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Future
Gazing
first published on Romance Flash website
“I
don’t see anything.” She tossed her hair, long, luscious blonde, and frowned at
him. The expression set his knees trembling. “Are you sure?”
“It’s
tonight,” he said. “I’m certain I read the tables correctly.”
“Well.”
She flopped back onto the grass and shrugged. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Tam
nodded, but his hands shook. He bent over the eyepiece and checked the view
again. A circle of night sky, a spattering of stars, and no sign of the comet.
He sighed. The dials all read correctly. He checked the book on the TV tray
they’d lugged outside. Tonight. They should be able to see it by now. He looked
through the telescope one more time.
“Joe
Milligan said you could only see it in the southern hemisphere.” Lily’s voice
tittered from his lawn. Its music was tainted by the whiff of suspicion and by
the name of his nemesis.
“Joe
Milligan got a B minus in astronomy last term.”
“I
know.” Lily leaned back onto her elbows and eyed the sky. “He said he just partied
too much.”
Maybe
he had. Tam could see them attending the same campus events, Lily had the
popularity to fit in with that crowd. She had the looks as well. Tam clenched
his fists and shook off the image of her dancing with Joe Milligan. She had too
much brains for it, should be able to see through idiots like Joe.
He
eyed the tables and re-calculated the viewing angle. Then he tweaked the dials
and took another look. Behind him, Lily sighed again. He heard the rustle of
her changing position and knew her patience had just about run out. He was
going to lose the moment, his moment, and his once chance to impress the girl
he’d been in love with since the fourth grade.
“I
don’t know, Tam. It’s getting late.” She stood up. He’d blown it.
“Wait,
Lily.” He spun around, bumping the TV tray and sending the tables spilling to
the grass. He dove to catch them, and his elbow smacked the eyepiece. The scope
swung to the left. “It’s tonight. I’m not wrong.”
His
papers littered the hillside. His heart cracked as a breeze lifted one and
scuttled it farther out of reach. He crawled after it on hands and knees, like
a dog, a kicked dog who’d never have another moment alone with the girl of his
dreams, who’d hear about her years later. He’d share her future through the
town gossip. Did you hear about lily and
Joe Milligan? Honeymoon in Tahiti, another baby on the way.
Tam’s
throat closed at the thought. His lungs pressed in. He’d left his inhaler by
the bed, hadn’t wanted to use it in front of her, to remind her he was the
geeky kid next door--still.
“Tam?”
Of
course crawling down the hillside after his astronomy tables looked so much
cooler. God, why did he invite her? Just because she’d always liked the stars,
because they’d been able to share that much over the years.
“Tam!”
“What?”
He sat up and turned back toward the apex. Lily Anderson leaned over his
telescope. Her golden hair blocked her face, but she looked through the
eyepiece and her voice drifted down the slope to catch him.
“Come
back, Tam. I think I see something.”
“Really?”
He’d hit the thing pretty hard. It had to be half a sky away from the comet. He
stood and brushed his pants free of dry grass, then did his best to climb the
hill with a little decorum. “It might be a galaxy,” he said. “What are the
readings?”
“It’s
the comet, Tam. Look.” Lily shifted to
the side a few inches, but she didn’t move away. When he bent for his turn at
the eyepiece, their shoulders brushed. Her hair tickled his forearm.
Tam
swallowed hard and closed his left eye. His comet blazed against the circle of
sky. Front and center. “How?” He leaned away for a second and caught sight of
her grin. He double checked the view. “But, I must have knocked it off a
good--”
“Well,
you’re not the only one who knows how to work that thing.” Lily whispered right
at his side. “It’s not like I haven’t paid attention in class. I got an A.”
Tam
turned to find her staring at him. Her eyes had stretched wide, and her lips
twisted into an amused little pout. “You didn’t party too much?” He held his
breath.
“Not
my scene, Tam.”
His
heart danced. Their arms still touched, and her eyes narrowed just enough to
make him wonder if she hadn’t known all along, if she hadn’t asked about the
comet for a different reason. He blinked and imagined kissing her.
“Tam,”
she whispered again, his angel.
“Lily?”
“You’re
hogging the view.”
“Right.
Oh! Sorry.” He leaned away, and Lily Anderson squeezed in beside him. She
looked at the comet he’d found--they’d found--and only giggled when he put an
arm across her shoulders.
“It’s
beautiful, Tam, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The
breeze danced across the hill, and sent his tables wandering again. It was
late. They had a few more weeks of school. He should pack it in, put the scope
away and see Lily home. The lights were still on at Mr. Murray’s house across
the street. A few cars slow as they passed two kids on a hillside in the middle
of the night.
A honeymoon in Tahiti, another baby
on the way.
Tam
could imagine the rumors already.