rudy & elle

Flat on their backs, the fleece beneath them provided adequate comfort from the pine straw that littered the ground. It was a rare cloudless night just off campus, and the wind chill slightly lowered the mercury reading, staying consistent at just somewhere between 47-49. The edge of the park's forested area was just dark enough to give a spectacular view of the astral plane above their heads.

"King Cepheus."

Elle adjusted, putting a white snowflake-pattern mitten hand over her ear, forming a right angle with her elbow. Her pink woolen hunter's cap pulled tightly over her platinum blond hair, revealing three inches that peeked curiously out of the back. Her cheekbones dimpled and pink from the fall weather was such a contradiction...they only seemed to make her smile warmer. Rudy did not notice, as his gaze still remained upward. Mathematical equations that turned the gears in his brain were engaging in battle with the remarkability of the infinite sky. He sometimes wished that he weren't so smart, that the only thing he knew about a solar flare were the fantastic splashes of color that it brought. Lifting his hand, he traced the pattern of the gaseous matter over and over, whether or not his blanket neighbor was paying him attention was the furthest from his mind.

"He was married to Cassiopeia, ruled over Aethiopia. He had to put up his daughter for Poseidon’s sacrifice." Elle moved her pupil up, half-nodding with feigned interest. The use of her pet name always made her heart flutter whenever Rudy would utter it.

She sighed, wondering why such a usually romantic activity amongst "normal" couples had to be so complicated with the two of them. It had only been up until recently where she had insisted that he not bring along the telescope, thinking that it would deter his endless curiosity so they could spend a little more time nestled in each other’s arms under the splendor of nature. As odd as she considered herself, Rudy was truly the one whose head was in the clouds. There was no room to complain, however, as that's precisely why she loved him. Scrunching closer and draping her arm over his tummy, she kissed him on the cheek.

"How’d he become king?" she asked.

Rudy fell silent, face remaining expressionless, as he became lost in thought. He knew that to her, there were no components...she was a big-picture type of person in her simplicity. Rudy saw these stars as working parts of a fully functional universe, and that Earth was the smallest sprocket in the schema. Humoring her, however, was one of his finer works of engineering.

"It's a funny story, actually. You see, legend has it that..."

Elle squeezed him closer as he trailed off into a fable that he constructed as he went along. She pretended to listen with intent, letting her mind wander as she examined the splashes of color that made up the side of his face.

It all started with an easel and a canvas, and a decision to take the long way back to the parking lot through the front lawn. Several of the art students were out that day, as midterm progress reports were coming up and portfolios needed to be filled with their best work. With backpack hunched over one shoulder, he paced through the grass with his hands tucked inside the pocket of his blue hooded sweatshirt. Rudy had only looked up once during his stroll, and that’s when he saw the piece that she was touching up. It was a gallant painting of the very lawn they were standing on, of course…but with an interesting little twist on reality.

She had just happened to turn around and notice Rudy taking a gander at the picture. A visible blush and a smile complimented the take, and Rudy returned it with a sheepish grin of his own.

He had only made it ten steps past her when he saw the smile once more…clear as the Cerulean Sea…rippling over his thoughts. He desperately found himself wanting to wade in her lips and splash in the fluoride-treated teeth that reflected the shine of Polaris on a clear summer night. Rudy was not normally a kid who could be taken aback by such a bolt of lightning – the variables never quite lined up correctly in his head to ever grant him the courage to acquire the nerve. Her pull, however, was like a black hole in the wake of a thriving galaxy. Before he even reapproached her to speak, he wanted nothing more than to be soaked into her event horizon. She smelled of citrus and her skin looked as smooth as Neptune’s icy surface. Frantically, he tried to think of something to say…something cool…something she’d been dying to hear her entire life…a compliment even more worthy than Andromeda herself.

“…and that’s why he was forever immortalized in the sky, coming out on nights like these so boyfriends can impress their girlfriends with his tale. Thanks to Cepheus, millions of star-watching males across every galaxy coax women into sleeping with them every autumn night.”

Elle shifted her weight on top of Rudy, dangling the fringe of her scarf on his nose and cupping his cheek with her hand.

They kissed as they had a thousand times before, with this same scenario occurring more times than a Saved by the Bell rerun on TBS. The only regret that Rudy had over falling head over heels for this amazing woman was the ruin of the work he’d spent years trying to create. A blueprint of the machine that would harness the perfect amount of kinetic energy to take him far away from this planet that lacked the potential to make a proper home. A rocket ship to end all rocket ships that was completely flawless in design. A true scientific masterpiece was deleted from his hard drive only nights prior to this one…

He’d never thought he’d need room for two.