He was walking towards his dorm, and noticed a girl lying on a towel on the grass. She was just lying there, looking up, her dark brown hair spread out around her face. He glanced at her a few times as he headed inside. She didn't seem to notice.
------
When he left his dorm 15 minutes later, she was still out there. Curious, he approached her timidly. When he was only a couple feet away, he paused, unsure of what to say. She was still looking up, and if she saw him standing there, she wasn't letting on.
"Hi."
She kept looking up, not acknowledging him.
"Hey."
Pause.
"What are you doing?"
"You're the third person to ask me that."
"Oh."
Another awkward pause. He scratched his head, feeling a bit silly. Then he felt silly for feeling silly. After all, he wasn't the one lying on a towel outside in the dark.
"So...what *are* you doing?"
"Looking at the stars."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
He nodded to himself. Fair enough. Why not indeed?
"Well...bye."
"Bye," she replied, still looking up at the sky.
He continued on to the library, unable to get their short, yet intriguing conversation out of his head. It occured to him, hours later, that she hadn't looked at him once during the entire exchange.
------
The next night, he headed home towards his dorm and was surprised, yet happy, to see her outside on her towel again. He walked up to her, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Back again I see."
"Good observation."
He chuckled to himself.
"You a science major?"
"Nope.
"Just into astronomy?"
"I guess you could say that."
He stared at her a minute, then turned around and went into the dorm.
------
A couple minutes later, he returned with a towel of his own and approached her again.
"Is this grass taken?"
For the first time since their first exchange, she shifted her eyes to look at him for a brief moment.
"Help yourself."
He smiled and spread his towel out on the grass beside her, but not *too* close. He lay down on the towel and squirmed around, trying to get comfortable.
"I feel a little silly."
"So did I the first time. But then I let go and after a few minutes I just forget everything around me."
He stilled himself and looked up at the sky. It really was quite beautiful to look at. The bright lights from campus kept him from seeing much of the sky, but there was still plenty of stars that shone through.
He could hear a small group of girls walking toward the dorm, chatting loudly. His body tensed and he remembered how ridiculous he must look.
"People are coming," he hissed.
"So?"
"Well, don't you think we look a little odd lying here on towels when it's nighttime out?"
"It's no weirder than girls lying on towels in the middle of the day so they can develop skin cancer at an early age."
He opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it. She had a point.
He settled back on his towel and looked up at the sky. He felt himself getting lost in the night sky. Suddenly she sat up. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes. It looked like she was rubbing her feet. He then realized she wasn't wearing any socks or shoes.
"Feet cold?"
"Another brilliant observation."
He grinned, then bit his lip, wanting to ask her something, but not wanting to seem like an idiot. Finally, his curiousness got the best of him.
"So, why *do* you come out here?"
He could feel her eyeing him, but he forced himself to keep looking up. Two could play at this game.
"You really want to know?"
"I asked didn't I?"
She paused.
He couldn't help it, he turned his head on the towel and watched her lie back down on her towel and fold her hands over her stomach.
"Because it's hard to worry about your own problems when you're looking at something so breathtaking...you know?"
She turned her head and for the first time their eyes locked. As amazing as the stars had been when he watched them in the sky, it was nothing compared to how they look reflected in her hazel eyes.
He smiled at her, and his breath caught in his throat when she smiled back.
"Yeah," he whispered. "I know."