17. Robin #2
Micah's voice was warm with amusement. “Nope. That is not how surprises work.”
He squeezed my hand. The car filled with comfortable silence again.
Outside, the darkness stretched around us. Inside, the car felt warm and safe.
I'd spent so much of my life waiting for the other shoe to drop. The expectation that people were something other than who they presented themselves to be was always present. People disappointed me. Micah didn’t seem to do that.
A little over a month wasn't supposed to be enough time for someone to become this important.
And yet every time I looked at him, every time he smiled at me, every time I found myself reaching for my phone because I wanted to tell him something, the feeling grew a little stronger.
Maybe there wasn't a timetable for these things.
I glanced over at him. He was focused on the road but could sense me and absentmindedly rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand.
There was a word that had been rattling around in my head for the past couple days. Honestly, it may have happened when he gave me that Coke when I was hung over.
That thought alone made me giggle.
“What’s up?” Micah asked, looking over at me as we made our way down a back country road.
“Nothing, just thought of something Belle said.”
I was not about to say… I think I might be falling in love with you.
I squeezed his hand.
"Okay, at some point you have to tell me where we're going?"
Micah glanced over and waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh my God,” I groaned.
"You'll see."
"I hate surprises."
"No, you don't."
And I was even more irritated because he was correct.
About fifteen minutes later, Micah turned off the main road and onto a gravel lane that cut between two bare fields.
I immediately sat up straighter. "What is this?"
He smiled.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Either you're taking me somewhere romantic or you're finally getting around to murdering me."
His laugh filled the car. "I feel like we've already established I'm not a serial killer."
"Then what’s in the case?" I asked.
"That’s part of the surprise."
"That doesn’t help your non-serial killer argument."
The gravel crunched beneath the tires as we drove farther down the road.
The last of Briar Glenn's lights disappeared behind us until darkness stretched in every direction.
Eventually Micah slowed and pulled into a wide-open field.
Then he killed the engine. The only sound was the wind moving through the dry grass.
The field seemed to go on forever beneath the moonlight.
"Well," I said. "This is definitely where murders happen."
Micah rolled his eyes. "I spent all afternoon planning this."
"Tell my family I love them and give Ariel my skates."
He shook his head and laughed as he got out of the car. I followed him, pulling my hoodie tighter around myself against the chill. Autumn had officially settled into Ohio, bringing with it cold evenings and the kind of crisp air that made you think about bonfires and football games.
Micah moved to the back of the car and started unloading supplies. He grabbed out two blankets, a picnic basket and the mysterious long black case.
"What exactly are we doing?"
"You'll see."
I groaned.
He laughed again, and I found myself smiling despite my annoyance. Somehow, he managed to make it difficult to stay irritated with him.
He handed me the blanket and motioned toward the middle of the field. Together we walked through the grass until we were far enough from the road that the car felt distant behind us.
The night sky stretched overhead, clear and impossibly vast. Without the lights from town competing for attention, the stars seemed brighter than usual. Thousands of them scattered across the darkness like someone had spilled diamonds across black velvet.
I paused for a moment just to take it in. "Okay," I admitted. "This is pretty."
"Just wait."
By the time we'd spread the blanket on the ground, curiosity was officially getting the better of me. Micah knelt beside the large case and began working the latches.
"So, when do I die?"
"Robin, would you stop? I’m not going to kill you. Who would I have sex with later?"
I gave him a playful glare. “If you don’t tell me what we are doing you won’t be getting sex anytime soon.”
Then he flipped open the case. Inside was a telescope. It was a big telescope that looked expensive. He carefully lifted it out of the case and started setting it up.
"Wow, that’s really impressive."
Micah looked entirely too pleased with himself.
"You brought me to a field."
"Correct."
"In the middle of nowhere."
"Also correct."
"To look at space."
His grin widened. "Now you're getting it."
“On a school night?”
“It’s a special night,” he said as he came to sit by me. The breeze lifted a few strands of blond hair across his forehead. For one ridiculous second, I forgot how to breathe.
"What’s so special about tonight?"
He brushed the stray strands of hair off his forehead as he smiled at me. What did I possibly do to deserve the attention of some like him? He was too good for this earth, let alone too good for me.
"There's a meteor shower tonight." The words came out simple and sincere. "I wanted to watch it with you."
The field around fell quiet except for the distant hooting of an owl, while the stars overhead shined bright.
And sitting there beneath all that open sky, looking at the man who had driven me into the middle of nowhere because he wanted to share something he loved with me, I felt my chest ache in the best possible way.
I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat, before standing to try and shake off some of the extra emotions that came from someone as wonderful as Micah.
Then pointed at the telescope. "Alright, show me how this thing works."
Micah laughed as he stood from the blanket and walked over to the telescope.
"Not until you ask nicely."
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"Please?"
“Say it again.”
"No."
I tilted my head up and kissed him. When I finally pulled away, his glasses were slightly crooked and he looked pleasantly dazed.
"There," I said.
"Better?"
His smile was soft and completely unguarded. "Much better."
He looked into the telescope and adjusted some nozzles. Why was this almost as attractive as watching him play his bass?
“Come here,” he said, reaching for me.
I took his hand as he settled me down next to him.
“Here, look through this.”
His arm wrapped around my waist as I lowered my head to the telescope. The eyepiece felt cool against my cheek.
“If you look slightly to the right, you will see ursa major.”
“The big dipper?” I pulled back from the telescope to look at him.
“That is part of it. If you look further to the right, you see those three stars?”
He pointed to the sky and I followed his gesture.
“I think so.”
“That is the bear’s head. Below it are the feet.”
I lowered my face back to the telescope and I saw it.
“I see it!” I called excitedly.
I pulled back and looked at him, and I wasn’t sure who’s smile was bigger, his or mine.
“In about thirty minutes there will be a meteor shower. I brought us some snacks while we wait.” He opened the picnic basket and pulled out some pizza flavored Pringles and Sour Patch Kids.
My mouth fell open.
“I pay attention,” was all he said as he opened them for me.
We sat on the blanket with our shoulders pressed together beneath the blanket.
The picnic basket turned out to contain hot chocolate in a thermos and enough snacks to feed a small army.
We passed everything back and forth while talking about absolutely nothing and somehow everything at the same time.
Every so often, Micah would point toward the sky and direct my attention to a constellation. He knew them all. Not in a show-off sort of way, but with the enthusiasm of someone sharing something he genuinely loved.
"There. Did you see that"
I squinted.
"No."
His laugh warmed me more than the hot chocolate.
"There was a shooting star."
"I missed it?!" I moved to the telescope and looked at the night sky.
He shifted closer behind me and guided my gaze with a gentle hand. The warmth of him settled against my back. His voice dropped slightly as he explained what I was looking at. I wasn't paying much attention to the stars anymore, I was paying attention to him.
Then suddenly something streaked across the sky. Gone almost before I could process it. My breath caught. "Micah!"
"You saw that?" His grin appeared immediately.
“Yes! That was amazing!”
"There'll be more."
As if the universe wanted to prove him right, another streak of light flashed overhead. Then another. Soon they were appearing everywhere. The night sky was filled with tiny light streaking across the sky.
I found myself laughing, like my body was having trouble containing the joy and it was just bubbling out in giggles.
And somehow, sitting there in the middle of a field in rural Ohio, wrapped in a blanket beside a nerdy science teacher with a telescope staring at the vastness of the sky, I felt smaller than I ever had before, and more alive at the same time.
Micah adjusted the telescope and motioned me over.
"Come look."
I leaned forward and pressed my eye to the lens. When I looked like this, the stars weren't distant points anymore. They were real. They appeared almost close enough to touch.
"It's beautiful."
"I know."
The answer wasn't smug at all, it held all the amazement I felt too.
I pulled my face away from the telescope and saw him staring up at the night sky with peaceful awe filling his face. Yeah, there was a good chance I was already in love with him.
Micah glanced over and caught me looking up at him. His eyes were full of so much emotion and thought I was sure they held some sadness to them. But when he bent down and kissed me under the starry sky I couldn’t focus on anything else.
I never considered myself to be the kind of woman to be swept off her feet, but here I was being swept off my feet underneath a canopy of stars by the most unexpected man I’d ever known.