Page 20 of One Little Problem
“Aww,” I cooed. Okay, maybe remembering that wasn’t so bad.
“Yeah, so most of it was spent with me going, huh, does he seem any less mad at me? What about now?” Luke looked up as the stars again, almost a smile on his face as he spoke, not because the memory was positive exactly but just because I made him smile anyway? Aww again. “What about now? What about now? We sat here looking up at the stars and I kept looking at you, wondering what you were thinking, if there was any of those twinkly things I could wish on that would convince you to give me a chance.”
This was a public place, so I probably shouldn’t fling myself at him and attach myself and never let go, so I admitted, “I was similarly tense, or more nervous.” Even being mostly angry, there was still room for nerves unfortunately.
Luke tilted his head at me, then smoothed a hand down his face, trying to make his hair go down over his eyes like mine did. “Don’t fall down,” he said, changing his voice to sound more like mine as he imitated me. “How many times should I mention the Vietnam War? I don’t wanna list it too many, but I don’t want to not list it enough and seem insensitive—”
“The Vietnam War?”
“There was suffering there,” he told me seriously. “Never forget.” He kept doing his Ryan impression. “Don’t pull the fire alarm, unless I say something really embarrassing, then remember to pull the fire alarm, don’t use the wrong fork, oh no, which is the right fork to use—"
“We didn’t eat,” I pointed out.
“Totally a thought you would have anyway,” he said without backing down.
“Maybe.” I pushed him away like I was annoyed and then he moved closer to me and put his arm around me and then I wasn’t annoyed anymore. We fell into silence for a moment, looking up at the stars above us.
Normally? Luke’s impression of me would be right on the money. That particular date? Was this real or not was the main question causing me to worry, not even anything about me and my innate ability to be awk. I hadn’t known if I could trust that he really liked me. And I kept going back and forth on whether I believed I could have this or not. And then I wondered, did it really matter? Maybe I should just enjoy it anyway and sort it all out later. Even fake, it’s better than nothing.
“The one relevant thought I did have,” Luke said, “Aside from why planetariums even exist because we already have outside at night, so isn’t the whole world a giant planetarium already—"
“Oh my god,” I laughed.
“Aside from that,” he said pointedly, moving to take his arm away from me, but I didn’t let him. “I was thinking that even though looking at the stars is romantic, the stars themselves aren’t that romantic.”
“Because they’re giant balls of fire and gas that would instantly immolate us?” So sexy!
“No, just all the myths and stuff associated with them.” We fell silent a moment to hear the recorded voice played over the speakers narrating facts about the stars. The myth about the bear constellations, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, was that Zeus turned his side piece into a bear, so his wife wouldn’t rage quit him or the world or something and then the lady’s son killed the bear not knowing it was his mom. Yeah, that wasn’t very romantic. Both the story and the serial cheating.
“They’re mostly about lost souls and tragedies,” Luke continued. Now the voiceover talked about Andromeda, who was sacrificed to a sea monster. “And some of it was violent, like the scorpion killing Orion.” Oh, Luke knowing things was so sexy. “I started regretting bringing you here because if you were still mad at me, then this place was giving you all kinds of ideas for revenge.” He shuddered. “I did not want to have to deal with scorpions.”
Okay, that was less sexy. Made me seem crafty though, so again I wasn’t quite sure whether to be flattered or insulted. “You thought I’d hurt you?”
“Nothing serious,” he assured me. “Some light maiming at most. We weren’t dating then.”
“We’re not dating now either.” Technically. Or not technically but in a lying way.
His arm around me tightened, as if to say, oh yeah? “Now we’re not dating in a wink-wink, shhhh, just kidding, yes we are way.”
“Secret courtship, like Romeo and Juliet.” How romantic.
“Less heterosexual,” he noted. “Less deadly.”
I tilted my head. “Not even really a play if you take out the heterosexuals and death.”
“That’s not my fault, that’s society’s fault.”
“What?”
He stared at me, confused. Adorable and confused. “I think the point got away from me.”
“Not surprising, you are such a space case.” Ha, space, I’m so puny.
Now, it was his turn to push me away. “Don’t even go there.”
Yeah, I was really one to talk. “I can’t even go there with a straight face… for so many reasons—" I said as he said, “You never have a straight face.”
I made a face at him but then decided we were too far apart, so I crowded my way into his space, throwing my arms arm his middle and putting my head in the crook of his shoulder. His arm came around my back. Okay, this was definitely the way to view the stars; Luke was nice and warm and he smelled so nice and I could sit here forever.
