Freezing Blazing

[Blair Collins]

Damn. He chose that moment to look at her. That boy had some really bad timing. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to laugh it off. Her shoulders shook but she had no idea whether it was due to the crying or the laughing. "I am not trying to pull a teen movie move on you or anything like that." She pressed her wrists into her eyes, wiping the tears with her sleeve. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Lowering her hands, she stared up at the sky again and tried to count the stars. She licked her lips and cleared her throat. "Did you know that starlight takes years just to reach us? So, in fact, we are seeing them as they were thousands of years ago. We are literally looking back in time."

Oh gosh, did she really just say that? Her face burned. Where did that come from? She did not even know she knew such a thing. It was completely trivial, pointless. What was Lister--or herself, for that matter--supposed to do with that kind of information? "I am being weird," she said with as little emotion as possible. "Please, ignore me."

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR looked back down at his knees, eyes peaking over them. She had been crying. Maybe it'd be best if he left her alone. Instead of moving LDR just gripped his knees tighter, as if they would protect him from the world.

And then she started talking again, it covered the sound of his rapid breathing. Her little spiel did distract his mind, reminding him of a fact he had heard. When she finally finished another silence fell over them. This time it was LDR who broke it.

Loosening the grip around his legs, he glanced back over at her "E-E-Eight mi-mi-minutes...i-i-i-if the su-su-sun blew up, we'd ha-ha-ha-have eight minutes to li-li-live. We pr-pr-probably wou-wouldn't even kn-kn-know until it wa-was there." He pointed upwards, uncurling from his little ball giving the girl a sheepish smile "Th-Thatss...uh...Orion's belt..." It was a cruddy way of moving the conversation away from death but hopefully it worked. After another glance LDR huddled back into his position, face burrowing even further against his knees.

[Blair Collins]

Blair smiled. That was not the reply she was expecting. The thing about the sun was kind of morbid though but she wondered what she would do with her last eight minutes.

She tilted her head to one side. "Orion the Hunter... in a Greek myth, the goddess Gaia was angry with him so she sent a scorpion after him. That's why the constellation Scorpius and Orion are never in the sky at the same time. Ophiuchus--I think his name was--helped Orion. And his constellation stands between the Scorpion and the Hunter in the sky."

She sighed and fingered the drawstrings of her her red hoodie. She could play this. Yes, let me impress you with my awkward knowledge of the night sky, she thought sheepishly. "The Greeks matched a lot of comstellations that way... Of the eighty-eight official constellations, forty-eight were recorded by a Greek astronomer."

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR nodded his head as she kept on speaking. Just keep on talking about stars "And the fo-fo-forty o-others?" He brought his knees in tighter, chest starting to pound again. Could they just spend the night doing this, talking about stars?

His face flushed as he looked back at her. He shuffled backwards, lying down an arm's length away from her "Uhh...I-I-I-I..." He clammed back up, shooting his gaze upwards again. His breathing got worse, his chest pounding away.

He shuffled back away slightly "S-S-S-Sorry..." His arm went upwards "How ma-ma-many st-stars wo-would you sa-say there was?" The boy's face grew a brighter shade of red, burning strongly.

[Blair Collins]

Blair shrugged, smiling to herself. "No idea. I only know the funky bits."

Then he said it. During their last encounter, "Uh.. I-I-I-" had been the beginning of his attempted speech before bolting off and leaving her stranded. He was not about to do that again, was he? But then he was lying down next to her. Her heart raced as fast as Lister's.

Stop it. Focus on the stars. "I know there is about a hundred billion in our universe alone. And since there are other universes..." She shrugged again. "Too many to count--and they live and die all the time. Kind of makes one feel small, doesn't it?"

Sighing, Blair spread out her arms. Her fingers brushed Lister's by accident. Heat rose rapidly to her cheeks but she did not move her hand.

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR's breathing got faster as he felt her fingers lay on top of his arm. Except this time he didn't want to run, oh he still wanted to break down and die but he didn't want to run. Her fingers felt warm against skin "Uhhh...I-I-I-I..." His face burned. Goosebumps ran all up his arm.

He gulped, glancing down at the girl's hand. What was he meant to do? For a few moments LDR just lay still, breathing in the cold night's air. His lungs felt frozen but his chest kept on beating harder and harder. Why was this happening? This wasn't meant to be happening. His chest grew tighter with each breath.

The boy turned his head to look at Blair for a few moments before looking back up "Th-Th-This is...uh..." He avoided looking towards the girl, going back to studying the night sky.

[Blair Collins]

Blair could hear her own heart beating. He did not run! She thought for sure he would pull away or bolt at the slightest touch like the last time--but he did not. She knew he knew where her hand was. She could hear his raced breaths but he stayed nonetheless. Her smiled widened. She hoped this was not drug-influenced; he did say his body rejected it. She carefully flexed her fingers a little. Gosh, he was warm. She wished she could do more than just graze his arm but she did not want to give him an asthma attack or something.

She realized that to him, they barely touched--though it was intimate enough. But she had heightened senses. This slightest of contacts sent her tingles down her spine.

"Lister, remember when you said we could do sit on the roof tomorrow night?" She turned her head to look at him. He seemed very focused on the sky. Light reflected off his glasses and his hair was still disheveled by the wind. "I think I will take that offer--if it is still open."

[Lister D. Reynolds]

As her fingers flexed against his arm LDR's heart pounded faster, dangerously fast. It felt kind of nice to have her lying next to him, kind of relaxing and terrifying at the same time like it was when Ben helped support him on the ice. He glanced back towards her and gulped "Uhh...I-I-I-I..." There was no reason for him to deny the offer he had made. No reasonable reason. Why had he offered to do that? His eyes flicked back to the sky.

"Uhhh...S-S-S-Sure...I-I-I mean...of co-course..." He brought his arm across his body, gripping the other tightly. The cold wind bit against him making him wish he had brought something warm. There was a dead silence for a few minutes before he turned to look at her "Wh-Wh-Why...Uh...do-do-do y-you wa-wa-wa-wa-wa..." After a few more moments of stammering LDR shut up and looked back up.

[Blair Collins]

Blair shrugged her shoulders. "Just because." The wind made her shiver too so she hugged herself, rubbing her arms. Maybe shoes would not have been such a bad idea, she realized too late. She turned onto her side, facing the boy--giving her a number of ideas on how to keep warm. But she enjoyed the silence a while longer; he seemed to prefer it. This was the Lister she knew and loved. The night was so peaceful...

Despite her best efforts, her eyelids started to droop. No! Everything was just starting to go well for once... But she knew they should not stay up there for too long. Other than the risk of getting caught out of bed past curfew, the cold could not be healthy for them. She covered yawn with the back of her hand. "It's getting late," she said dreamily, eyelids half closed.

[Lister D. Reynolds]

The boy's eyes were fixed firmly on the spanning cosmos above them as Blair turned around to look at him again. He couldn't resist the urge to smile when she made a small yawn, it was kind of...cute, was that the right word? LDR's face turned a bright, his arm gripping harder until his knuckles had turned white. Ughh...STOP MESSING WITH ME UNIVERSE! First it's Ben now it's Blair. Can't you just make up your mind already? Who do you want me to be? He silently shook his head, wishing things could be straight forward.

She wanted to go back to her room? LDR silently thanked whatever universal deity had taken over for the time being. He could go back to his room and forget this night. Did he want to forget it so desperately now as he did before? Sure it had started out wrong but something about it had made it all worth while...he couldn't put his finger on it, or rather didn't want to admit what he was thinking.

"Ye-Ye-Ye-Yeah...I-I-I-I..." LDR shuffled slightly, deciding whether or not to sit up. In the end he just turned around to look at Blair for a few moments before looking back up, the cosmos casting across his glasses.

[Blair Collins]

Blair did not want to leave; not when they were just getting comfortable. She really, really wanted to stay there with him. She almost wished that Lister made the first move and leave like the last time so she would not have to do it herself. Then she remembered something C. S. Lewis said. Things never happen the same way twice.

So she forced herself to sit up. Rubbing her groggy eyes, she said, "I should go to bed before I fall asleep here." As if to emphasize this, she yawned and then smiled. "Maybe I should bring a blanket next time. And before you start panicking, I should say that I am just kidding." She chuckled sleepily. "In any case, you are under no obligation to sleep with me, Lister."

Blair stood up and stretched. She did not glance in the boy's direction--she might just change her mind if she did. Shivering again, she stuffed her hands into her pockets and rubbed her toes together. "See you tomorrow? Or later today--depending on the way you look at it."

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR's eyes followed her as she moved. His chest tightened as she mentioned that he was under no obligation to sleep with her. Okay, he had nothing to worry about but that didn't mean he wasn't going to worry anyway. He stumbled up, looking at the girl for a few more moments before glancing back down "Uh...Su-Sure."

His face flushed as the pair of them stood still for a few moments before LDR started to walk slowly to the door. He gave her a quick glance before shrugging "D-D-D-Do yo-you wa-wa-wa..." He shook his head, looking back down at the ground. Stupid Stupid Stupid! You could just leave. Run back to your room, like last time.

[Blair Collins]

So it was a date! But of course Blair only said this in her head. He would probably back down if he heard that. She waited anxiously for him to finish his sentence. Did she want what? A kiss goodnight? Yes, please! Or some company to walk her to her room? That would be very nice. The suspense was killing her. Alas, he said nothing. She inhaled to calm herself--there was no need to push her luck.

She smiled smally. "Goodnight, Lister." She walked past him, to the door. "Happy sleeping." She opened said door and went through, making her way back to her dorm.