𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑔𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 (Stargazing)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 16

"Hey, I just got off, want to meet here or there?" I asked Janine, exiting the messages app and looking through social media. Scrolling past the art pictures and such, a small bubble popped up at the top of my screen, Janine responding to my message.

"I'll meet you over where you are, I brought my chess board," she stated, causing me to press on the small bubble.

"Alright," I said, standing up with a huge grin. Turning my body, I made my way towards the drive thru of the store, crossing the road into the Lix parking lot. Pausing, my eyes darted across the parking, looking for Janine. Suddenly from behind the cars, her golden hair shone brightly, nearly blinding me from its radiance. With a huge grin, I rushed across the parking lot, holding onto the brim of my hat as the air flowed around me.

With a wide grin, I called out to her, Janine's head darting towards the sound of her name being called.

"Kevin!" she called out excitedly, waving over towards me as I quickly ran across the parking lot. Her and I met half way, her hair flowing behind her gracefully as her and I met in the parking spot. "I got the chess board!"

"That's awesome, you want to eat first or play a few games and then eat?" I asked, Janine making a humming sound as she quietly thought to herself. Placing her index finger on her chin, her eyes silently looked up towards the pale blue, cloudless sky. With the glint of her eyes, she excitedly told me her decision.

"Lets grab our food and play while we eat!" she exclaimed, to which I grinned towards her.

"Alrighty then," I stated, the two of us walking across the parking lot towards the Studying Coffee. We made small talk as we crossed the road, asking each other how our shifts went and such. As we walked across the front of my old job though, my heart started to beat slightly faster with the thought I might see someone I knew. But that reality never came, a sigh of relief silently escaping from my lips as we crossed a handful of parking places, entering inside the dark grey, lavish looking building. At the front was a large open air seating area with metal tables and comfortable looking chairs.

"You want to sit outside or inside?" Janine asked, my mind fluttering around the question for a second.

"Can we sit outside?" I questioned, my preference clearly pointing to sitting in the outside world rather than within the confinements of the building. With a pale white grin and a nod of the head, Janine and I stepped through the glass doors and into the modern looking building. It smelled of the sensation you get when you take that first sip of coffee, a warmth spreading throughout your body that seemed to calm you in the duress of the morning. But even the calming scent couldn't break the fact that the store was overcrowded, people standing in a long line at the register, waiting to place their late-afternoon orders. The furniture inside was beautiful and modern, but the two of us turned towards each other wide-eyed.

"Do you see that line?" she asked, visibly astounded by the amount of people.

"Yeah," I replied, looking back up towards the long line of people. "Do you want to try and wait it out?"

"Yeah sure, lets get a few games in," Janine explained, guiding the two of us across the interior of the building before stepping outside in the much less crowded assortment of people. There were still a handful of people, a pair of college students reading away at their computer, an older lady playing sudoku, and then a young couple eating together and talking quietly. The two of us chose a seat that sat furthest away from everyone, over by the edge that sat next to a gate, separating us from the drive thru. With a wide smile, she plopped her bag down before pulling out the chess board, a bright red cardboard box. Placing it on the dark grey wicker table, the cover of the box revealed it was a glass set.

"Woah, that looks really nice," I exclaimed, watching as Janine opened the bright red box, pulling out the chess board. Along it were different squares, the clear glass being the white squares and the stained glass acting as the black squares. I watched with curious eyes as she pulled out all the chess pieces, neatly placed in a large, Styrofoam rectangle to keep the pieces in place. Similar to the squares, the white pieces were clear glass, and the black pieces were stained glass. Janine and I set up the game board, beginning our turns with the movement of our hands and the racing of our minds.

* * *

My soldiers fell, their numbers depleting faster than our reinforcements could come. Our swords clashed furiously, desperately fighting through the heavily armored soldiers of the queen. The glowing red flames from the torches cut through the black of night, revealing the queen in her bright red, dress like armor. It soon became apparent why she was called the Red Tyrant.

"My men!" she called out loudly, her voice echoing across the battlefield as her soldiers mercilessly killed every abled body person within the army. With a brief second, I turned my head back towards the king, watching as his face grew wider and wider in utter terror. With the look of fear on our king's old, sick face, I and every other soldier knew this fight was over...

* * *

"Checkmate," I stated, moving my queen on the black square, locking the king in place between my rook and my queen.

"Wow, that was really fun," Janine exclaimed, her wide smile and jovial eyes looking up to me. Staring at the chess board, my smile only grew as the excitement of this game flowed through my body. It was the same excitement I felt after every game, no matter if I won or lost.

"Yeah," I stated, looking up from the board to greet her eyes. "Can we play another one?"

"Of course! I love playing this game," she replied, the two of us setting the chess pieces to play another round. Round after round after round, we moved our chess pieces and put each other in check countless times. As the night faded with darkness, our memory of that day stayed forever within our minds...