Beyond the Galaxy

Chapter 9 - Starlight's Harmony

Lottie's Point of View

By the time I turned twenty eight years old, I had entered my first official romantic relationship with the animal I'd had unwavering feelings for for more than a decade.

It was both a blessing and a birthday present, I decided. I assumed it wasn't the intention for Digby to become my boyfriend just under two weeks before my birthday, but the timing was lucky. Actually, I was pretty sure that any other gift would pale in comparison. After the emotional confession, we returned to our sections of work and unspokenly agreed that the talk of our romantic future would have had to wait until the proper business was done. Sitting side by side in supervising Happy Homeroom sessions between three and six o'clock was like pins and needles in remembering the truth and being unable to say anything. As soon as our shifts had ended, we joined each other in the garden at the back of the building where we had kissed for the first time four years ago and discussed what to do about what we now knew.

By the time my birthday arrived, it still had yet to sink in that we were together. I recognized that we had grown closer than ever before, but I failed to process that we had gone from platonic to romantic in a matter of hours. However, I was reminded of the fact once again by Digby bringing up the topic of going out on another date for the occasion. Since he had chosen our last date, a night under the stars, it was technically my turn to make the decision, but he insisted on planning something again this time around because it was my birthday. He treated me to dinner in a cozy little restaurant, kissed me again amidst the color-changing trees, and brought me back to the same hill we had sat to stargaze last time as we had both enjoyed it so much. The stars glistened just as bright and beautiful as the last time we had been there and we settled down to recline onto the grass to gaze up at it, cuddled up to each other's side while Digby wrapped an arm around my shoulders to keep me close.

"I still haven't even processed that this is a thing," I murmured, absorbing myself in the warmth of Digby's half-embrace and staring up at the star-sprinkled sky as a crisp breeze fluttered past us. The chirp of the crickets was subtle tonight, but still whirred somewhere in the shadows. "Have you?"

"Well, I think of it less as a processing thing," Digby told me. His voice was gentle near my ear. "I'm just thrilled that this is happening in general. So I'm just going with the flow, I suppose."

"May I ask, how long have you felt this way about me?" I inquired, shifting slightly to glance over at him. Due to our close proximity, his face was hardly inches from mine, our eyes meeting as he looked my way as well. About a month ago, something like this would have panicked me, but I was used to it well enough now for it to hardly provoke a response.

"You know, it's funny, actually," he replied. As he spoke, he began to softly caress my shoulder as if to soothe me. "I remember the exact moment when I realized I was in love with you. I had a crush on you, too, of course, but they both kind of happened at the same time. It was on your twenty-second birthday, so six years ago from this very day. I was enjoying a cup of coffee with my dad under the sunrise and we were talking about you, but I don't remember what it was about. I remember that I hadn't seen you for a while before I realized because it was right after the whole... Well, you know, all of those problems that went down at Happy Home that you and your uncle put me on a work suspension for."

"After I fired you?" I echoed. "You fell in love with me after I fired you?"

"Well, it wasn't because you fired me," Digby shot back, but an amused smile was already creeping across his face. "It's because I didn't have much to do with my life anymore after that besides thinking about what happened and then I started thinking about you more, which is what made me realize."