Circling Stars

🌟Chapter 19🌟

    The flight was uneventful. We landed in late afternoon Houston to heavy cloud cover and a sprinkling of rain. I had only ever been here in the summer and thought it might look different to me with the winter season. It was wet and there were still Christmas decorations everywhere, but the city remained the same. The closer we got to Texas the quieter Jasper became. He stared out the window of the plane, chin in hand and thoughtful for nearly the entire last half of the flight.

    I paid for our plane tickets and he'd taken care of our hotel reservations. A five star place that boasted the best Italian cuisine and had 127 rooms all of which were suites. The building was actually designed to look like a multistory Italian villa.

    Not that I had much time to appreciate the view. We had a five hour layover that turned into a seven hour layover because our plane had been delayed. By the time we checked in all I wanted was to find the bed and sleep till dawn. And that's pretty much what I did.

    When I woke, Jasper was sitting in front of the glass doors to our balcony. Luckily we were on the top floor and no buildings around were as tall so his sparkling form wasn't likely to be seen. I stared at him. He had his eyes closed and simply looked like he was enjoying the sun.

    "I stocked the kitchen with food for you," he told me without looking my way or evening his eyes.

    "Thank you." I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from him. After a minute he noticed I wasn't moving. He looked at me a question in his eyes. "I like seeing you like this. Just enjoying something as normal as sunlight."

    "I miss it," he murmured. I stretched and threw the blankets off. The lights dimmed and the sparkle of his skin stopped as the sun disappeared behind a cloud.

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    Even though our time here promised to be mostly cloudy, Jasper still took precautions so he could be out in public with me. He wore a light long sleeve jacket with the hood on. Large dark sunglasses and a face mask paired with jeans completed the look. As things went he didn't stick out, most native Texans weren't accustom to fifty degree weather and were dressed similarly. I, on the other hand had shorts with a t-shirt and a thin sweatshirt.

    We'd been to three apartments which were the end of our assigned agenda for the day. The rest of the weekend we could spend however we wanted. We decided on the second apartment we'd seen. It was the closest to the university and in a town like this with bad traffic, that was high on my list of wants. It was a one bedroom and bath with a combination kitchen and living room. Not that biggest place but there was also a very important element to it that Jasper wanted. It came with special windows that allowed light but wouldn't show his sparkly skin. I wasn't sure exactly how it worked but when Jasper heard the superintendent mention them he instantly was on board. That in combination with the location meant the price for rent was high, but Jasper assured me that he could afford it even if I wanted to live there for the rest of my life.

    At the moment we were heading to a Starbucks so I could get a snack while we planned the rest of our day. Jasper picked a table near a window while I waited in line for a carmel mint hot chocolate. I was starting to get worried that maybe I shouldn't have invited Jasper to come. He was withdrawn and sullen.

    "Theo!" A woman's loud voice called to me from across the room.

    "Jessica!" I smiled and waved. The six foot five frame of my friend maneuvered her way over to me. I gave her a hug which made me feel like a dwarf. She was even taller than Jasper and Brandon. Jessica was from New York, about five years older than me, and a physics and math goddess. She'd had a low tier job in sat-con and often we'd run into each other since her work overlapped closely with the interns. She'd been promoted after my second year interning. Not that was surprising. She could do complicated equations calculating orbits, fuel to energy ratios, and figure how fast a pre-supply for missions could hit the surface of Mars without damaging the contents, or busting the probe in less than two minutes. Masters in math and physics had gotten her far; she was currently working her way to PhDs for both. "Come meet my boyfriend."

    I collected my drink and pulled her over toward Jasper.

    "Jasper this is Jessica Mason. We met my first summer at NASA." Jasper said hello and shook her hand. He'd taken off the glasses and face mask but kept his hood up.

    "How long are you two in town?" Jessica asked.

    "We fly out on Monday morning."

    Her eyes sparkled in excitement. "What are you doing tomorrow around say 1500?"

    I looked back at Jasper. "We do not have anything planned," he said.

    "Get to the Center at 1430. Greg will let you in the employee door, come to sat-con. You're not gonna want to miss it. Take this." She produced two key cards hung from lanyards from her purse. "I'm allowed two guests but my parents couldn't make it." I told her we would be there and she was called by a group of people who were getting ready to leave.

    "What do you think she wants to show us?" Jasper asked.

    "I don't know. She's been involved in a project they've been keeping quiet for over a year. God, I hope it's whatever that is. I've been dying to know."

    "Since plans for tomorrow are taken care of I have something I would like to do tonight." His long fingers fiddled with the strings of his face mask. "My family farm is about thirty miles from the city. I would like to see what it has become. Will you go with me?"

    I took his hand. "Of course I will."