Page 43 of The Third Baseman

“What time will you start with the stars?”

“Um, maybe eleven?” I raised a brow. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll sneak out anyway; my folks won’t know I’m gone.” He pulled his cell out and thrust it at me. “Here, type your digits in so I can message you later.”

I numbly did as I was told, and handed it back to him.

“I’m saving you as Star. Stars and Stripes has become too much of a mouthful, and I prefer my mouth to be full of other things.” He smirked and laughed loudly at my gasp, his straight white teeth almost glistening in the sun.

My phone pinged with a message while I was trying to recover from the onslaught of heat and throbbing in every cell of my body. It was almost like I’d been dipped in lava.

“Now you have my number too. See you later for our date, Star. I’ll message you.”

He jogged up the campus steps toward the sports facility building. It was the same direction I needed to go, but I wasn’t sure I could cope with a walk together right after our car ride. I turned one eighty and headed toward the physics building.

I needed to cool down.

* * *

A bag came up first and landed with a thud on the flat roof outside my bedroom window. The next thing I saw was a navy beanie hat with the Los Angeles Dodgers logo embroidered into the rim, then the bluest of blue eyes I’d been seeing all day whenever I closed my own, which was a lot due to the lack of sleep from last night. I’d even power napped when I got home so I didn’t fall asleep and miss a single second of this.

I turned my flashlight on so he could see where he was going and stood above him just as his foot hit the floor.

He glanced at his watch. “Under three minutes from my room to yours. Not bad, Star.” His grin widened as he took in the space. “Holy crap, it looks amazing up here. Did you do all this?”

I looked round too, suddenly more proud of my little space than I’d ever been. When my parents decided to move house at the end of last year, my brother and I had been given veto rights on anywhere they viewed. While my brother hadn’t cared either way, I hadn’t initially liked this place until my dad pointed out the flat roof space directly outside my bedroom’s side window, which hadn’t been visible from the road. It wasn’t really visible at all, given it was hidden by a cluster of large palm trees – one of which Jupiter had used to climb up.

It was my perfect little private space, and tonight I’d made it super cozy.

I’d been staring at the night sky for long enough to know exactly how to create the best experience, and seeing as this was Jupiter’s first time, I wanted to make it a good one for him. I’d come out thirty minutes ago, bringing extra blankets and the soft-rollaway mats to lie on, plus a couple of the beanbags from my bedroom to lean on. Tiny electric lights were placed on a few plant pots I’d been keeping up here and on the surrounding floor, but not enough that it would disturb our view.

To the side was a hard cooler which I’d filled with snacks, because I assumed Jupiter would forget, along with my favorite fruit roll-ups and hot chocolate, though I’d already drunk most of it.

I’d need to go and make more. We might be in California, but it was still February.

“Yep. It’s what we need.” I grinned at his grin, because I’d discovered it was infectious.

“Consider me impressed.” Then his eyebrows shot into his beanie. “Whoa, is that your telescope?”

I sighed softly and looked at theOrion Celestial CGE 2Ttelescope I’d been begging my parents for, for two years. I’d saved and saved all my pocket money to contribute toward it, because I’d wanted to show them how serious I was about owning a piece of technology more expensive than a computer.

And then this Christmas my dreams had come true. It wasn’t the most powerful home telescope, but it was powerful enough that I could see the galaxy far beyond what the naked eye could see. I could see details on planets rarely visible. I could see the craters in the moon.

It looked impressive, too. All that power didn’t come small, and I’d set it up in the middle of the roof on its heavy tripod; the shiny casing as black as the night, like a short, fat, long distance camera lens.

“Yeah.”

“Can I take a look?” Awe soaked his rich voice, sending tingles down my spine.

“Of course,” I smiled, and gestured toward it.

When I’d come up here to set up, I’d peeked through to make sure we’d have some good views tonight. Good in my opinion, not his, and I was fairly certain that tonight would be better than last night.

He stepped slowly toward it and turned round. “Okay, so what do I do?”

“See that lighter patch in the sky, almost like the sky is fuzzy? That’s the Milky Way.”

He stared up like he’d never properly looked at the sky before, and I loved it. I loved that I was the one to show it to him. “Wow, I can’t believe I’ve never noticed this before… all these stars.”

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