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Their story begins in a movie theatre. 

The whole town was outside grilling in the park, or tanning by the lake, or camping up in the mountains to observe Cygnus come nightfall. Sunny summer days only meant one thing to her: peace and quiet. 

She had chosen her seat with tact; it was the only one that allowed the screen to dominate her field of vision without blinding her, stretching from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. The speakers were far enough away that a minor chord wouldn’t deafen her, but whispers could trail invisible fingers across her shoulders. 

One of the chairs to her left squeaked just as the popcorn ad ended. Tightening her fist around the mace in her bag, she eased when she spotted the blond bird’s nest he called hair. 

As the screen went black and the dulcet tones of a piano bloomed into bouquets in her mind, she waited for him to say something. Anything. To supply unhelpful commentary or ask invasive questions.

There was always another brother who needed help with their homework, another sister who couldn’t figure out how to get the ball in the net, another mother and father who couldn’t remember their own passwords.  

But his eyes stayed on the movie for the entirety of those one hundred and twenty-seven minutes.

Once, as the cello crescendoed into a beat of silence, she glanced over at him. Chiselled jaw, a tattoo wrapping around his bicep, an empty tray of nachos in his lap. 

He gasped when the cousin proposed and rolled his eyes every time the mother twittered. He shifted in his seat during the sermon, muttered the love declarations under his breath. When a giggle escaped the chains around her throat, she could’ve sworn his lips curved in a smile. 

Lights flickered on in sync with the reprise of the theme song. Sneakers squeaked against vinyl, approaching as she stood and brushed popcorn kernels off her shorts. 

“Hi.” 

Swallowing, steeling herself, she met his gaze. “Hey.” 

This close, she could see the smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, the flecks of hazel in a sea of azure. Every other time before, her observations had been from across the lecture hall. Two stars in a barycentric system. 

“Are you hungry?” he asked. 

Just like that, he destroyed centuries of science. Destroyed the centre of gravity that drew them so close, but forbade them from colliding.

Shrugging, she admitted, “Starving.” 

“You like sushi?” 

“Not really.” 

“Tacos?” 

She made a noncommittal sound, but try as she might, she couldn’t escape the promise of laughter twinkling in his eyes. All those surreptitious peeks whenever he deftly answered the professor’s questions had stirred intellectual interest in her stomach, nothing even remotely akin to the heat rising to her cheeks as their toes touched.

“Store-bought fruit platter, two chocolate bars doomed to melt in the sun, and the best gourmet sandwiches this town has to offer?” 

Fingers brushing, she only said, “Lead the way.”