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<10/30/2011 - 01:04 | 77 Cloverleaf Trail, Dahlonega, GA, USA>

Using the external bathroom in sight-range of the cabin, I changed my clothes back after bringing my backpack in with me. It would have been too weird for me to strip with anyone from the men's cabin watching, particularly since I had to swap the panties for the boxers. Lumina only made mild jokes about it on my way back, and she also suggested that I would have trouble getting to sleep tonight.

As much energy as I knew I had, I figured there was little choice in what was left for the two of us to do. Chaperones were strangely strict about us not being outdoors after midnight for any reason. My plan was, spend time with Lumina despite being confined to a cold cabin full of idiots. I'd still have my privacy with her thanks to the telepathy.

Of course, the moment I opened that front cabin door again, any plan I had to relax or to get a moment to myself was long lost to the chaos of a scene I could only describe out of a zoo. Soft objects flew from one bed to the next; some of the boys were laughing at memes or cracking jokes, while plenty more mixed rowdy noise with annoying horseplay. It was the scene I could only imagine when the entire population in a small room were entirely heathens, but their loudness was all I currently focused on. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Come on everyone! It's time to get in bed and stay in bed." The male chaperone assigned to this cabin, whose name I couldn't be bothered to remember, attempted to calm a wild stampede of idiots. His warning naturally fell on deaf ears, because despite many trying to get to their beds, the horseplay and volume level didn't die down even a decibel. "It's bed time, so nobody leaves the cabin anymore."

"Hold on!" I wasn't happy to hear that given the invalid results to his claim, so I turned to the chaperone, questioning his authority when he had not the power. "How can you declare it bedtime when everybody is still wild?"

Then, to further my amazement, I got this response from the chaperone. "Ah, don't worry about it. In about one more hour, they'll run out of energy for tonight. Hope you brought a book." The chaperone then took his seat, realizing his earlier warning was made in futility. Instead of getting firm with the others, he pulled out a book of his own, and started reading some random pages in the middle of all this flak.

You have got to be kidding me! I couldn't take my confused eyes off him for a few seconds. The nerve of the guy threw my mood into a small spiral of fury. I had every right to be upset! He just sits down and reads a book, an activity that can only be done with the lights to the cabin still on, and wants to wait on the others to shut up and sleep for up to an hour? By that very admission, it means he's not requiring anybody fall asleep for such an amount of time. This then begs the question; why in the hell can't we spend that hour outdoors on our own side of the field until such a time has passed? I'll be damned if I'm going to be cooped up in here with all these idiots while they get to behave like this!

"Make that double, on the count of you not sleeping tonight."

"This is insanity!" I revealed the horror of my eyes to Lumina, the same scene as before, just with almost everyone in their beds. I felt like I was in some kind of large cage full of stupid animals. "Just look at everyone! They're all so destructive! And loud!" I have eardrums you know!

"At least you're not tired. But this is worse than a zoo. I can't even fully hear your thoughts, it's so loud."

I considered exactly how doomed I really was for a few seconds, which only raised my blood pressure until I was about to turn red in the face. I had nothing else to do. I planned for the rest of the night to talk to Lumina under the guise of pretending to be asleep. If I simply do nothing for that full hour, especially since I'm still wide awake, I also risk a UAD attack. But if I can't hear a single thought of her or of myself, on count of these people wanting to act like total morons, then I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands. "Screw this!" Fed up, I marched over to my bed, not to lie down, but to rummage through all of my belongings. "I'm not staying here. I'll just pretend to get ready for bed, and then—"

"And then what? You're just going to sneak outside, right past the fully alert guard?"

"Watch and learn Lumina." Sometimes, rules are just meant to be broken. I grabbed all I would need, my water, phone, and earphones, and started heading for the door.

"Oh crap, you are! You never do anything like this." In Lumina's perspective, I'm not known as an avid rule breaker. Is she in for a surprise!

"Things change..." Before the guy could look up and try to stop me, I launched my new plan first. "Hey." I didn't walk out the door yet. I stopped right in front of the guy looking a little tense, making it obvious I had to ask him about something.

"Yeah?" The chaperone brought his full attention onto me, waiting eagerly to what I had to say.

"So I just realized, I have to use the bathroom." I need him to know where I will be, so that he doesn't come looking for me later.

"All you had to do was ask. You know where it is." He tried to buzz me off with a weak wave of his hand, returning his gaze back to the book.

"Alright, but I might not be back for an hour."

"An hour?!" At last, I had his attention.

Though this was also part of my improvised plan. All guys know, that if one is not back from the bathroom in five minutes, it can only mean one thing. "The timing might suck, but I have to take a dump. I always seem to take long when I do." It's the dumbest human action ever, but one any would want to stay away from, in fear of the potential odors.

Annoyed, the man only considered the thought for a moment before rolling his eyes back onto the pages. "Oh fine. But you better be back in one hour. If you try any funny business, the other chaperones patrolling the fields will wring your neck."

I lifted my left hand to my forehead to give the guy an army salute on my way out. "I'll be back." Then, I left. Like a good soldier about to cross into enemy territory to wrestle a bear to the ground, I marched over to the bathroom building. I had to ensure my escape route would be covered, and as expected, I heard the door open and close a second time once I was near the entrance, explained by the chaperone trying to make sure I was true to my word. Afterwards, I turned around, spotting nobody on the porch. I took that chance to make a swift U-turn, before passing the cabin in the other direction until I was far out of sight, into the fading darkness of the forest edge.

"I'm impressed! You actually did it."

"Of course I did it! That was easy. And I'm not going back in there until I say so." I knew how to deal with people like that. All I have to do is lie about the most innocent sounding excuse to go somewhere, and I was clear to go. I wasn't taking no for an answer this time, considering what was at stake. If everybody in the cabins are allowed to stay up late and talk after hours, then I should be allowed the same authority between myself and Lumina.

"I know it was easy, but you're usually such a goodie goodie. Sneaking out like that isn't something I expected from you, not that I'm complaining."

"Me, a goodie goodie?" I resented the label. I'm not so much of a bad boy that I'll pull off elaborate pranks only to cheese it after, but when it comes to these power hungry custodians and hall monitor freaks, I have no more patience left to give. "You actually expected me to just hide in there, a house full of disgusting monsters? Those heathens, those murderers to be...? Perish the thought! I'm not stepping foot in there right now." My hatred for heathens kept me angrier than I meant to be, and I only hoped Lumina could calm me down again so that we could resume our fun from before.

"Well, I wouldn't mind spending more time with you Reed... I'm proud of you! You're finally learning how to take charge for yourself."

"Oh, you just now noticed?" I found a perfect, comfortable spot in the open field of short cut grass, and laid my body to rest in the shadows. I positioned myself perfectly in a night shade, cast by the corner stone of the forest edge under part of a tree, behind where a distant lamp light could not reach. I knew that anybody walking outside in this general vicinity would never spot me with their bare eyes, unless I were to move around or stand straight up. At the same time, I had very limited vantage view of the other side of the camp, through all the mixed foliage of bushes, grass, rocks, and tree branches. "Look, my motivations are simple. I just want to spend as much time with you as I can, Lumina. Girlfriend, fiancée, whatever. What matters is that we're here, now, together. For now, that's enough."

"Yeah. I bet it's really cold out here though. You didn't bring your jacket."

In hindsight, I could have. It's too late to get it now, so I'll make do without it. "It's chilly for sure, but I'm kind of used to this by now. I only have goose bumps is all; nothing to worry about." Judging by ambient air temperature, it's barely above freezing. It's so cold that I can see partly through Lumina's eyes too, though it requires some effort.

"The air and grass feels so nice in your world." Lumina sounded as if she were trying to nuzzle her skin against the cold frozen grass beneath me.

I wasn't sure what air is supposed to feel like to an Altiri, but I assumed she must have meant the air temperature. Once it's this cold, an Altiri can survive and thrive in this environment in the flesh. "What the? Do you hear that?"

"What? The heathens again?"

What I was hearing didn't sound like mindless horseplay. I was certainly hearing distant voices, but they were different somehow. "No..." I flipped aside until I was on my stomach, raising myself ever so slightly to peek all around me for signs of activity. Somebody somewhere was outside, and it sounded like it was more than one person. "It's coming from over there."

"The other field? The girl's side of the camp?"

That's where I pointed my eyes to. "Wait, I can see silhouettes of... They're out in the open!" Now I was certain of my hearing, mixed with the distant sight of it. Just faint enough, I could make out distant lights on the girl's side of the field, combined with the unmistakable noise of joyous play and silhouettes to match; one of them was doing a cartwheel.

"So they're playing outside then. Does that surprise you?"

"Damn right it does! I'm expected to be crammed in that den of idiots, and the girls just get to hang outside, having all that fun?" I was more than just upset about the revelation, since this proves I would have had to break a few rules just to learn of this in the first place. Most importantly, it's a double standard of inequity. I certainly wasn't going to defend the rights for heathens to have the same pleasures, but how could the same rules be applied to one group if they're not applied to the other?

"Maybe they're sneaking out too?"

"Not a chance, not with how loud they're being now." I could literally hear their laughter from all the way over here, some of them shrieking a little. There's no mistaking it. "They've been given permission to stay up and outside longer."

"I won't lie about this. Sometimes, larger groups of female students get different treatment than men. By treatment, I'm talking about the specific chaperone assigned to their cabin."

You mean Ms. Ray Ray and Ms. Dang, the same people who nearly got me in galactic trouble to begin with? "Well then, that being the case, I have every right to be out here with you right now. I shouldn't even have to worry about hiding, though I won't break cover." I felt pretty calm after reminding myself that I already granted myself the expressed permission to be out here longer. I had to lie to get this far, which didn't seem fair, but given what I've learned, I don't have to feel a shred of guilt over it. If I were to get busted right now, I could just point over to the other field and label the hypocrisy.

I didn't want to think about it anymore, since it would sour my mood. I thought back to the fun dance Lumina and I had instead, rejuvenating my spirits on the spot. "Whatever. I'm just glad I got out here with you."

"Well we're here. Now what?"

"Hm..." I stood up a little taller, trying to increase my vantage point of sight to other areas of the camp. "I see some shadows in the center field. Looks like they really do patrol the grounds at night, but none of them are remotely close to this side."

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"I don't think they can see you. You are kind of close to the forest."

"Right... Okay then. Problem solved." I returned to my previous stance, laying on my back in that delicious field in the night, while having a perfect view of the maze of stars in the clear night sky. Finding something to do with Lumina won't be hard anymore. "I'll just camp out here instead, under the stars."

"Yeah, but you can't actually sleep out here, Reed."

"Why not?" If I did ease my way to sleep under these beautiful stars, it would be so dreamy and amazing. I'd get caught later on, but who cares about that now?

"Right now, staying out here is no problem for you... But if you stay outside for too long, the cold air will make you sick."

"Bah! A cold never bothered me."

"It will when the drain to your stamina stops you from contacting me for weeks at a time."

I found it impossible to argue with her on that basis. I'm unfortunately prone to colds and sinus infections. I learned the hard way not too long ago that the level of energy they drain from me is physically enough to thwart connection attempts, so, getting sick is a big no-no. "Fine. I won't sleep out here... But just let me stargaze with you for a while."

"Of course you can do that." After patching up that tiny miscommunication, Lumina decided to just let the stars do that talking for us. The cluster of deep lights twinkled every so often, stealing our gaze to the mystic wonders of the universe. "Wow! There's actually a lot of stars out tonight."

"Stars here, stars there, and stars forever. Every time I look at this sky, it reminds me more of you, and the fact that the universe is far bigger than I used to think."

"I can feel what that's like." Lumina tried to lay on her back now, mimicking my body so that she could allow her senses to synchronize better with mine, as her voice became so relaxed and serene. "I know what it's like to see through yours into that beautiful world. I never knew how that felt until I met you."

"All of that void would be so sad, if we never had each other to share it with."

"True, but we do have each other."

"Yeah..." I turned slightly, unable to hide the lurching discomfort from my soft whispered voice.

"What is it?" Taking notice that something bothered me, Lumina kept her eyes wide open, though she didn't stand up.

"It's nothing. It's just..." I have no choice but to tell her now. Lumina and I already know this, but as the topic comes up every now and then, I wish I could have more. "I wish there was some way for me to be closer to you, physically I mean."

"You and me both have that problem." It was a sad fact that Lumina had to put up with as well. In our most amazing relationship, this one constraint of distance prevents us from enjoying each other to the fullest.

"If only I could kiss you somehow..." After many vectors of simulated ideas, I came up with nothing. It takes two people to kiss, just as it takes too hands to clap. There isn't a way for me to even simulate the effect of kissing where it would transfer over somehow. I wish it would. I wish I had the chance to make out and hold Lumina in my arms now.

"Remind me, this would still be your first kiss, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah. With you, I would do anything, learn everything, go anywhere."

"Well, I wouldn't know of a way to send a kiss across the universe." Lumina sounded fairly bummed out by the realization as well, our concerns becoming unified despite never being solvable. It was all kind of sad. "But... I do know some things."

I repositioned myself to sit up despite not needing to. I was suddenly curious what she meant by some things. I didn't have to wait long for an unexpected demonstration. Lumina gently grabbed hold of her right hand using her left, concentrating on something I could not see. After just two seconds, my right hand felt the pressure of her hold with a slight tingling sensation, along with a freezing chill. "Hey, I feel that!" I kept my voice to a total whisper so that nobody would suspect I was outside.

"Does it feel nice?"

"How are you able to do that? I thought this kind of thing was impossible."

"Maybe for you. The connection has to be strong to allow it anyway, but consider this our special way of holding hands for now."

I thought back once again to the idea of kissing Lumina, enough to make me blush in the darkness, though I didn't regret the thought. I should want to feel this way for her. I should want to do anything and everything with her, go all the way, for whatever was possible. "What else can we do?"

"Well, we could also draw on each other's skin, like so."

I could now see faintly through Lumina's eyes as she took her left index finger, and started gently stroking and tickling the bottom side of her other arm. Instantly, that same gentle touch traced in the same spots to my right arm. The process was quite surreal; I've known something like this might have been possible, but it's been too long since I've had the time to think about it in depth. Lumina continued to trace her finger until she slowly went up the side of her chest, under her arm. I felt the rushing, freezing chill of pressure slide up my arm in a curving line. The strangeness made my body shutter a little, but I enjoyed that random stimulation more than I expected to.

"That's so amazing!" Realizing that I had the same superpower, I used my free hand to trace on my skin too. A momentary touch made Lumina gasp, our senses heightened from the connection. I then did the same as she did to me, until we were both simultaneously tracing our skin with our index fingers. I tried to drag my finger all over my body, enough to make Lumina giggle a little. My temptation to draw my finger down lower did me no good however. As I sank that part of my hand further down my pants, I noticed zero reaction from her. Then, I remembered that which she told me long ago; that physical sensations involving mismatched body parts for both nodes would never transfer.

Disinterested, I took my hands off myself, letting Lumina know it was only interesting for a brief period of time. I only hope she doesn't use that trick at random while I'm around others just to get at me. "Oh, I got one." With another similar idea in mind, I started to twirl around the back of my own hair, testing to see if she would feel anything from it. My hair was put back to normal hours ago, but hair is something we both have, so she should feel something.

"It's like a gentle hair massage."

It wasn't entirely indicative of what I was doing, but I assumed some details might shed off, since our hair styles and length do not match. As I thought about it some more, I reminded myself all that I found so wonderful about her. "You're so amazing Lumina. I love everything about you... Ohg!"

"What?"

While Lumina reacted to that weird noise I made, I was left trying to figure out what was happening. It seemed like I was peering through Lumina's eyes again, but this time, the angle and perspective of the view wasn't from Lumina. I saw her body and her face up close, but not from the result of having her stare into another mirror. It was if I were on the outside looking in, seeing Lumina from a third person angle. I just as quickly got lost in the beauty before me. Her eyes, her hair, her face, and that scrumptious mind of hers. "You're so pretty."

"Wha— You can see me now?"

I didn't care that Lumina was surprised by it. I didn't even think about how abnormal it was since she had no mirror in front of her. All I could focus on now was how amazing I saw her. "I can. I can see your face from a different perspective this time... You're so amazing Lumina."

"Oh... Thanks." My flattery finally managed to embarrass her, so I felt even better for saying something.

"I guess I can see differently into your world sometimes." Surely there's some special explanation or that too, right?

"The connection must be getting strong enough to support different view states. Still, you're not seeing directly through my eyes anymore."

"Is that a problem?" Through Lumina, around Lumina, aside from Lumina, any angle works for me.

"No, it's not a problem... But using second-hand clairvoyance through telepathy must prove you are really getting better at this, more than I thought you would."

"Second-hand clairvoyance?"

"It means that you're using a form of clairvoyance that's assisted in energy by our current and existing psionic connection. First-hand would imply the energy is only coming from you."

See? I knew there would be some explanation. Lumina is smart. "Right... You're so pretty Lumina." I can't help but say it over and over. I want to be with her, beside her, part of her, entirely in her life.

"You are too ya know. If you get to call me beautiful, I get to call you beaut— er, I mean, handsome."

Switching to my physical voice, I started laughing too loudly for comfort, catching the silly mistake she just made. "I'm not a girl anymore Lumina."

"I know... Shut up."

"Haha. Still, do you really think I'm handsome?"

"Why? You don't think so?"

"I always kind of saw myself as, average looking." It's okay if people are honest with me. I'm certain I'm no ugly monster, but I'm no Brad Pitt either.

"Well you're not average to me. You're much more than that. You're everything to me. You are my little hot stuff."

"Little hot stuff?" I laughed in question... Actually, that one's not bad. Now I'm jealous for not having thought of a sexy name for Lumina sooner. "Now I have to think of one for you... But you took the best one!"

"Hah! That's what you get, you slacker. You're my little hot stuff, and nothing you say or do can change that."

I couldn't speak for a few seconds. The personal nickname Lumina gave me was more perfect than I realized. It perfectly described how she felt about me in just three simple yet strange little words. I was also quite embarrassed to be called that by anybody, but okay since Lumina was the one telling me this. "I love you Lumina."

"I love you too Reed. I hope this moment lasts forever."

"Yeah..." Even I know that at some point, this magical moment will have to end, so that I can put myself to sleep and wake up again tomorrow. "But we'll always be together, so we'll always have the opportunity to make new moments."

"Yeah... Reed? I just want to remind you about something. I'm not deterring you from what you want, but..."

"But what? Out with it." I know already it must be something important or difficult to talk about. Lumina should know she can discuss anything with me, just as I know I can discuss anything with her, no matter how crazy.

"It's just that, us being together like this, at least while you're on Earth won't be the same as other couples have it. If you're exclusive with me, you'll never really hold hands with another girl, or ever get to kiss anyone. You can throw out sex too for that matter. Once you're transperated up here with me, all of that changes. But before that happens... I would never let you kill yourself in that world just to speed that process up."

"Lumina, it's fine."

"R— Really?"

"Yeah. You must be wondering if this commitment is all for the best. I told you before that I don't want anyone else. I don't want what other couples have; I want what we have right now. That's what I really feel in my heart. My love for you us ultimate; I could never feel that way about any other woman, I'm too sure of it. The fact that you are over a trillion light years away from me, something that will not change for the entire duration I'm to live out my life on Earth, it won't change how I feel about you, no matter how much times passes. So yeah, you don't have to tell me what I'll be giving up for that; I know already. Even so, I'll never change my mind now. That's why I asked to marry you Lumina."

"Reed." Lumina's eyes were glimmering, unable to express entirely how love was building between us.

"Besides, you shouldn't sell this so short. Yeah, we won't be able to physically touch each other, or kiss each other, or have sex with each other. That just isn't an option while I'm here on Earth. However, you and I still have something that nobody else has. I don't have to sneak around the fields at night to be with you; I can simply share all I have with you this way. My senses are your senses now. My mind, thoughts, and heart are also for you to experience. I will never hide anything from you. I will never lie to you about anything, okay?"

"Psionic connections do tend to change the playing field a little."

"It's not even that." My reminder silenced Lumina quickly, so I elaborated to show her what she hasn't yet realized. "What you and I feel for each other, I'm positive could never exist between one of us and any other person." What Lumina and I have might have been assisted and born from telepathy, but the way I feel for her now isn't from some special ability or our emotional sharing network. It's from all that time we spent together, all that time getting attached to each other, crying together, laughing together, and even losing our minds because of each other. "The amount of fun we had tonight and every other day of our lives, telepathy may have opened the door, but we made that magic happen ourselves. I love you, Lumina, only you. And in the future years to come, however long it takes, I'm going to set up a savings fund, make sure I have whatever college degree I need to do well for myself, and move up north where it's actually cold like this all the time, away from Georgia." The more I say it, the more I know that is my destiny.

Though she was fighting back tears of ultimate happiness, Lumina still spoke to me. "I love you Reed. I don't know how I ever got so lucky falling in love with you."

"I guess that's just how things turned out. But trust me on this. I'll move to a state that's so cold, we'll always have a connection to each other. That will be my reason to keep driving this relationship forward. We do have a future together Lumina, one full of happiness. I want to keep making these magical moments with you, and keep spending as much time with you as possible, even when we're bored. So what do you say? Are we going to be partners for life?"

"For all the lives that we will both live, Reed. I'll always be by your side."

"And I'll always be here for you too, no matter what." There's no more room for any doubts now. Now that Lumina knows all that I feel, she knows every part of who I am. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her, even if I live multiple lives, even if I live forever without end. It's a promise, Lumina. Promises to her are something I can never-ever break.

Those were the notes we sang to each other, the truth we agreed now engraved on our very souls. No amount of words could ever make our desires more pure than they were now. Because of this, Lumina and I had an easy time enjoying the next couple of hours passing in the night of our passive stargazing. We caught up on little things we might have missed over the years, including our time apart and our time back together again, and we enjoyed talking about the future most.

After two long hours, it was eventually three in the morning before I finally had to tell Lumina good night, since my exhaustion finally caught up with me, but we didn't leave like we ever did before. Both of us were smiling; both of us were as happy as we could possibly be, knowing we would see each other again very soon. The whole moment, the entire day felt enchanted and special, an experience I could never replicate to such perfection of bliss.

Ignoring all the trouble I was expected to be in when I got back into the cabin, I was met with a different sight entirely. The cabin overhead lamp powered by battery was shut off, so the room was nearly pitch black. After having been out in the dark for hours, my eyes were still well-adjusted, enough to notice that everybody in the room, including the chaperone was fast asleep. It was warmer in here too, a comfort I only enjoyed since the connection was voluntarily shut down. I seemed to awaken nobody on my entry to the cabin when I shut the door gently behind me, now with a clear shot path to my bed.

Huh. Guess he just couldn't be bothered to wait on my official return. Everyone else is asleep now too... Good. That means I can finally rest. With a room this silent, I could hear a pin drop. Instead, I used this silence to my advantage in sleeping. We were supposed to wake fairly early in the morning tomorrow, but I didn't care how much sleep I lost. I wanted to give every second of every minute to Lumina, and so I did. I stayed awake for as long as I could last with a stable connection, and I'm most glad I made that choice. Not only did I not get caught, I got to spend the entire remaining night with the woman I love most. No bedtime story or daydream would ever match how amazing I feel right now; our hearts and mind intertwined at last.