Star Trek Mission to The Mercury
“Alright.” Miles started the engine then glanced at me. “Shall we get that drink?”
“Um,” I teased, “that depends.”
“Depends on?”
“Depends on where you are taking me?”
Miles smiled. “Is there a place you would like me to take you, Florence?”
“Well, actually…” I bit my lip, having one in mind. “Yeah, there is.”
Curiosity flickered across his face as he swiftly put on his glasses, pushed them up his nose, and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal. “Then that’s where we’ll go.”
***
When I used to live with my parents, my mum and I fought a lot—there probably wasn’t a single day we didn’t. It was a completely normal thing for us to do, just give us a reason. So, over time, I had found my special escape place: the observatory.
I wasn’t ready to share this haven with anybody else. I loved being there on my own. The only person I ever went there with was my sister, and even then it was only a couple of times. It had always been just me, lost in the unknown world, under the stellar sky, paying a visit to faraway galaxies.
And so now, against my better judgement, that was precisely where I found myself bringing Miles.
Following the same familiar route as I used to years ago, we popped into the local shop and got us some wine.
“How are we going to sneak it in?”
“In my bag.”
“What if they search us?”
“Let’s just say—” I playfully winked at him. “—I know the guy.”
Miles let out a low chuckle. “So why are we sneaking in like teenagers? We could have gone to a bar.”
“Because it’s more fun this way.”
“Ugh, shit,” I muttered, my eyes darting towards the new ticket attendant. Definitely not George. Well, George was probably ninety by now, of course he couldn’t work here forever, Florence. I slowed my pace, Miles right behind me. “Be cool,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Be cool!”
“Great,” Miles groaned under his breath.
“Tickets, please?” a man in a uniform asked as we approached the front of the queue.
“Sure,” Miles forced a smile, handing them over to be scanned.
“Miss?” The attendant glanced at my bag, his gaze quickly shifting to meet mine.
There was something about him. The man reminded me of someone but I couldn’t place who.
He, too, frowned momentarily, as if my face also seemed familiar.
His hair was neatly trimmed but the beard he sported made him difficult to recognise.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. But where?
My eyes fell onto the shiny badge dangling from his belt loop. What did it say? I squinted, trying to make out the letters
“Florence?” The man suddenly beamed, his face lighting up with a broad grin. “Florence Grant?”
“Um…yes?” I responded, caught off guard.
“Oh, wow!” His gaze swept over me like an airport metal detector. “Look at you!”
Catching a glimpse of “Goode” on his pass, I stared back. Goode? Goode? Who the hell…? “Oh,” I gasped, the memory hitting me at once. It was him – my worst, first kiss. “Felix?” I asked.
Miles suppressed a chuckle, clearly enjoying this unexpected turn of events.
“Come here,” Felix pulled me into a quick hug with such force that the bottles in my bag clinked against each other.
Shit. Did he catch that? “Wow! You look…” He paused, seemingly searching for the right words.
“Um…” Then his eyes suddenly caught Miles standing right next to me.
“Different,” he blurted. “I mean…you must be the boyfriend?”
“Who, me? Oh, no.” Miles shook his head, a playful smirk on his face. “Sadly not. I’ve tried, but Florence here still can’t stop thinking about this guy, the first and best kiss she ever had.”
Miles, you idiot! I thought, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
“Oh, wow, that must be one lucky man,” Felix chuckled, nodding at me with a wink.
“What was his name,” Miles mused, tapping his finger against his lips thoughtfully, “something with the letters…P and H?”
A beat of silence hung in the air.
Phonetically speaking, it was pretty much a dead giveaway, but fortunately for me, Felix’s confused expression suggested otherwise. Ha!
“I can’t believe you did that!”
“Seems like Felix is still pretty hung up on you,” he chuckled as we entered the planetarium dome, quickly lowering his voice. “Wow, the acoustics here are incredible.”
“Hung up on me because…I look different?” I rolled my eyes. “Oh,” I muttered, glancing around at the empty rows of chairs.
“You know he only said that because of me, right?” Miles offered, following close behind me. “Where do you want to sit?”
“Come here,” I whispered, leading him further into the centre rows where a good observation point was. “No one really sits here,” I blurted. Then, after a brief pause, I added, “And as for Felix, I’d rather go porcelain shopping with my mother than endure another hydration facial session with him.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” He paused, a playful grin on his face. “Wouldn’t want to compete with…that. So, I’m guessing you’re not looking forward to kissing him again anytime soon?”
I winced at the memory, offering him a tight-lipped smile as I quickly sank into the soft chair in front of us. “Here, this is a good spot.”
Miles dipped into the seat beside me and, glancing overhead, we both reclined slightly. “Comfy,” he whispered. Our knuckles accidentally brushed.
Turning towards him, I fluttered my eyes open, only to find his grey eyes fixed intently upon me.
The faint scent of his aftershave hung in the air between us.
Irresistibly, my gaze travelled down the contours of his face then, as I swallowed hard, it lingered on the curve of his lips, drawn to the possibility of more.
God! That…that wasn’t what we agreed. With a quick intake of breath, I jerked my head forward, staring at the ceiling.
I was acutely aware that he was still watching me but I was too afraid to glance back.
A few coughs echoed in the distance and then the lights abruptly dimmed, swallowing the room into darkness. The projector flickered to life, the bold letters reading ‘QUEEN HEAVEN,’ splashed across the dome, a tribute to the iconic artists of the seventies.
Slowly we were enveloped by the rotating night sky; thousands of stars shimmered above, a breathtaking mystery that sparked a wonder within me: what other unknown, mind- blowing secrets might be hidden in the vast expanse of the cosmos?
And then a familiar melody filled the air, Freddie Mercury’s low bass sending the goosebumps across my skin.
“Wine?” Miles’ words brushed against my ear, the warmth of his breath gently caressing my skin.
“Mmhmm,” I whispered back.
He leaned closer, his lips ghosting over the edge of my earlobe. “Sorry, did you say yes?”
I turned my head, inhaling his scent—same clean aftershave with a wisp of nicotine, so dangerously delicious on him, it was intoxicating. “Yes,” I murmured, a shiver racing down my spine.
Miles passed me a bottle of wine just as the myriads of luminaries appeared across the three hundred and sixty-degree screen, bathing us in their ethereal glow and overwhelming me at once.
Desperate to tame the tension building within me, I quickly twisted the lid and took a cold, deep gulp.
Its strong acidity momentarily made me wince.
“God,” I muttered with a chuckle, “this tastes like crap.”
Miles’ face mirrored my own; clearly he hadn’t enjoyed his sip either.
“It really does,” he mused, his gaze flickering to mine.
“But trust me, I’ve tasted worse.” Then, with a playful smirk, he raised his bottle to me.
“Cheers,” he said, his voice dropping to a husky whisper, “to great company, no matter the wine!”
I smiled back. “Yeah, I’ll drink to that.”
With another few sips, I felt my muscles relax.
Was I that lightheaded, or was it simply a lack of food?
Well, now, my mind drifted to what my mother might have requested for dinner tonight.
Surely it would be something delectable, something…
mouthwatering. Ugh! A single thought of warm, baked, aromatic casserole made my stomach growl.
“Okay, focus,” I muttered to myself, taking another gulp of white, the cool liquid sliding down my throat as I tried to drown out the distracting hunger pangs.
Slowly, the wine lifted me like a feather adrift, carrying me among the shimmering stars. A euphoric tingle danced across my skin as swirling lights blurred the edges of my vision. “Wow,” I gasped. “Look at that…” I trailed off, noticing my bottle was half empty.
“This is incredible,” Miles whispered, his voice full of awe.
“I know,” I breathed, feeling transported through time and space, surrounded by a myriad of galaxies.
He chuckled, his eyes gleaming. “I feel like…we’re on a Star Trek mission…to…Mercury?”
“Or… is that just the grape juice talking,” I giggled into his shoulder.
The crisp liquid pooled down my throat, lifting the heaviness of the day. Everything around me slowed for a fraction of a second and my words drawled as I spoke. “I could stay here forever…” The universe above spun and I, too, dissolved into nothingness, stranded, wondering what else was out there.
Accidentally finding each other, our fingers brushed yet again.
Neither of us pulled our hands away. Instead, they slowly intertwined, my thumb tracing a gentle path across the centre of his palm, his hovering just above my knuckles.
A soft touch, yet it felt like an electric current coursing through my entire being, every thought narrowing to the single point where our hands were connected.
“You know,” I murmured, my eyes drifting to the stellar beauty above, the vast spectacle of the night sky taking my breath away, “I kind of wished you hadn’t left that morning,” I whispered, finally turning my face to look at him, finding his eyes already on me.
The dark intensity of his gaze made my pulse quicken and the jackhammering in my chest wouldn’t stop.
Holding my hand, he gently rubbed the side of his against my thigh, his thumb tracing small circles that sparked goosebumps on my skin. “You know,” he whispered back, his stare unwavering, “I kind of wished I hadn’t either.”