I only gave you a ring.”
Then I remember – I still haven’t taken the ring pop off.
I blink at her. I’m still smiling. I kinda laugh.
Still don’t know what to say.
“Cat got your tongue?”
Meow.
Shut up, Constance.
Me-OW.
Shut up, Gary.
I nod.
She smiles. “Silly. It was just a kiss.”
Ouch.
My face falls a little.
And I really hope she doesn’t notice.
She notices.
Well shi -
She lifts up my chin with one finger.
“Turn that frown upside down, sunshine. It was a very nice kiss.”
“Good.”
And that’s all I say.
And I’m smiling again.
God, I’m such a little kid.
“He speaks,” she murmurs and lets her hand fall into her lap. She turns her head back to the sky.
I follow her gaze.