Lovers in A Dangerous Spacetime

Chapter Three

We all walk into the front doors, standing awkwardly and quietly in the main deck. We hear a door slam, and then a series of shuffling across the floor, and soon a group of scientists are standing at the top of a staircase.

An old, happy looking man laughs and pushes his way to the front of the scientists, looking around at all of the students below.

“Hello to all of you!” His hearty voice rings throughout the small room. “I’m so glad that all of you came to visit us, we have a large variety of things that we would like to show you, but today, we have a tour. Please, follow me to the main hall.”

We all begin walking up the stairs, loosely following behind the man down a series of hallways. Each room and corridor had something new and different from the last, whether it be technology or books, there was always something to discover.

The tour comes to an end as we stop at one final room. At the top of the doorway is a small plaque that reads ‘Testing Chambers’,  one of the scientists pushes to the front of the group, letting out a few grunts and sighs as they stumble about.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, is where we test a tweak new experiments. We’ll give you a few minutes to get to know the place, but we won’t be testing anything today.”

The group breaks up into several smaller ones, exploring the different features of each of the rooms. Each wall of the rooms have their own separate technologies, some reading or collecting data, and others organizing the findings of tests.

Melody and I wander into one of the smaller rooms together, looking up I see that the room is the observatory. We walk over to the giant window, staring out into the star filled sky. We look at the sky for what feels like forever, until I look over to Melody’s face. The light from the moon falls over her face, highlighting the soft features of the skin. Her eyes glisten with the silhouettes of the stars trapped inside of them, they dance around to look at each and every constellation.

I feel the heat grow in my face as I take in every detail about her. Her eyes, her smile, her laugh. Everything about her is so beautiful, and it has been. It has been since she sat on that bus, and since she stuttered at me. She been beautiful this whole time.

I've loved her this whole time.

Melody turns her head and looks over to me, letting a gentle smile rest on her lips. My face grows more and more red by the second, the moment just never seems to end.

But, it does. The sounds of voices and footsteps slowly intensifies, and soon, a small mob of students flood into the room. The group gathers around the window, breaking Melody and I apart.

I fight through a bunch of students until I reach free space, and I look around the room once again, trying to find Melody.

"Sabrina! Over here." I hear a whisper from the doorway.

I look over and see Melody, who has beat me to the door. I practically run over to her, both of us laughing at the stampede that nearly trampled us.

Once again I find myself staring at her, admiring her features while she laughs.

"How about we get outta here? The tour is over in a few minutes anyways, and I wanna get the good seats on the bus."

I nod, and we walk out to the main room. Our chauffeur gives us permission to board the bus and we leave the building. Just as we sit down on the bus I feel something touching my hand. I look down and see Melody's fingers ghosting over my own, her nails sending tingles down my spine.

I look up at her and she moves her hand away, resting it down on her armrest. Her head turns away and she lets out a small sigh, but she suddenly snaps her attention back to me.

"What do you think? About girls… I mean, about girls with girls, you know?"

I look at her for a moment, taking in the question until a small smirk finds its way to my lips.

"Girls are really nice, actually. They're smart, kind, and pretty too, totally better than any dude I've met. I've never had much experience with them though, so I couldn't tell you much."

Melody's eyes light up and she seems to be fighting off a smile.

I move my hand up to the armrest and graze my fingers over here, copying her past actions. She gets the hint, and rests her hand in mine, as both of our faces darken with blush. After a few moments more of peaceful silence, the rest of the students rush outside, yelling and laughing as the climb into the bus.

Melody goes to pull her hand away, but I hold onto it for a moment longer.

"Hey, it's okay, yeah? They don't matter, and if they say anything you got me here."

She looks into my eyes for a moment, and pulls her hand away. I nod, and she turns her head away from me.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to-"

She begins another apology.

"I'm really sorry. I'm just not used to being really open about that kinda stuff, with girls anyway. I grew up in an area that wasn't really accepting, so it doesn't feel right in front of others."

I smile and let out a small laugh. Melody looks at me with a confused expression.

"Yet. It doesn't feel right yet. We just need to get comfortable with it, as slow as you need, and it doesn't have to be romantic if you aren't ready for that."

She smiles and nods, letting out a small "thank you" before turning to the window. We turn into our small housing area and get off the bus, grabbing our things from the storage underneath. Melody and I meet up and walk into our apartment, placing our stuff down in the living room, flopping down on the couch and turning on the radio.

Again, I feel her hand reach for mine, and we both entangle our fingers together, slowly falling asleep to the sound of the 70's rock station.