. . . chatting while walking along the sidewalks of Bane. Later, I easily sweet talk Scott into visiting my favorite food truck, where he jokingly whined about the long line, telling me the food had better be worth it. I’d laughed, knowing it definitely was, but when Scott proclaimed to have fallen in love with the smoky brisket bar-b-que sandwich, I was absurdly jealous of the sandwich . . . for being in his hands, on his mouth, and apparently in his heart. Stupid, but true, even if I’d shaken my head at my own weirdness, concerned I might be jumping in a bit deeper than I’d thought but somehow wanting to swim out even further.
It’s getting late when Scott finally says it’s time for his promised surprise. I follow his directions carefully, climbing higher and higher above Bane on a deserted road I’ve never been on. “So, is this the part where the charmer reveals his true psychopathic nature and takes me out to the boonies for nefarious reasons?” I tease.
Scott looks at me, his eyes twinkling as he holds back a laugh, but he plays along. “Perhaps it is, but what sort of bad guy would I be if I told you all my evil plans?” He scans up and down my body, and I think I might like whatever evil plans he’s got judging by the goosebumps that break out along my flesh from the caress of just his eyes.
He holds the straight face for a beat longer and then we both laugh, the joke broken, along with the heated spell. “It’s just up here. Turn right, and . . .”
“Oh my god, it’s gorgeous!” I squeal, slamming on the brakes. Through the maze of turns, Scott has taken me to an overlook point, and the night sky stretches out far and wide before us, the stars and moon lighting up Bane in a way that makes it look special and twinkly.
“Come on . . .” Scott tells me, opening his door to get out. I follow his lead, getting out too but I reach into the back seat and grab a blanket. Sure, there’s dog hair on it, but there’s dog hair on us too, so it’ll do. When Scott sees the blanket, he gives an approving nod so I spread it out on the ground in front of us and we sit down.
“There’s the Danger building . . . kinda hard to miss that. I think I can see my apartment too though. See that little flicker? That’s the streetlight outside our place that never works right.” I grin as Scott leans in, resting his chin on my shoulder to follow the line of sight to where I’m pointing.
We spend the next several minutes deciphering landmarks here and there before finally giving up and laying back to do the same thing to stars in the sky above us.
“So, let’s start easy,” Scott says. “Dippers . . . big and little?” I point to the Big Dipper, then the Little Dipper.
“Too easy. Orion?” I ask. Scott searches for a moment, then points out the three stars of Orion’s Belt and traces the shape of The Hunter in the sky. “Right next to Orion is Scorpius . . . the scorpion. Do you know that story?”
I shake my head, interested even though the scorpion thing still gives me a bit of the willies. Damn Marie planting that nugget of fear about something that hadn’t even been a blip on my radar.
“Mythology says that Orion was a boastful, bragger type that claimed to be able to kill any animal. Mother Earth didn’t care for that and sent a giant scorpion to kill him. Zeus put Orion in the sky as a reminder, and the scorpion next to him to chase him for all eternity.” Scott tells the story well, and a small part of me can see him as the scorpion sent to punish the arrogant Orion. It makes Marie’s prediction both more and less scary . . . as long as Scott is hunting me for some fun punishment, I could be in to that.
“I’m a Libra, no fun animal in the night sky for me. Tiff told me that Libras are the only Zodiac in the sky represented by an inanimate object. I get scales . . . borrrring.” I say, my hands motioning like weighing scales going up and down.
Scott grins and takes my hand, stopping the movement, “Not boring . . . balance.