space boy; muke

xv

Luke continued on the rest of the day, not seeing Michael again until the final bell at the end of class, when he saw the purple haired boy in the parking lot, waiting by his car.

"Michael?" Luke asked. "What's up?"

"I've got something to show you." Michael said, opening the car door. "Let's go." Luke was weary to go on this adventure with Michael, he didn't want his punishment to go from two weeks to three, or worse, a month.

"Where are we going?" Luke asked, climbing into his car, and letting Michael in the passenger side. "I've got to get home soon."

"Drive to city center, there's something special there." Michael instructed Luke, pulling out a piece of paper from his bag. "Drive like you're going to the movies."

"We aren't going to the movies, are we?" Luke asked. "I don't have time for that, Mikey."

"No, I promise, and if you're in trouble when you get home, you can blame me. Tell your parents that you were teaching me trigonometry or something." Michael shrugged. "Now let's go!"

Luke followed the instructions and drove as if he was going to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster on the town's single movie theatre, and spent the majority of the ride in silence. Michael was quiet, though Luke could tell that he was overjoyed. His smile lit up his face, and it made Luke wonder what Michael was up to.

When they got to the theater's parking lot, Michael gave him the next set of instructions.

"Alright, so you know that back alleyway that runs behind the movie theater?" Michael asked, to which Luke nodded. "That's where we're going."

Luke hesitantly got out of the car, and started to walk towards the alley with Michael. Without another word, Michael reached down and took Luke's hand in his, and continued walking down the dark alley.

There were a few stores that had entrances along this alley, but Luke didn't know what any of them were, let alone that they were even open. Michael stopped in front of a door with a celestial painting on it, a business name nowhere in sight.

"C'mon Lukey, let's go." Michael said, opening the door and crossing the threshold. Luke followed, and was amazed as to what he saw inside. It was a space themed coffee shop.

"I've been meaning to come here for a while now, but I thought we should come, together." Michael explained.

"Michael, it's great." Luke grinned, observing everything in sight. There were cozy overstuffed armchairs next to tables that had been painted to look like galaxies, the rugs had the solar system on them, there were posters and photos and paintings on every wall, depicting lunar eclipses and the moon landing and everything else. There were cartoon spaceships on the tables, and little planet mobiles hanging from the low ceilings.

"We don't have to stay, Luke, I just thought I should show it to you." Michael explained. "Maybe when you're not grounded anymore, we can come back?"

"It's a date." Luke grinned.