I look over at her like a spy. Her too tight shirt was too low cut. I tried to hide my smile as my mind wandered. "Your dad let you leave the house like that?"
The on-running joke made her laugh and adjust her cleavage and her shirt.
"You never had a boyfriend tell you to go back and change?" We were both grinning like idiots.
"No," She let it drag out. "Do you think this is too much?" She was toying with me.
I Let off the gas again as we made a tight corner like a school bus. "If I was your boyfriend, I wouldn't let you go out like that."
She sighed and gave me that all too familiar look. "You don't want to be my boyfriend."
Was that a warning, or was she shooting me down?
The road straightened out like a ruler and went on for infinity. The stars and moon turned the sky into a concave look at the center of the universe. The trees between the road and the scattered houses made yard lights look like flashes from a paparazzi camera.
"This isn't going to be one of those..." She looked coy, "...'Oops I ran out of gas' tricks is it?"
I laughed sinister, and turned to look at her with a sober face. "You should be more worried about the shovel and bag of lye in the trunk."
"Ooo!" She played along, "Do I get to be on the news?"
"I'm so good," I teased, "You'll be the next Natalee Holloway. The next Ann Frank."
She mimed a sad, distraught face. "Are you going to force yourself on me before you kill me?"
I patted her leg reassuringly. "What kind of two-bit psycho killer do you think I am? I'm going to wait until Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and you force yourself on me!"
We took the joke to far and she glanced at the back seat. "Have you ever "done it" in the back seat of this? These old cars have lots of room!"
I methodically checked all the mirrors. "Nope." I struggled for something witty.
"You really need to." She gave me a cute face, "These old cars are so hot..."
I pointed out an old trail that ran parallel to the road, offset by tangles of willow trees. "That used to be the old highway. It's all just dirt now, but I used to ride my grandpa's four-wheeler down that. One summer, we didn't know, but, there was a huge mud puddle, and we almost crashed we were going so fast. We swamped that four-wheeler, and my cousin and I had to spend ten minutes getting it out. It slammed to a halt right in the middle of this huge puddle. We were up to our knees trying to get it started and drive it out, but it was stuck so bad."
She laughed as I talked with my hands. "We got in so much trouble when we got back from being so wet and covered with mud."
She began a story that started nowhere, and ended everywhere. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road.
I gave her a warning and held her arm as I turned off the road and onto gravel.
"So where are we going?" She asked, enjoying the surprise.
"Just wait," I reassured her, "You'll see."
After a while, I parked the car, and got out. She dug through her purse like a rescue worker looking for victims.
The cold air and smell of standing water enveloped us. She zipped her jacket up more.
I led her up a small rise, the tall grass hitting the tips of our fingers. A chain link fence barred our way. I lifted up a corner and we both squirmed under.
We walked for a while, and a flat grassy plain opened up before us. The moon shown down, making it seem as though we were standing on the brink of an endless sea. The grass blowing in the breeze looked like waves on an ocean.
Huge sections of pavement cut their way at odd angles across the ground, disappearing in the distance. Blue lights trimmed the pavement like picket fences and seemed to curve up into the midnight sky life futuristic space lanes.
A lighthouse guarded the far end of ocean of grass.
"An airport?" She grabbed my arm and pressed her head to my shoulder. "We're not going to do that "Wayne's World" thing and sit under the landing planes, are we?"
"If you want to..." I put my arm around her.
We sat down, and I held her cold hands and tried to warm them. We lay down and stared at the stars.
We got lost in the moments where you think you can actually feel the earth move. A sense of vertigo that our grandkids will feel when they look back at the earth from orbit.
Satellites, shooting stars, jetliners. A myriad of heavenly objects occupied out minds with child like wonder.
"Wow." I said under my breath. She violently squeezed my hand, and gave a sharp intake of breath.
"I think I was falling asleep.." She turned on her side to look at me. "I think I was dreaming."
I pushed the personal space boundary and put my hand on her side. When she didn't react, I inched closer.
"Do you..." She avoided my eyes and looked back at the sky. "Do you ever daydream before you fall asleep?
I looked at her quizzically.
"Like before you fall asleep, you daydream about your hopes and dream. What if you were someone else? Could do cool things..."
"Yeah, I think so..." I started warming her hands again. "What do you daydream?"
"This is silly." She looked sheepish, but I prompted her. "I daydream that I'm a young girl getting trained how to use magic."
"Harry Potter?" I chuckled, "You daydream your at the Harry Potter school?"
She pulled her hands from mine and covered her face. "No. No. I told you it was silly. This started way before Harry Potter, when I was a kid. When you're so young and you think magic is real and can fix all of your problems. Child stuff."
I laughed. "I guess I still have child stuff then."
"Why?" She smiled, her eyes glinting in the starlight. "What do you daydream about? Everybody does it, so just tell me?"
"I don't know..." I sighed and searched the stars above for answers. "It goes in phases. Sometimes like a dark Jedi. Getting revenge on the world. Exacting cruel justice. Knocking over corporations and taking them over. Training evil minions and taking over the U.N. Making the world leaders grovel at my feet while I cackle like the Emperor."
"Your disturbed." She looked at me horrified, then started laughing. "Oh God, your such a nerd. Star Wars?"
"Hey!" I mocked protest. "At least it's not Harry Potter stuff. Little kids running around with wands. I'm Harry Potter!"
She laughed and playfully slapped my arm.
"Sometimes..." I began after a moment of silence. "Sometimes it's...I'm like a super hero, with, like Superman powers. Saving hostages from the pirates in Somalia, or using x-ray vision to see bombs in Iraq. Stopping wars. The iconic carrying of the flag and setting it down on the White House. That stuff."
"I think," She smiled at me, "That Superman would be a lot cooler to be than a bad Jedi."
"They both have their pro's and con's." I took her hands again. "As a Jedi I could slink around and still have a normal life. As Superman, I'd have to wear a disguise, and wouldn't be able to have normal life. I wouldn't get to hang out with you..."
"Aww." She pouted her lips. "You couldn't swoop in and fly me off to some remote island?"
"Nope." I shook my head. "With all the cell phone cameras and satellites, it would be a matter of time before someone got to you, and you'd be hounded by the media and sought by my enemies."
"You wouldn't come and save me?" She laughed, "Like Lois Lane?"
"No." I smiled. "You don't even want me as your boyfriend..." I leaned in closer.
"You don't want to be my boyfriend." she whispered as we kissed.
