Page 42 of The Third Baseman

“Huh.”

When I’ve explained stargazing before, it’s usually at this point most people zone out, which is what I assumed he’d done as he sat there in silence for a minute darting in and out of the traffic like a racecar driver.

But to my surprise he didn’t, he just kept going with the questions.

“And this is all part of your space learning to get you to M.I.T. and N.A.S.A.?”

I tried not to show more surprise that he’d remembered what I wanted to do.

“Um, yes, part of it,” I sighed wistfully. “But I find space so incredibly beautiful and interesting.”

“So tell me about this Milky Way.” He pointed a finger at me with a smirk and added, “not the candy bar.”

I giggled hard, and stopped short. Who was this Marnie Matthews giggling in Jupiter Reeves’ car?

Like, what?

What was happening right now?

“The Milky Way is the galaxy which includes our solar system…”

“Including yours truly?” he interrupted, passing me his coffee again after he sipped it.

“Yep, including Jupiter,” I smirked. “It’s one of many galaxies in the universe, and it’s reckoned some of the oldest stars in it are as old as the Universe itself. It’s shaped like a spiral, so when you see it in the sky, it looks like a big arch of dusty light. But it’s harder to see here because of light pollution. It needs to be really dark to see it properly.”

“So all our planets and stars that we see are in the Milky Way? We’re in it now?”

“Yep.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

I grinned wide at him. “It is, yes.”

“So it’s gonna be there again tonight?”

“Yeah.”

For the second time he turned and caught my eye with a smile, and the weird, unfamiliar flutters moved down from my belly and into my groin.

I crossed my legs.

“Are you going to look at it again?”

“Probably,” I nodded, trying to ignore whatever was going on with my body. Maybe I was getting sick.

“Do you want company?”

“You want to come and look at the stars with me? You’re asking to come over to my house and look at stars tonight?” My brow furrowed deeply because I swear that’s what he was asking… which made no sense.

“Yeah, that okay? I can bring snacks.”

“Um, sure.”

“Great! It’s a date.” He pulled the car into a space and turned off the ignition.

I looked around to confirm we were indeed at school. I’d been so engrossed in him I hadn’t even noticed we’d arrived. I opened the door and jumped down – actually had to jump – then heaved my backpack once more over my shoulders. At least with the ride I wasn’t as sore as I probably would have been.

We met at the front of the truck.

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