Starcrossed

Chapter 9c: graell (part 3)

Chapter 9 (part 2)

graell (grayl): an emotional and physical bond believed mythical by most Martians

It was still drizzling when I got off the bus that afternoon. I worried it might keep Rigel from coming over but less than half an hour later he showed up wearing a rain poncho that covered most of his bike as well as his body.

"Nice!" I said, grinning at his attire when I opened the door.

He shrugged, grinning back. "It's not a force field, but it gets the job done. You want to go for a walk? I brought an umbrella—a real one."

"Let me grab my coat." No neighbors were out in their yards on a day like this, but I wouldn't put it past Mrs. Crabtree to be spying out her window.

A minute later we were walking toward Diamond hand in hand, Rigel holding the big black umbrella over both of us. Very romantic, in spite of the puddles. But then, pretty much everything was romantic when I was with Rigel.

"It sucks there's no place we can be alone without getting rained on," I commented after a moment.

"Yeah. Maybe after Allister and Grandfather leave you can come to my house again."

Aunt Theresa had made it clear that neither Rigel nor I were allowed in each other's houses without supervision. She'd even mentioned it to his parents after church a few weeks ago, so they now felt obligated to play by her rules. Fortunately, Rigel's dad worked out of their house about half the time, since he did a lot of his computer consulting over the internet. Rigel's mom was an OB/Gyn, so she was gone a lot during the day.

"We can go to the arboretum," I suggested. "It ought to be deserted."

He nodded and we headed that way.

"So what's this project you're working on?" I asked as we walked.

"Allister and Grandfather are writing up guidelines for new Echtrans on how to blend in without drawing attention. I mean, there have always been generally understood dos and don'ts, but with more coming in and others leaving the compounds, they want something standardized. Something bipartisan, I guess you could say."

"So where do you come in on this?" It sounded very governmental and official to me. I tried to ignore the fact that I really should be learning about this stuff myself.

"They want to include stuff for kids—all ages. Used to be, folks with young kids almost always stayed in one of the Martian compounds or villages until they were older but now, not so much. I'm supposed to come up with ideas for that part." He didn't sound happy about it.

"But you think it's really to keep you home? Away from me?" I could definitely see Allister doing that, but Shim? He'd seemed to like me, and even approve of us as a couple.

The arboretum was as empty as I'd predicted, so we went in and wandered slowly along the wet gravel path. It had been pretty when the roses were in bloom and the trees still had leaves a month ago, but now it was drab and gray in the cold drizzle.

"Maybe I'm wrong about that." He shrugged. "Anyway, it can't last forever—though starting next week, after my birthday, I'll have Driver's Ed most evenings for a while. But hey, we're together now, right?"

I smiled up at him, my heart beating faster. "We are. And I think we should make the most of that."

He lowered his lips to mine and for a while nothing else in the world—nothing else in the universe—mattered. Kissing Rigel always felt so right, so perfect. So intense. I sometimes worried I'd get used to this, that each kiss couldn't go on being better than the last one indefinitely. But so far, that worry hadn't materialized. Not even close.

After a blissful half hour or so, Rigel noticed I was shivering, even though I hadn't noticed myself.

"Come on," he said. "We need to get you warmed up."

We walked down the block to Dream Cream for hot chocolate, then it was time for me to get home, since it was my night to make dinner. Cold rain and all, I wished the afternoon didn't have to end.

On my front porch, Rigel gave me one last kiss, then handed me the umbrella. "Here, you keep this. You can take it with you next time you go to the O'Garas' house."

"Subtle," I said, giving him a grin and another quick kiss. "But I'll bring it."

I watched him ride off, still smiling, savoring the glow of our time together. But then I looked up at the darkening sky and sighed. Winter was nearly here, which meant fewer and fewer afternoons like this one. Aunt Theresa's rules, Allister's visits, new evening commitments, the worsening weather—sometimes it seemed like the world was conspiring to keep Rigel and me apart.

But that was silly. Soon Allister would leave again and everything would go back to normal. Why shouldn't it?

**If you enjoyed this, please vote for it and share it with your friends--I'll be adding an update every weekend! :)

** If you just can't get enough Starstruck, all four books in the series plus a novella are now available at all major online retailers (and the first book is FREE!) For the most up-to-date news on upcoming books, special promotions and a FREE Starstruck short story (only available to my newsletters subscribers), sign up at http://brendahiatt.com/subscribe :)

Visit http://starstruckseries.com for lots of extra tidbits, news, bonus materials and more!