"Thanks for coming in so early," Stephanie said as Connor walked in with Joules.

"Well, they canceled school, as the entire world partied for several days. And the school got trashed." Connor reminded her.

"I know, it's great. Now we can cook."

And we weren't cooking before?

Stephanie saw his concern and reassured him. "Don't worry. It's nothing you haven't done before."

Joules circled the room and then jumped up to Connor. "Say hi to Stephanie," Connor commanded. Joules tilted her head. "Where's Stephanie? Go get her." Joules ran over to Stephanie and sniffed her hand.

Stephanie petted the hybrid on the head. "Whoa, good girl. Impressive."

Teresa wore a towel around her hair and pranced into the living room. Her shorts and loose tank top shocked Connor into not needing any coffee.

"Good morning," Stephanie said.

"Morning." Teresa leaned down, facing Joules. "Where's Teresa?" Teresa tapped her hands together to get Joules's attention.

Joules didn't budge from Stephanie. "Good girl," Connor noted his pet's obedience to Stephanie.

Teresa leaned back and forced a smile. Whatever.

Connor didn't care if Teresa heard him speak to Stephanie. "She really lives here now?"

"Yup."

"What the hell?"

"Connor," Stephanie said, "she's good at what she does, and we'll keep it professional. As professional as two high schoolers can be. And besides, she'll be working on her own."

"And what about today?"

"You two will work together."

"Man," Connor sighed, dropping his hands and head.

Teresa wanted to apologize but said, "Thanks." Connor raised an eyebrow. "You helped me get out of school through the window. You didn't have to do that."

"I would have done that for anyone—"

Stephanie stopped him. "You need to apologize."

"For what?"

"For praising Joules when she ignored Teresa and complained about working with her. Little insults like that over time create a toxic work environment."

Her scolding Connor for provoking a toxic workplace was hurtful. It reminded him of working with Crystal at his pizza delivery job.

Shouldn't she apologize as well? "I'm sorry, Teresa," Connor decided not to bring up the pool.

"Don't worry about it," Teresa removed the towel from her head and stretched. "I, for one, believe in forgiveness."

Stretched legs and wet hair and skin broke Connor's mind. It was a complete stop for him at the sight of the comfortable young woman. Even after what she did at the pool, his mind blanked, and he stared.

"Ahem," Stephanie snapped him out of it. "So, today, we'll set up the rockets and launch them."

Connor nodded with intense focus. Rockets, and launching them. That would have sounded absurd to him not too long ago. "And how exactly?"

Teresa yawned and sauntered to Stephanie's desk and sat on the floor. And it looked like she was barely paying any attention. "From the Moon."

Oh shit, I'm going back, Connor thought. Each excursion he had sent him into a panic attack. And he imagined the tight purple hottie that helped him with the bomb. Maybe I'll see her again? He hoped.

"Oh man," Connor said. "Is there another way?"

"Rockets launching into space are considered advanced weaponry, which I don't have clearance to launch, and everyone and their dog will notice, even three-foot-tall ones. However, dark mattering them to the Moon will be discreet. The dark side shall be our launching point." She finger-tented with a smirk.

"Okay," Connor nodded, "okay."

"You'll be fine. I figured it's simple for you now," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, all good." he drew a few breaths, counting slowly. "I'll suit up."

"Great, Teresa will show you how to set up the rockets. It's simple. You just need to make sure it's standing and start the timer. Each launches at a different time, but they'll arrive at their destinations at the same time this way. Understood?"

"Yeah," Connor said.

"Awesome, Let's get started then," Teresa rolled back a little on her backside and then forward and hopped to her feet.

As Stephanie worked on her laptop, Teresa and Connor placed the rockets in groups of five on the platform, and off they went as dark matter. They sent fifteen rockets on three dark matter trips, and Connor was ready to suit up.

Feet stepping into the suit, Connor asked, "Is there a suit for Teresa?"

"Yeah, you'll see," Stephanie said. "Be sure to leave your phone."

Connor nearly forgot, and he tossed it onto her desk.

"I think I left mine in the kitchen somewhere," Teresa mumbled as she unfolded some unrecognizable material.

As Connor struggled to strap everything in, Stephanie hustled over to help. He was no longer bothered by being pushed and strapped into the suit. He kind of enjoyed it because it was Stephanie. As she placed the glass helmet on him, he turned to Teresa, still in her morning clothes but had set her towel on a chair, and the material she was working with lay on the ground by her feet.

"I guess I'll meet her there then," Connor said.

"You'll be going together. Step up on the plate." Stephanie said. "Remember Teresa, that rocket with the green tape, place that far as it'll launch shortly after turning it on. Stand next to the red one once you're finished in about thirty minutes after reaching the destination."

Teresa nodded and pointed to Connor. "And turn around. I'm gonna change you, dense boy you." He obeyed, and barely a moment later, he heard rummaging and a whoosh of air.

"What do you mean, dense?"

Are boys so oblivious? Stephanie felt guilty that the girl in purple was right behind him, but she needed to send both of them, the moon will only be as close as it is for so long, and two pairs of helping hands are faster than one. "Don't worry about it. Are you two ready?"

"Yes," they both said.

"But did Teresa get into a suit? That was quick," Connor said.

"Yup," she sent them into a flash of white and purple light.

[]~*

As he walked on a trail, trees highlighted by a neon sky surrounded Connor. A soft blur of motion forced itself between his arm and body and wrapped itself around him. The giant gray fur ball halted, and Joules emerged in a much larger form. It was hard to tell, but Connor didn't see her feet touch the ground. A protective, floating or almost ethereal version of Joules was sojourning with him.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

A sensation behind his head cut his hike short. The desire grew, and he felt a complete set of fingers begin caressing him. A womanly figure spun around to face him. The woman Connor met on the meteor continued to massage him while wearing the purple-lit, body-tight suit, and colors waved around the suit as she floated in place.

"Who are you?" Connor said.

She leaned in, and Connor kissed her dark glass visor.

"Ahem," Teresa coughed.

When Connor saw Teresa standing off on a smaller path, the floating girl didn't move. Startled and embarrassed, he couldn't speak and only gave her a confused look.

"It's me," Teresa said, "really me." She tapped her bare heels together and stuffed her hands in the small pockets of her shorts. "I didn't want things to progress with you two, believing it was private."

"How?" Connor said. The floating purple woman went around his back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I've only heard about this from my colleagues, as It's my first time, but we're close together in the Lucid Passage, which means our thought signals are hitting both of us. I can't believe this. Stephanie is truly above and beyond. So awesome."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Connor said.

"You looked happy," Teresa smiled. She felt awful and guilty about Connor. "It's sweet, the kiss you gave her. Even if it was on the glass."

Discouraged that his dream was shattered, he changed the subject to gain insight. "How come I can't see any of your thoughts?"

Behind her, the trees transformed, the path changed, and it appeared to be a bedroom. Blues and purples reflected off several people around a table, and nothing outside existed. No sky, just the room. Connor saw that they were all girls, playing a board game, goofing off, having fun, making jokes, braiding each other's hair, and wearing pajamas. Seemingly all at once.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, a rhythmic noise came from the room, and through the window, helicopters flew into view—US military helicopters.

"What's this? Helicopters?" Connor said.

"It's nothing," Teresa said.

"It doesn't look like nothing."

"Yeah, at least it isn't a wet dream."

Connor chuckled. The floating woman rested her head on Connor's and tightened her arms around him.

"Do you know who this is?" Connor said.

"Why do you want to know?"

"She's kind and helpful."

Teresa grinned. "Yeah, I see that."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Yeah," Teresa said, "it's—"

*~[]

"Me."

Connor stumbled and landed on his ass on the Moon's floor, and the suit cushioned his fall as his visor fogged up from his panic. Arms and legs flailed as he tried to situate himself. Managing to get his weight on his hands, he stabilized. There was light on the dark side of the Moon, and it was a purple glow that illuminated the powdered ground. An upward tug gave Connor his footing, and she was awash in a wave of purple hues in the suit. As she moved back, the wave of hues reversed like a riptide and settled.

"Teresa?" he said.

She placed her hand on his helmet. "It's me."

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, the same breaths he's grown accustomed to, especially in the last couple of weeks. She waited and hoped he would say something. She couldn't see through his visor, but as he hunched over, she knew he was disappointed.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you," she said. "Stephanie didn't say anything because she thought you wouldn't come."

It was so obvious.

He tapped the sides of his neck, and two lights turned on. "And she'd be right," he said. "Let's just space out the rockets."

He tapped the side of his helmet, and the light shone to show three clusters of five rockets nearby. Teresa went through the motions. For every two she placed, he placed one. Being able to fly and all, it was easier for her to move back to a cluster to start again, though it was harder for her to carry. They spaced each rocket about ten feet apart so the ignition wouldn't knock over a nearby rocket set to go off later. All displayed a bright green LED screen, and the growing grid of green dots had a pleasant presence on the Moon's dark side.

She hovered over to him and placed her hand on his visor. "All done!" He shrugged her off and turned on the last rocket, illuminating the LED screen. "Connor! Please!" Though her hand wasn't on his suit, he didn't hear her plea. As he walked by, he moved his shoulder just enough not to bump into her.

There was one rocket, marked with a large red piece of tape, which remained unmoved, and there they waited. The cumbersome astronaut didn't look at the floating, elegant girl next to him. He was not interested in thinking about her, and a part of him wished he hadn't discovered she was his new, now former crush.

And she kept thinking of ways to approach him.

One rocket took off. The ignition was unlike anything he'd seen, as the small device kept accelerating into space.

Even these small rockets are beyond modern technology.

[]~*

"Connor," Teresa said, "listen, I'm so sorry."

"I'm sure you are." Connor stepped around the bedroom. Despite mostly dark hints of purples and teals outlining shapes around the room, his vision was keen to spot the details. A wall cluttered with posters and notes written in Spanish caught his attention.

"I feel like an idiot. It was so obvious it was you."

"What made it obvious?" She stepped next to him.

"Because of your bo—"

"Body?" She leaned in to get into his vision and smiled at him.

He sneered at her. "Optimal. Was going to say Optimal."

"Then you would have said boptimal."

"You misheard."

"Please, I saw you give me elevator eyes when I first walked into the classroom," she said, "it's fine, though. I'm used to it."

"And I'm used to girls approaching me." Two in my entire life, two counts as plural. Connor smirked.

"Yeah, whatever, nerd," Teresa said.

"I'm the nerd? You're flying around in some astronaut cosplay suit with your identity hidden," he said.

"Well, it's like scuba diving, as it's much easier in a wetsuit. Plus, the gravitons kinda flow through you." She sighed. "I didn't mean to hide anything from you. I just want us to be friends. Regular friends." She wanted to say more than friends but stopped herself.

"Yeah, whatever," Connor browsed the room. He walked to the small desk with a light shining on a piece of paper. Her memory placed it on display. It had scribbles and formulas written all over it. Examining it, he looked over to Teresa and grabbed the paper. "So what's this?" he waved the paper around.

Teresa leaned in against his arm and looked at it. "My antigravity formula. Wrote it when I was eleven."

He whistled at it. "What's with you two geniuses?"

She chuckled as she spread her arms out and plopped backward onto her bed. "We don't have to worry in the Lucid Passage," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I've done nothing but discuss science my entire teenage life. I started watching online lectures at four years old. I'm trying to change that. We're alone, in my room, and with awesome lighting. Me, girl, you, cute boy," she tapped his leg with her foot.

"I'm still mad at you," Connor stepped back, "and, like you said, regular friends."

"You weren't dreaming of friendship earlier. You were fantasizing about me in the suit floating around you on a hike."

He couldn't hide his cheeks warming up. "I'm allowed to be happy! It's okay to be touched. If not in my mind, then what do I have? Now my former friends are invading that," he cried.

She leaned up and looked away from him with shame.

"Connor..." She wanted to turn it around, but a commotion stepped in. It was Connor, but a different Connor, one slightly shorter.

"Whoa, hey, second, Connor!" But the other Connor didn't respond to her. He simply overlooked the two.

Frustration built up in the younger Connor. The room's color got a little brighter, letting Connor see more details of the already dark room. He groaned, working furiously on his phone.

"Looks like you're calling Neville," Teresa said.

The call didn't go through. The younger Connor tried again, calling and messaging each of his friends, but received no response. Teresa hopped aside as the memory plopped on the bed.

"What happened here?" Teresa said as young Connor tossed his phone onto the bed. "A memory of yours?" Looking at the young Connor, she felt his isolation, his friends ignoring his calls and not getting any answers.

The younger Connor's phone buzzed. It was a friend request from Olivya. He wiped his eyes, smiled, and accepted her friend's request.

"Whoa," Teresa said, "Young Connor getting the girls. Who'd have thought it was Olivya who initiated between you two."

"Holy shit, that's it."

"What?"

Connor didn't respond to her, instead watching his younger self text with Olivya. Nothing but cold shoulders, all because Neville got jealous.

"Hey, Teresa," the real Connor said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for helping me with the meteor."

Stunned, she felt how genuine Connor's words sounded. "It's fine," she said. "I'm happy you're thanking me."

"All the thanks you're going to get," he said.

It's a start. After a pause, she said, "I'm sorry for how that turned out with Olivya."

"You mean with her hooking up with Axel?"

"Yeah. But you sicked your dog on him, so I understand why she'd be turned off. He showed us the bite marks after you left the party."

He looked at Teresa, and she rattled to her core. How can you believe that? His expression told her.

"If I sicked my dog on him, then why are you being nice to me?"

"I'm not sure if I believe Axel."

"Then why?"

Gotta make friends somehow.

*~[]

Connor stumbled off the platform as he bumped into a floating Teresa. He started unhooking the suit as quickly as he could.

"How was it?" Stephanie said, helping him.

"It's all set," Connor stepped out of the suit and went for his shoes.

She landed and walked into the kitchen, tapping the back of her neck to release a hiss from her suit as it expanded and loosened around her. After stepping out of the suit, she quickly got dressed, eager to ask about the dog bite and apologize. As she pulled on her shorts, her phone buzzed on the kitchen table, and the front door slammed shut.

"Fuck off," the message read, with an attachment from Connor. She opened the attachment and watched a video of Axel attacking Connor and Joules leaping to protect him.