Orpheus & Eurydice
rūpa
Since the tattoo experience, Jonny had mostly been spending all his free time at Cassiopeia’s apartment. She didn’t mind, he kept her good company and it felt good to be around him. She doesn’t know when Jonny flawlessly stitched himself into her routine but she’s not complaining.
The playoffs had started, though and Cassiopeia began seeing less of him since he had to get adequate amounts of sleep and rest in order to get ready for the do or die games.
Cassiopeia let him do his own things, she’d always be here when he would get back and wanted to cool down.
But today is a day she’s been waiting for all year. Tonight was the start of the Lyrid meteor shower. She had her telescope all ready on her roof to view the shower and hoped that the lights of the city wouldn’t ruin the experience. She tried once before to stargaze and it didn’t work out too well, but she still had hope.
It was nearing midnight and she was putting on a sweatshirt to travel up to her roof when she opens up her door and is surprised to see Jonny there.
“Oh,” she squeaks out. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Colorado?” She’s keeping track of his schedule just so she knows where he is.
“We just got back – are you going somewhere?” He gestures to her sweatshirt and she crosses her arms in front of her. Jonny looks exhausted, he shouldn’t be here.
“You should be at home sleeping.” He rolls his eyes and tries to walk in her apartment but she holds up a hand.
“I’m going up to the roof,” she tells him.
“Why?”
“To watch the meteor shower.”
“But you won’t be able to see anything.” He looks concerned and it makes Cassiopeia’s heart warm. It also makes her smile because he doesn’t even ask about the shower, because he’s been hearing her talk about it for weeks. But she won’t let Jonny’s words discourage her. She needs to watch this shower.
“I don’t care, I really want to watch it.” She tells him. He looks at her for a few seconds, obviously thinking about it and his face lights up.
“I know where we can go. Let’s go,” he grabs her arm and she has just enough time to close her door before he’s dragging her down the hall.
“Stop, hey, stop!” She yells at him. He immediately drops her arm.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“Why do you even want to come with me?” He’s gotta be exhausted and watching a meteor shower is probably the last thing on his list of stuff he wants to do.
“Cass, if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
Cassiopeia opens her mouth to say something but she’s speechless. So she just nods her head and smiles at him.
“Ok, take me to the perfect spot, but I just have to grab my telescope off the roof.”
He grins at her and follows her around while she gathers up her materials for stargazing. They’re silent and when she finally deems herself ready, he beckons her outside where his car is waiting.
“So, where do you have in mind?” She asks as she puts her telescope in the backseat and gets herself situated in the front seat. He waits until she’s buckled to put the car in drive and starts in some unknown direction.
“Out of the city.”
They’re silent as Cassiopeia watches the buildings pass by the car and she almost falls asleep when they stop outside a fairly large house in the suburbs of Chicago.
“Whose place is this?” She asks.
“You remember Sharpy? Patrick?” She nods her head but is still confused. It’s midnight and her and Jonny are running around a family packed neighborhood.
“Are you sure this is ok?”
“Yeah, I texted him. He just said to be quiet, obviously. We can lay out on the front lawn.” This makes sense to her and she follows him out of the car and watches him set up blankets on the front lawn.
She get’s her telescope ready and in the right direction to see the meteor shower. Once everything is situated, Cassiopeia takes no time at all laying down on the blankets and waiting to see the tiny meteors.
Jonny joins her on the blanket, close, and they’re silent as they wait for it to start. She starts to get a little chilly and shifts closer to him, so that the sides of their bodies are pressed close together. She’s learned from sharing a bed with Jonny many times he is always unnaturally warm.
“So, what are we looking for?” He breaks the silence.
“Well, it’s the Lyrid shower and the meteors will fall between Hercules and Cygnus, directly in the middle of Lyra.” She explains while pointing out the different constellations.
“Does it happen every year?”
“Yeah, at the end of every April. Oh! I think I saw something.” She scrambles up off the grass and adjust the telescope just right and peers through it.
She sees a couple of bright dashes of light across the sky and she sucks in a breath. She’s been doing this with her mom since she was very young and it still takes her breath away every time.
She turns towards Jonny and fists and hand in his shirt and hauls him toward the telescope.
“Look,” she urges. He’s compliant and puts his eye up against the hole and looks.
“Woah,” he whispers. She grins, loving his enthusiasm. She looks up at the sky and watches it from the naked eye. It’s not as vivid as the telescope, but it’ll do.
She falls back on the blanket and closes her eyes. It’s a pretty mild night and Cassiopeia feels so content, but a thought is nagging at the back of her mind. She distracts herself by asking Jonny about his game and if they won. He tells her that they didn’t and they have one more game until they might be eliminated.
He looks worried so she takes his hand in hers and squeezes it tight.
“It’ll be ok,” she tells him.
“I know.”
“How’s the tattoo?” The last time she saw it, it looked pretty good, not that much swelling or fading.
“Okay, it’s still weird that I have one. Some of the guys caught sight of it in the locker room and gave me shit for it.” He shrugs.
They’re silent once again, just watching the falling meteors fill up the night sky. Cassiopeia lets her mind empty and just focuses on how happy she is at this moment in time. She doesn’t let her mind wander to her mother or her father, but instead thinks about Jonny.
Jon who was a complete stranger to her a month ago but now considers him so much more, so special. Cassiopeia knows that she helps him get out of his own head and cools him down, but he also helps her too.
Since moving to the city, she hasn’t met many people. Some are very put off by her personality and honestly, her boss, Joss is probably the only friend she has here. But Jonny wasn’t quick to judge her.
“Will you come to the next game?”
Cassiopeia shifts and turns her head so she’s looking at Jonny’s profile. He doesn’t move to catch her gaze but instead focuses on the shower.
“If you want me to,” Cassiopeia answers.
This time when Jonny does move his head, their noses brush and it makes Cassiopeia giggle. Jonny smiles at her and she’s get lost in his brown eyes staring intently at her.
“Yeah, I really do, Cass.” He whispers.
“Well, then I’ll be there, cheering you on. Wait – look at how visible Lyra is!” She rudely interrupts and sits up, crawling over to the telescope to look through it.
She peers through it and finds Vega first, with it being the brightest star in Lyra’s constellation. She connects the dots after and it’s takes her breath away seeing how defined the constellation is and how it looks having meteors fall through it. Even though she witnesses it every year, she’s still in awe.
She can feel Jonny shifting behind her and he lays a hand on her shoulder. She turns her head and moves to the side so he can see too. She directs him on how to find Vega and where to go from there.
“It’s really pretty.” She hmms at his response.
“Will you show me Cassiopeia?” She grins at him and enthusiastically nods her head yes.
“It’s not the brightest in the spring, but we’ll still be able to see it with the telescope. I won’t need to tell you the shape of it since you see it everyday, but the alpha and the beta star are the brightest.”
Cassiopeia takes her time setting up the telescope so it’s aiming north and very high in the sky. Once she locates her constellation, she moves aside and let’s Jonny take her place. She guides him to the alpha and the beta and lets him find the gamma and the delta by himself.
She lets herself look around the little neighborhood that they’re inhabiting. Cassiopeia thinks it’s weird that while everyone else is sleeping, her and Jonny are discovering one of the many beauties of space.
Jonny is quiet when he pulls back from the telescope. He falls back on the blanket and Cassiopeia mirrors his actions.
“It’s really pretty. Will you tell me the story of Cassiopeia?”
“Sure,” Cassiopeia whispers.
She starts to tell Jonny about Cassiopeia, who is the queen of Aethopia. She bragged about how her daughter, Andromeda was beautiful and as punishment, was banished to the sky to wheel around the North Celestial Pole on her throne. She spends many times clinging to her throne so she doesn’t fall off. It’s not a particularly interesting story, it’s mostly sad, but near the end, Cassiopeia looks over at Jon to see that he’s peacefully sleeping.
Cassiopeia smiles and rests her cheek on his shoulder and closes her eyes, and dreams of mythology.
The playoffs had started, though and Cassiopeia began seeing less of him since he had to get adequate amounts of sleep and rest in order to get ready for the do or die games.
Cassiopeia let him do his own things, she’d always be here when he would get back and wanted to cool down.
But today is a day she’s been waiting for all year. Tonight was the start of the Lyrid meteor shower. She had her telescope all ready on her roof to view the shower and hoped that the lights of the city wouldn’t ruin the experience. She tried once before to stargaze and it didn’t work out too well, but she still had hope.
It was nearing midnight and she was putting on a sweatshirt to travel up to her roof when she opens up her door and is surprised to see Jonny there.
“Oh,” she squeaks out. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Colorado?” She’s keeping track of his schedule just so she knows where he is.
“We just got back – are you going somewhere?” He gestures to her sweatshirt and she crosses her arms in front of her. Jonny looks exhausted, he shouldn’t be here.
“You should be at home sleeping.” He rolls his eyes and tries to walk in her apartment but she holds up a hand.
“I’m going up to the roof,” she tells him.
“Why?”
“To watch the meteor shower.”
“But you won’t be able to see anything.” He looks concerned and it makes Cassiopeia’s heart warm. It also makes her smile because he doesn’t even ask about the shower, because he’s been hearing her talk about it for weeks. But she won’t let Jonny’s words discourage her. She needs to watch this shower.
“I don’t care, I really want to watch it.” She tells him. He looks at her for a few seconds, obviously thinking about it and his face lights up.
“I know where we can go. Let’s go,” he grabs her arm and she has just enough time to close her door before he’s dragging her down the hall.
“Stop, hey, stop!” She yells at him. He immediately drops her arm.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“Why do you even want to come with me?” He’s gotta be exhausted and watching a meteor shower is probably the last thing on his list of stuff he wants to do.
“Cass, if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
Cassiopeia opens her mouth to say something but she’s speechless. So she just nods her head and smiles at him.
“Ok, take me to the perfect spot, but I just have to grab my telescope off the roof.”
He grins at her and follows her around while she gathers up her materials for stargazing. They’re silent and when she finally deems herself ready, he beckons her outside where his car is waiting.
“So, where do you have in mind?” She asks as she puts her telescope in the backseat and gets herself situated in the front seat. He waits until she’s buckled to put the car in drive and starts in some unknown direction.
“Out of the city.”
They’re silent as Cassiopeia watches the buildings pass by the car and she almost falls asleep when they stop outside a fairly large house in the suburbs of Chicago.
“Whose place is this?” She asks.
“You remember Sharpy? Patrick?” She nods her head but is still confused. It’s midnight and her and Jonny are running around a family packed neighborhood.
“Are you sure this is ok?”
“Yeah, I texted him. He just said to be quiet, obviously. We can lay out on the front lawn.” This makes sense to her and she follows him out of the car and watches him set up blankets on the front lawn.
She get’s her telescope ready and in the right direction to see the meteor shower. Once everything is situated, Cassiopeia takes no time at all laying down on the blankets and waiting to see the tiny meteors.
Jonny joins her on the blanket, close, and they’re silent as they wait for it to start. She starts to get a little chilly and shifts closer to him, so that the sides of their bodies are pressed close together. She’s learned from sharing a bed with Jonny many times he is always unnaturally warm.
“So, what are we looking for?” He breaks the silence.
“Well, it’s the Lyrid shower and the meteors will fall between Hercules and Cygnus, directly in the middle of Lyra.” She explains while pointing out the different constellations.
“Does it happen every year?”
“Yeah, at the end of every April. Oh! I think I saw something.” She scrambles up off the grass and adjust the telescope just right and peers through it.
She sees a couple of bright dashes of light across the sky and she sucks in a breath. She’s been doing this with her mom since she was very young and it still takes her breath away every time.
She turns towards Jonny and fists and hand in his shirt and hauls him toward the telescope.
“Look,” she urges. He’s compliant and puts his eye up against the hole and looks.
“Woah,” he whispers. She grins, loving his enthusiasm. She looks up at the sky and watches it from the naked eye. It’s not as vivid as the telescope, but it’ll do.
She falls back on the blanket and closes her eyes. It’s a pretty mild night and Cassiopeia feels so content, but a thought is nagging at the back of her mind. She distracts herself by asking Jonny about his game and if they won. He tells her that they didn’t and they have one more game until they might be eliminated.
He looks worried so she takes his hand in hers and squeezes it tight.
“It’ll be ok,” she tells him.
“I know.”
“How’s the tattoo?” The last time she saw it, it looked pretty good, not that much swelling or fading.
“Okay, it’s still weird that I have one. Some of the guys caught sight of it in the locker room and gave me shit for it.” He shrugs.
They’re silent once again, just watching the falling meteors fill up the night sky. Cassiopeia lets her mind empty and just focuses on how happy she is at this moment in time. She doesn’t let her mind wander to her mother or her father, but instead thinks about Jonny.
Jon who was a complete stranger to her a month ago but now considers him so much more, so special. Cassiopeia knows that she helps him get out of his own head and cools him down, but he also helps her too.
Since moving to the city, she hasn’t met many people. Some are very put off by her personality and honestly, her boss, Joss is probably the only friend she has here. But Jonny wasn’t quick to judge her.
“Will you come to the next game?”
Cassiopeia shifts and turns her head so she’s looking at Jonny’s profile. He doesn’t move to catch her gaze but instead focuses on the shower.
“If you want me to,” Cassiopeia answers.
This time when Jonny does move his head, their noses brush and it makes Cassiopeia giggle. Jonny smiles at her and she’s get lost in his brown eyes staring intently at her.
“Yeah, I really do, Cass.” He whispers.
“Well, then I’ll be there, cheering you on. Wait – look at how visible Lyra is!” She rudely interrupts and sits up, crawling over to the telescope to look through it.
She peers through it and finds Vega first, with it being the brightest star in Lyra’s constellation. She connects the dots after and it’s takes her breath away seeing how defined the constellation is and how it looks having meteors fall through it. Even though she witnesses it every year, she’s still in awe.
She can feel Jonny shifting behind her and he lays a hand on her shoulder. She turns her head and moves to the side so he can see too. She directs him on how to find Vega and where to go from there.
“It’s really pretty.” She hmms at his response.
“Will you show me Cassiopeia?” She grins at him and enthusiastically nods her head yes.
“It’s not the brightest in the spring, but we’ll still be able to see it with the telescope. I won’t need to tell you the shape of it since you see it everyday, but the alpha and the beta star are the brightest.”
Cassiopeia takes her time setting up the telescope so it’s aiming north and very high in the sky. Once she locates her constellation, she moves aside and let’s Jonny take her place. She guides him to the alpha and the beta and lets him find the gamma and the delta by himself.
She lets herself look around the little neighborhood that they’re inhabiting. Cassiopeia thinks it’s weird that while everyone else is sleeping, her and Jonny are discovering one of the many beauties of space.
Jonny is quiet when he pulls back from the telescope. He falls back on the blanket and Cassiopeia mirrors his actions.
“It’s really pretty. Will you tell me the story of Cassiopeia?”
“Sure,” Cassiopeia whispers.
She starts to tell Jonny about Cassiopeia, who is the queen of Aethopia. She bragged about how her daughter, Andromeda was beautiful and as punishment, was banished to the sky to wheel around the North Celestial Pole on her throne. She spends many times clinging to her throne so she doesn’t fall off. It’s not a particularly interesting story, it’s mostly sad, but near the end, Cassiopeia looks over at Jon to see that he’s peacefully sleeping.
Cassiopeia smiles and rests her cheek on his shoulder and closes her eyes, and dreams of mythology.