When the Stars Align (Anthony Rizzo)

32| Day Dreaming

Kelsey

We were about four hours into our 20 hour road trip and it's felt like it's been mere minutes we've been driving. Anthony was playing some great music and we had the windows down and the sun roof open. We were just cruising along at this point until we stop in Georgia for the night. I offered to help drive but he insisted that he drives and I got to relax for a little.

Not gonna lie, it was a little hard to leave home. I've never been away from my family before, not even for a day. So saying goodbye for about a week was hard. But my dad promised me they'll be fine and everyone will get to where they need to be. He claims I needed a vacation and I couldn't really argue with him. Even my work offered to give me a paid vacation which was awesome. So now I sit here with a clear conscious ready to see some new things.

"Do you miss your family yet" Anthony asks and I let out a sigh.

"I do a little. I don't miss getting a million texts saying "Cici can you get me this" and "Cici can you pick up this." It's pretty nice just being here with you and I don't need to be anywhere else" I admit.

"Why do they call you Cici" he wonders and I smile.

"When I was a baby I was so outgoing and so wondrous. Every where I would go I would point something out to my parents and say "see see!" So they started calling me Cici and my name is Kelsey so it worked out well" I shrug.

"That's actually really cute. I did not know that's how you got your nickname" he admits.

"It's kinda silly but it stuck. There's worst things I've said as a baby that I could have been called" I laugh.

"What else don't I know about you that I probably should as a forever friend" he wonders and I shake my head.

"I'm not that interesting" I insist.

"I love learning about you" he claims and I sigh. We had plenty of time to kill, so why not.

"Let's see... when I was a kid I wanted to be astronaut. I thought going into space would be really cool but, as I learned more about what being a astronaut really was I realized it's kinda terrifying. I don't think I would last a day up there. So for my 12th birthday I asked for a telescope instead. It got burned up in the fire but it was so overused anyway it didn't do much good. But it satisfied that itch to play among the stars.

I've always wanted a dog, no specific kind just a dog. I would give it so much love it wouldn't know what to do.

I had a best friend in middle school who died in a car crash by a drunk driver and in high school I started a club to stop drunk driving. I didn't want my little brother and sister to lose their friends or to lose them so I wanted to do what I can to stop that from happening" I explain.

"Oh wow, I am so sorry" Anthony says softly.

"It's okay. You actually remind me a lot of her" I admit.

"How so" he wonders.

"You both have a great since of humor, only she made me laugh nearly as much as you do. You both have great hearts, so selfless and kind. You both have these big brown eyes I can't seem to resist. And I love you both dearly" I insist.

"She sounds great" he teases making me smile.

"She was awesome" I agree.

"What do you miss most from being a kid" he asks.

I look out the window and up into the sky. It was just a blue blanket up there covering the like a blanket. My hair whips around me as I let out a long sigh.

"I miss going out on my roof and feeling so small, so irrelevant in this world. I could lay there for hours and stare at the sky seeing nothing, feeling nothing. It was a awesome experience and I wish I could experience it again. But with who I am and what situation I am in I'll always be answering to someone or have some kind of label. I can't just exist like I used to. I want to, but I can't" I insist.

"You lay outside all the time" he reminds me.

"This is different. Up there on that roof I felt so close to the sky. I felt like I was a part of the sky. My mom would just feed me these stories of how the stars got up there, about what they represent. She opened up the world I knew and introduced me to the world that it beyond my farthest imagination. Being up there... it meant the world to me" I smile.

"I'm going to buy us a house one day. And it's going to be a big house that will get you as close to the sky as you can ever be. There's going to be a space on the roof where you and our eventual daughter can lay and you can tell her how you loved by the sun and the moon. No matter how the sky was painted you were always the most beautiful thing around this galaxy or any other one out there. Then when she asks about her grandma you can tell her all about her" he claims.

I turn from the sky to him as his eyes were set on the road. He had the biggest smile on his face as he daydreamed with me.

"Is this what you think about" I wonder.

"All the time. I can't wait to start a family, to build a home and share our love" he says.

"I didn't know you felt like that" I admit and he laughs a little.

"Sometimes you need to be stuck in a car for two days to put into perspective what you want once you finally get out the car" he insists. Fair enough.

"Is our house in Chicago" I wonder.

"It's wherever your heart leads you" he says.

"I think I want to go far away from Chicago. And it's crazy because I've spent my whole life constantly harping about broadening our horizons and saying that there's so much more out there, yet I stay. Chicago will always be home for me and I will fight to stay there for as long as I can, but it's not where I want to be. I want a house far away from everything where it's so quiet it's like space, right Anthony" I tease and he smiles.

"Right."