𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣'𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙣

𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚

Saturn
• • •

At 8:08pm, I began to worry.

The shop closed at eight o'clock every night, and the bus ride back to the dormitories only took approximately two minutes the last time I'd checked. That meant that Calvin had exactly six additional minutes to make it to my room, and he was still not here.

It was true, my mood had been off today. But Calvin's mood was off every day. Could I not have one free pass to cope with waking up in my boss's bed?

A knock at the door tore me from my ponderings. "Come in," I said so quietly, I hoped he'd heard it. He had.

Calvin looked oddly casual. He didn't normally dress in things like hoodies or sweatpants, but they suited him nicely tonight. His grey pants hugged his body, reminding me of the towel incident from this morning. I winced, and looked away.

"Evening," Calvin muttered. I watched him scan my room on the way to my bed. His gaze fell upon my nightstand. Damn. My birth control pills were lying on it, looking obnoxiously obvious against the dark wood.

"Do you like my room?" I asked softly, trying to take his focus from the nightstand.

"Of course," Calvin replied, "perhaps you really should help me redecorate."

I grinned. He was in a good mood tonight.

"I've been in here before," Calvin told me, sitting down, "when I brought you home from Lianna's party. Do you remember?"

So it hadn't been a dream after all.

"No," I lied, "thanks for looking out for me."

"Always."

Calvin was such a mystery.

He took out his untouched copy of King Lear, and I found mine in a pile of books I had finished weeks ago.

"I fucking hate Shakespeare," Calvin muttered. I narrowed my eyes. I was among those who thought Shakespeare was a literary genius.

"You don't swear?" Calvin assumed, based on my reaction.

"I do sometimes," I responded timidly.

"I could always make you."

My cheeks flushed crimson.

"What Act number are you on?" I asked, diverting the conversation.

"I haven't started," Calvin replied, as though it were obvious. I thought he'd been exaggerating earlier when he'd told me he hadn't yet opened the book.

"Can you read it to me?" he asked. Now it was his turn to be timid.
I quirked an eyebrow. "If you insist," I grinned, surprised by his request.

"It's just that I find it difficult to understand when I read it myself," Calvin said, "and I suppose I enjoy listening to your voice."

Wow. I needed to stop blushing.

"My voice is nothing compared to yours," I said. It was true. His low accent was one of the things that made me so enticed by him.

Calvin smiled. "So you'll read to me then?"

"Sure," I agreed. I opened to the first scene of the play, and read the first act out loud to Calvin. Rather than following along in his book, he watched me the entire time I read. By the time I'd reached scene two, Calvin began to ask questions.

"-We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance," I read.

"What does that mean, exactly?" Calvin asked.

"He means that they can't always blame their misfortune on fate. The universe only does so much, the rest is for us to solve," I answered. Interpreting Shakespeare had always been a skill of mine.

"I'd prefer to blame the planets," Calvin says, "they gave me you."
What an odd thing to say.

"I may be named Saturn but I came to Earth the same way that you did," I grinned, "and I hope that I am not the source of your lifes' problems."

"But you are," Calvin replied, "I can't seem to make you like me. It's quite bothersome."

"I do like you," I admitted. Instant regret swarmed in my stomach when Calvin smirked.

"Really?" he mused, "prove it."

My heart fluttered as he drew closer to me, leaning his arms on the bed. I closed my eyes as his lips met mine.

Sparks. That was the only way it could be described.

After a brief moment of hesitation, neither of us could resist. We collided once more, and it lasted what felt like a lifetime. Calvin and I had never so much as touched before. It was immaculate. He was immaculate. This moment was immaculate.

And it would change my life forever.