April 22, 2027

"What's she like?"

"Mom, you've already asked that ten times!"  Jeff was packing his lunch for the day, as his parents sat at the table, eating breakfast.

"Oh, she's just excited, Son!" Jeff's father exclaimed, fiddling with his compass.  "What can we say?  You've been staying away from girls the majority of your life!"

"I can't wait for this evening!  I already know what I'm cooking!" Jeff's mother announced.

"Wait, what?" His face coated in fear, "I thought Dad was cooking!"

"I am.  I don't know what your mother is trying to pull.  Don't worry.  You're girlfriend won't have to taste any of my wife's cooking for a while."

"Lucille isn't my-"

"My cooking isn't that bad!" Jeff's mother defended herself.

"Oh!  Look at the time!  I need to get to work.  And you, Jeff, should be heading to school," his father told him.

"Alright.  I'll see you guys tonight!" Jeff exclaimed as he grabbed his bag and walked out the door.

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"Jeff!"

Jeff walked into Astronomy and was immediately greeted by Lucille.

"I can't wait for tonight!" she exclaimed, running over to him.

"Neither can I!  My dad'll be cooking us dinner, and after we eat, we'll set up the blanket and-"

"Jeff, Leah, my lovebirds!" Lee walked over to them.

"How does he even remember his own name?" Lucille mumbled to Jeff, who chuckled.

"Excited for tonight?" Lee asked.

"Super excited!"

Mr. Lawson, their Astronomy teacher, walked up to them, "Staying up for Lyrids?"

"Yes! Jeff and I are going to watch for them tonight!" Lucille told him.

"Tell me tomorrow what you see," Mr. Lawson moved to the front of the class as the bell rang, and the students took their seats.

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"Jeff, Lucille's here!" Jeff's mom called up to the teenager's room.

"Alright, buddy.  Don't mess this up, and don't just stare at the moon.  You'll be watching a meteor shower!" Lee said as he left his best friend's room.

"I'll try not to," Jeff followed.  He had been venting his nerves to Lee for the past hour.

They walked downstairs.  Lee passed Lucile on the way out, and waved, "Have fun, Lia!"

Lucille walked in, unfazed.  "Hey, Jeff!"

"Hi," he waved from his place at the foot of the stairs.

"Dinner's not quite ready yet, so you two can just hang out for a few minutes," Jeff's dad said from the kitchen.

Lucile sniffed, "It smells really good, Mr. Tracy."

"Thank you."

"Do you want to hang in my room while we wait?" Jeff asked, his hand on the banister.

"Sure!" Lucille exclaimed eagerly.

They climbed the stairs, Jeff in the lead.

"I can't wait.  Lee's always talking about your room," Lucille told him as they climbed the stairs.

"Not that often..."

"Well, he mentioned it when I first met you, so it must be fairly important."

Jeff led her to his room.  When she entered, her jaw dropped.

"Wow, he really wasn't kidding," she said, gazing around at all the star charts and old-fashioned paper clippings on the walls.  The globe's that stood around the room all had marks made on them, and journals and maps lay open on Jeff's desk.

"Sorry it's cluttered," Jeff apologized.

"Jeff, it's amazing!  You really do have a passion for this."

"Yeah.  When Lee's around, all we talk about are Space missions, both of the past and of the future, but I also have separate dreams.  I want to be the fastest pilot who ever flew," Jeff told her.

"Wow, Jeff.  Is that why you keep tabs on the fastest aircrafts?" Lucille chuckled.

"Yeah.  Oh, look," Jeff clicked the button on his night stand, projecting a star map onto his ceiling.

"Ooh!  Look!  There's Orion!" Lucille said, pointing at the cieling, "Betelgeuse, Rigel... Oh, Alnilam! And Bellatrix and Saiph!" she spewed out the names of the stars.  Jeff looked on, amazed.

"How many stars have you memorized?" he asked her.

"Oh, uh...," she thought hard, "I've never really counted, but let's see..." she began to think out loud, "I think... Maybe 300? No, 400... at least 450."

"Wow, when did you start memorizing?"

"Well, my dad used to take me stargazing out in the country when I was really young.  Maybe... When I was five?  Betelgeuse was my first one, my dad used to point them out to me."

"And now?" Jeff asked.

"Now?  I go stargazing on my own.  I drive out to a clearing in Salmon Woods and spend entire nights out there, just watching the constellations drift past.  Dad stopped coming when I was fourteen.  That was when Mom was first diagnosed with cancer.  He had to work overtime to pay for our family.  We moved here because of Mom.  She needed a specialist, and this was the closest one."

There was silence.

"I'm sorry, Lucille.  If I had known-"

"But you didn't," she cut him off.  "You have every right to know, and I'm glad I told you.  Now we can start our relationship clean," she gave him a small smile.

Jeff's heart leaped when she said 'relationship', and he smiled back.

"Astronomy is the love of my life," Lucille spoke again, "and it all began with my dad.  I owe him everything, and he doesn't deserve to have to handle mom's medical bills by himself."

Jeff looked up.  "I have an idea!  Let's get a job.  Together."

"Jeff, I-"

"Listen," he said, "my mom's been pushing for me to get a job, but I think they're all boring.  If we get one together, it won't be boring.  We can pool our earnings."

"Jeff, I can't ask you to do that."

"I insist.  I want to help!  Here's my proposition.  50% to your mom's meds, 40% to our college tuition, and 10% for us to spend as we wish."

"Jeff, the money you make can't go to my mom!"

"I don't think there's a law against it, Lucille, and I won't let you say anything against it.  We're going to get jobs, pool our money, and split it up like that.  Well, we can change the tuition percentage, but at least 50% is going towards your mom."

"Really, Jeff?  Are you sure?" 

"Positive."

Lucille looked at him, before wrapping him in a hug. 

"Thanks," She mumbled.

"Listen," Jeff started when they broke the hug, "the Planetarium out by Salmon Creek is hiring.  We could get a job there.  It's close to a telescope," Jeff added.

Lucille chuckled, "There's a telescope in the Planetarium!"

"That's close!" Jeff protested.

Their laughter was interrupted by Jeff's mom calling up the stairs.

"Kids!  Diner's ready!"

"Coming!"  Jeff called down the stairs.  "C'mon," he beckoned for Lucille to follow him, and they left the room.

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"This looks like a good spot," Lucille said, pointing at the slight incline in Jeff's backyard.  It was almost dusk.  They were looking for a good place to lay the blanket that they would lay on.

"You're right.  And we'll be facing the right direction to see the heaviest fall," Jeff said as he set the blanket down.  They spread the blanket out on the grassy knoll as dusk fell.

They laid across the blanket, and as they waited for the stars to pop out, they chatted idly.

"Your dad knows how to cook," Lucille commented, reminiscing on the lemon-herb chicken they had just eaten for dinner.

Jeff chuckled, "And it's a good thing too.  Mom would probably have poisoned me by now if she was the cook."

"Really?  Why?" Lucille swiveled her head to look at Jeff.

"She can't cook to save her life.  When she said that she would be cooking this evening, I almost had a heart attack."

The pair laughed.

"There's Venus!" Jeff exclaimed as the first prick of light popped into existence.

The two continued chatting and laughing as the sky grew darker.  Then, a few hours later, Lucille gasped.

"Look!" she cried.

Jeff looked away from the moon, which he had been staring at again, and looked to the direction she was pointing just in time to see the tiny prick of light streak across the sky.

"Wow," he breathed, "Look!  Another one!"

They continued to watch as Lyrids rained down above them. 

Finally, after a few more hours of watching the night sky, they fell asleep, happy with their new and special relationship.