As Real as it Gets

A Date? (Chapter 2, Part 3)

"Tell me Mr. Scientist what do you do?" you asked with enthusiasm.

"I... explore the universe."

"Like, with a telescope? Do you look at the planets and think about how you would love to go there and see them in person?" you stared at the night sky, full of stars, "Do you ever wonder if we're alone in the universe?"

"We're not alone..."

"How do you know?" you questioned.

"The universe is infinite, there are over a billion planets capable of supporting life."

"But... how do you know all this?"

Rick sat in silence for a few moments, then spoke, "Come with me, I wanna show you something." He stood up and so did you. A green portal opened after he shot out of his weird gun-looking thing. "It's okay... Here, you can take my hand." He said when he saw how shocked and a bit startled you looked. You took his hand and the two of you walked through the portal. On the other side was a colorful scenery... Light purple sky with light pink clouds and cyan grass and plants. What looked like yellow and orange trees stood up and started walking around for a short bit until they sat back down and replanted their roots. The things flying in the sky looked like weird green tennis balls with tiny wings and tiny beaks. You were very confused and just weirded out by the whole thing. "Ouch." You didn't even notice how hard you were squeezing his hand.

"Sorry!" you let him go.

"It's okay." He took your hand again, you smiled, "See? A whole other planet! Look at that thing over there! When it becomes dark it melts into liquid and is absorbed by the ground and then in the morning it regrows back into a tree... I mean it's not really a tree, but you know what I mean."

"And we came here... to another planet... through a portal...?"

"This bad boy?" he pulls out the gun, "It's my portal gun, I made it myself."

"Am I dreaming?" you whispered to yourself.

"Nope, this is real. The real deal. As real as it gets." He put his gun back in his jacket.

"Okay then." You took a deep breath, "Let's have a look around!"

"Let's!" Rick and you started walking along the pathway in the middle of the meadow.

Blue and cyan mountains gleamed and sparkled in the purple sunset. The air smelled sweet and fresh. The creatures of the planet made different sounds all creating a beautiful symphony. The ground suddenly started shaking a bit and you looked at Rick as if asking him what the hell is happening. Out of the cyan ground grew a whole sea of what looked like giant dandelions in a matter of seconds. A small breeze blew and all the dandelions gently flew into the sky. Every single one of them glowed in a different bright color, contrasting the dark sky. The sky became black and the colorful neon dandelions left the atmosphere of the whimsical planet.

"Wow... that was, magical." You whispered.

"There's no magic here, only mother nature."

"She's beautiful." After those words left your mouth a horrible, bloodcurdling shriek was heard in the distance.

"Oh yeah, she's a peach. We should go now." He opened a portal and you both walked through. You were back at the restaurant. The waiter just came in with your desserts.

With this new discovery, you had many questions. Rick told you about many, many planets he's been on and many, many kinds of aliens he has encountered.

"Everything just sounds so... amazing." You spoke after carefully listening to his stories, "Could I... join you sometimes?"

"Trust me, I would love nothing more than that," he paused, "but the universe is dangerous, something could happen to you and I just-"

"But I'd like to. You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself."

"Whatever you say." He smiled, a moment later he noticed all the other guests were starting to leave, "Oh shit, the restaurant is closing." The two of you got up and paid the bill at the front desk.

"Could you walk me home?" you asked when you exited the restaurant.

"I'd love to."

As you walked through the dark streets illuminated only by small streetlamps you talked about random things that came to mind or random little memories from your childhood. For some reason the conversation felt natural and comfortable, even though this is the first day you've ever truly talked to each other. The walk to your house felt shorter than usual.

"Thank you for this date. I had a lot of fun." You smiled.

"It was my pleasure."

With your final goodbyes you turned around and walked through the yard and into the house. Rick stood there for a few moments thinking about how amazing it was. He made a portal on the ground and jumped through, landing in the living room where everyone waited for him to tell them all the details. 

"Rick can I talk to you for a second?" Morty said. They went to the garage and he closed the door, "Did you tell her?"

"Tell her what, Morty?"

"That you're a criminal? An intergalactic one at that? That you go around and do space drugs and sell weapons to other criminals?"

"No..."

"Why? Because you know she's gonna get scared and run away? Yeah, no shit."

"Morty, I'm not asking you to understand everything and I'm not asking you to understand how the world works, but I'm asking you this: Can you fuck off and stay out of my way?" Rick hissed.

"Fine." Morty started leaving, "B-b-but don't come to me when- when she leaves you and you start crying like a little baby!" he closed the door behind him.