Endlessly [h.s.]

two

It wasn't long before they caught up to one another, Harry stood with his hands in his pockets and Rosemary fidgeted with her fingers both because she had forgotten her gloves and they were cold and because she was suddenly nervous, "Hi."

Rosemary returned his smile, her confidence suddenly returning like it hadn't gone anywhere in the first place, "Hi! This is my friend Mary. Mary, this is Harry."

Mary smiled at him and the two exchanged brief hello's before Harry's attention switched back to Rosemary, "I'm glad that I ran into you! If I calculated it correctly, the December Monocerids should appear either tonight or in a few days at the very latest. Would you like to watch for them with me? It's really pretty when they appear."

Rosemary hoped that he thought the pink tint to her cheeks was from the cold air, "I'd love to, I just need to grab a warmer coat first."

. . .

"Have you ever seen a meteor shower before Rosemary?"

Rosemary blew warm air on her gloved hands and smiled at him when she was done, "Never. How many have you seen?"

Harry grinned because she was already beginning to read him quite easily where others had struggled, "How do you know that I've seen one before?"

He raised an eyebrow in question and Rosemary laughed, his expression was rather cute, "Well, you had an estimate on when it would be and I know you've studied the stars for a good while so it kind of just made sense."

Harry laughed with her as she shrugged a bit shyly, a light tint to her cheeks, "Seven, I've missed a few here and there."

She was very curious now, "Have you caught any on camera?"

Harry shook his head, a slight frown on his lips, "Not yet, I'm hoping to catch this one though."

There was an odd flash on the corner of her eye and she didn't hesitate to ask, "Harry, is that one?"

Rosemary pointed to the moving light in the sky, her eyes wide in awe as she watched it streak across the horizon. She'd seen a shooting star before but this was so much different and it was absolutely breathtaking.

Harry lifted her up in his arms and spun her around, he was beyond excited at the sight and she was laughing the entire time as he exclaimed, "Yes! Rose that's it!"

In moments, he'd set her down and grabbed his camera to avoid kissing her and possibly ruining their blossoming friendship and snapped numerous photos in succession with a bright smile adorning his face.

Rosemary was completely enthralled both by the man beside her and the meteor in the sky, each was equally beautiful in her eyes, "This is absolutely brilliant! Are they always like this?"

Harry shook his head and turned to take a picture of her and her brilliant smile even though he knew it wouldn't develop well, "No, this is the brightest and the closest I've ever seen this one. I can't believe I got it right this time!"

For the most part, neither of them spoke very much after that, save for Harry who occasionally pointed out a few constellations to describe to her as the meteor passed and stole glances at her as she admired the sky above them.

Rosemary found that she enjoyed listening to him talk, even if it was just about the stars, the way his voice changed when he was really passionate was wonderful, not to mention the smile he wore nearly all night. It was nice to have company that wasn't overly nosy and that she could actually learn from instead of merely swapping gossip to pass the time.

It also didn't hurt that he made her feel light and free like a balloon filled with helium.

The constellations still just looked like bright dots to her, much to her dismay, she hoped that, with time, she'd be able to see them in the way that Harry did, the facts alone certainly didn't do them justice and the look of pure joy on his face only had her wanting to know more about him and other things that he liked besides the stars.

She wondered how he took his coffee, he looked like the type that would drink it either black or with a few sugars, maybe some cream.

"What? They just disappear like that? Where do they go and, more importantly, how do you notice when they've gone?"

Harry laughed and answered her questions with a question of his own, "You know how the Earth rotates despite the fact that we can't exactly feel it?"

Rosemary thought about it for a moment, her eyes lighting up when she'd made the connection, "We move and, in turn, the stars move!"

Harry smiled as he wrote something down in that small journal of his, the writing not exactly sloppy but not as scripted as calligraphy, "Yes, exactly! And we, us astronomers, notice when certain constellations have gone because we make little landmarks in our eyes as well as our charts."

Rosemary was almost tempted to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing, his hands wrote so smoothly and with such ease and that intrigued her, "That's actually really smart, is that what you're doing now?"

He scribbled down a few more words before closing the cover and tucking the journal in a pocket deep inside his coat again, "No actually, this is one of my personal journals. I mapped this sighting a bit earlier while you were watching the actual meteor go by."

Rosemary blushed, embarrassed for even asking such a question, and hoped that it was too dark for him to notice, "Oh, that would make sense, I do tend to ignore my surroundings when I find something interesting." Like you.

Harry smiled as he gathered his things, his nose a bright red even in the darkness, she was sure that she looked quite similar but he was definitely cuter, and Rosemary found herself asking, "How are you not sick or dying if you sit out here for hours, in the cold, just about every night?"

His laugh was warm to her ears, "The same as you Miss Rose, warm clothes and a healthy mind. Or maybe I'm just lucky, whichever answer you prefer."

. . .

"Did you kiss him?"

Rosemary nearly choked on her tea at the sudden intrusive question, "No."

"Did he kiss you?"

Rosemary smiled behind her cup at the thought of what it would have been like if he did, "No, he didn't. Mary, since when are you so invested in my love life?"

Mary threw an empty candy wrapper at her, "Since you've got a devilishly handsome "friend"."

Rosemary rolled her eyes at the comment, there was much more to him than his looks, and Mary continued to ask questions, "So, what did you two do last night that's given you unsightly dark rings under your eyes."

Rosemary laughed at the notion, "They're not unsightly, They're natural and will go away when I get some sleep. We watched the uh...the December Mono...Monocerids! We watched the December Monocerids and talked, that's all."

Mary stared at her like she had three heads, which was plausible considering that no one particularly knew of or cared for astronomy, "The what!?"

Rosemary shifted in her seat and picked at her soup, she wasn't embarrassed about being out with him or the fact that she was slowly becoming more interested in astronomy, she was worried that Mary would make fun of her and make her feel bad for it, "The meteor shower."

"Rose, if you're gonna mumble, just know that I won't understand a word you say."

Rosemary sighed, she already felt the heat rising in her cheeks, and spoke up more confidently, "The meteor shower, we watched the meteor shower."

She wasn't blushing because she was embarrassed, or because they had done anything, which they hadn't, she was blushing because she felt like she was giving away their secret, even though it wasn't really a secret at all.

"What is that like code for sex?"

Rosemary choked on her tea this time, "No! No, absolutely not!"

Mary remained un-phased and lifted an eyebrow as she sipped her tea, "Judging by your reaction, it could have been exactly that."

Rosemary was appalled that she was asking her to discuss her sex life in public even though she didn't have one, "I am not having this conversation right now, think what you will in that crazy head of yours Mary."

Rosemary went back to work laughing and shaking her head, that woman was certainly something else.