21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Stargazing

September 1989

Mickey and I have been dating for seven months, and it's safe to say that it's been the happiest seven months of my life. I had no idea I was capable of such an emotion. I didn't have a special reason, but I wanted to do something sweet and romantic for Mickey tonight. Especially after all she did to help me get out of jail earlier in the month.

Am I romantic, one might ask. I've seen Wuthering Heights ten times, so yes, I'm romantic.

When I got to work, I already had my plan in motion. All I needed was a car. My Mustang wasn't going to cut it for what I wanted to do. There was one man with an appropriate vehicle for my plan, and that man was Doug Penhall.

"Hey, Doug," I called out from across the chapel. I ran up to him when he was standing beside the water cooler and I asked, "can I borrow your truck?"

He said, "sure, why?"

No one knows that Mickey and I are dating. I have found the secrecy to be hot, but we are mostly doing it because we aren't allowed to date one another at Jump Street. It breaks many rules, and people have been fired over it before. We did not want to take any chances. I loathed not being able to tell Doug, but he kind of has a big mouth when it comes to things like this.

I pulled the answer out of my ass, "I'm going camping with my cousin and my Mustang won't be able to handle the terrain."

He tossed his keys in the air and I caught them. He blew a raspberry and said, "never had that problem. Yeah, take it. She might need some gas though."

"Thanks, I owe you one."

We traded cars for the night and as soon as I was off of work, I raced home and prepared for our date. She knew that I was going to pick her up for a date tonight, but she didn't know what we were going to do. I told her to dress warm, because I know that the temperature will drop significantly once the sun disappears.

I swung by her apartment and by the time I was ready to get out of the truck and meet Mickey at her door, she was already racing to the parking lot. She was indeed wearing warm clothes of thick jeans and a dark pullover, and her loose hair was bouncing on her back with every step she took. She was even excited to show me her new warm wool socks. She had a big grin on her face as she approached the truck. When she smiles, my world is brighter. She swung in and gave me a hello-kiss. Her kisses were sweeter than the sweetest cherry.

"Where are we going?" She asked. I swear, when she talks to me, the whole world stops.

"You'll see." I discreetly checked in the backseat to make sure all the pillows and blankets I packed for our night were hidden from her view.

We drove and drove until the sun was growing dimmer but not quite down yet. Mickey kept asking questions, which I successfully dodged. She was trying to guess where I was taking her, but she never guessed correctly. One thing I know about her is that she likes to guess her surprises and it's funny that she always assumes that I'm going to fold and just tell her.

There's a spot that my dad used to take me to all the time with my mom, where you can see miles upon miles of stars. It was far from the lights of the city, so light pollution was out of the question. The sky was clear tonight, which was ideal to watch the meteor shower.

I parked at the top of the mountain and I had to pop my ears because of the elevation. I turned the truck off and said, "let's load up the back."

She looked slightly confused until I gestured to the back and she saw the pillows and blankets behind our seats. It finally clicked for her and she asked, "are we going to watch the sunset?"