Stargazing (A Short Story)

   
 The sound of something dropping woke her up abruptly.

“Mia?” Jessie asked in a tired voice.

“Sorry.” Her roommate said, picking her hairbrush back up.

“What time is it?”

“4:02 am.”

Jessie groaned and rolled back over in bed.

“Hey Jessie?”

“What?”

“I have an idea.”

Jessie turned back towards Mia. They had been roommates in college and after graduating they got an apartment together, to save on living expenses. Mia was very spontaneous, so when she said she had an idea, Jessie didn’t know what to expect.

“What?” She managed, ready to go back to sleep.

“Let’s go stargazing.”

Jessie opened her eyes to find her friend looking completely serious.

“Come on. Throw some clothes on and we can go through the drive through of McDonald’s and get some ice cream cones. Let’s drive somewhere to look at the stars.”

“Why?” Jessie asked. She enjoyed getting at least seven hours of sleep each night.

“It’ll be fun. It’ll be an adventure!” Mia exclaimed. “Come on, please?”

“It’s Friday night, I want to sleep.”

“Exactly! Tomorrow, or should I say today, neither of us have work. We can come back and sleep. It’ll be fun.” Mia replied.

She hesitated for a moment, but consented. “Fine.” Why she let Mia talk her into things like this she’d never know.

“I’m going to go get dressed, you do the same.” With that Mia disappeared to her own room and left Jessie in the darkness alone.

Jessie pulled herself out of bed, turning on the lamp beside her bed. She was already wearing black athletic pants and a t-shirt that would suffice so she just grabbed her favorite green sweatshirt out of her closet, pulling it over her head. She brushed her black hair and pulled it into a messy bun. After tugging on her tennis shoes she grabbed her phone. Feeling more asleep than awake she stumbled out of her room and into the main room of their apartment where the living room, kitchen, and eating area were all in one combined space.

Mia appeared from her own room, wearing exercise pants like Jessie, along with a baggy blue cardigan over a white t shirt that said “Thankful” across it. Her red curly hair was brushed and contained by the gray baseball cap on her head. She grinned at Jessie. “Ready?”

Jessie mustered up a weary smile and gave a thumb up. They exited their apartment, locking it behind them. They walked down to where Mia’s car waited. Mia sat in the driver’s seat while Jessie clambered into the passenger’s side. True to her word, Mia got them both ice cream cones before driving away from the city lights.

“Where exactly are we going?” Jessie asked before licking her vanilla ice cream cone again.
“My brother and his family live near here. They own three acres. We’re going to go to the field at his house.”

“How did you come up with this idea? And why were you in my room?”

“Well,” Mia began, “I just thought this would be fun to do. Anyways, I love car rides at night. I was in your room because I accidently left my hairbrush in there.”

“And that occurred to you at four a.m.?”  Jessie yawned.

“Well I woke up and that’s when the idea came to me. I went to wake you up when I saw my hairbrush so I picked it up but dropped it and that’s when you woke up.” She explained.

Jessie nodded absentmindedly, glancing out of the window. Behind them Boston’s city lights in the distance still shone brightly, as if proclaiming to the sleepy world it was there. In front of them the road stretched on for miles, trees alongside it. There were other cars on the interstate as well, Jessie couldn’t help, but wonder what those people were doing at 4:30 in the morning. Maybe they were going off to stargaze as well.

They arrived at Mia’s brother’s land at five. Instead of heading to the sleeping house in the distance Mia drove to the open field. She climbed out of the car and Jessie followed suit. Mia threw a blanket onto the ground and they lay down, facing the open expanse of sky.

Twinkling stars shining in the sky were proof that not everything where they were was asleep. Unlike in Boston, where they could only see a few stars, thousands of stars were visible in the navy blue sky. The sky was slowly becoming a deep purple, preparing itself for the sun appearing.

“Thank you.” Jessie whispered after they’d been looking at the sky for a while.

“For what?” Mia asked.

“For dragging me out of bed. This is nice. It’s peaceful out here.”

“Indeed it is.” Mia agreed. “It’s gorgeous.”

It was a perfect night for stargazing.