Jennifer was waiting outside when Mark arrived at her house. Her long, shiny golden-brown hair flowed slightly in the wind, and her sparking brown eyes looked beautiful, even in the mediocre illumination provided by the street lights. Around her gazing eyes, her perfectly shaped face looked thoughtful and solemn. Beneath that stood a well-cut body, muscular but not disturbingly so, while still being thin and round in all the right places. Her right arm ran across her stomach and she had her hand wrapped around her left elbow.

How did she know I was coming? That was one of the reasons he and Jennifer had hit it off so well. Each could always tell what the other person was thinking.

"Hey Jen!" Mark called out as he pulled to a stop in front of her house. It was relatively large for a one-story house, but not what would be considered a rich-person’s home. The grass was green and well kept and various kinds of bushes and shrubbery decorated the front yard. He dropped his bike on the lawn, not particularly caring if someone was stupid enough to steal the slowest, oldest, and rustiest bike in the neighborhood.

He walked up to her and gave her a quick glance. She looked better, but looks were deceiving sometimes. "How are you feeling?" he asked her carefully.

"I’m all right now. It’s really nice to see you."

"I’m really glad to see you too." He couldn’t stand spending time away from her. Every second he wasn’t with her he missed her, and it was a horrible crushing thing that never went away until he was with her again. He was certain he was in love with Jennifer. Of course, everyone with a crush thinks they are in love. But… I’ve had crushes too, and this is different. So much different…

Jennifer looked around and shivered. "It’s cold out here. Why don’t you come inside?"

It didn’t feel that cold to him, but she obviously was, so he nodded. "Sure."

She motioned for him to go first, so he led her up to the front door and opened it. He walked inside, and Jennifer stepped in after him. From the front hall, he could see her parents in the living room, watching their big screen TV. He heard the voice of a reporter, explaining an experimental plan to detonate napalm and other incendiary chemicals in the air to temporarily raise the temperature. Mark thought it was a pretty stupid idea, but it was still the best one he’d heard up until that point. I can’t believe they let these idiot scientists sit around and think up stupid unpractical ways to superheat an air mass the size of a small car for fifteen seconds. I could probably come up with a better idea in my sleep. I’ll have to remember to do that sometime….

Not wishing to disturb her parents, who were perfectly used to Mark’s presence and did not need to be told whenever he came or went, Jennifer silently motioned towards her room. It was at the end of a hallway leading to the right from the front door. Mark nodded and set off quietly down the hallway.

As always, he was a little thrown off by how tidy her room was. It is so damn clean! My room’s a mess! Mark thought as he walked through the room and sat down on Jennifer’s bed. It was a rather large fluffy piece covered in beautiful velvet-green sheets that was tucked into the corner of the room. The head of it was in the corner. A large window with green sashes that matched the sheets was located above the foot of the bed. A few posters of obscure bands she didn’t listen to but liked to look at decorated the walls. This had initially made Mark jealous, but he had since realized she didn’t care at all about these bands, and she was quite faithful to him.

A small collection of books rested on a shelf in the corner opposite the door. Another, smaller door in the middle of the wall opposite the bed led to a closet.

""Thanks so much for coming over, Mark. I'm so glad I have somebody to be with me through all this," Jennifer said seriously.

"I'm always here for you, Jen."

"That’s so sweet." Jennifer said, but she said it in a kind of sad way, instead of cheerfully like she usually did.

She shivered. Mark realized how cold it was in the house and looked at her, surprised that they didn’t have the heater on. Jennifer guessed what he was thinking. "We’re gonna wait another hour or so before turning on the heater. To conserve electricity I guess. I mean, I’m glad we are helping out, but I’m getting cold."

Now Jennifer was shivering violently. Mark wasn’t surprised. It must be only 55 degrees in here! She’s accustomed to much warmer temperatures. This is California! Seeing her shivering made him sad.

"Why is it so cold in here? Even without a heater it doesn’t get this cold so fast."

"Nobody was home when the sun went out, and the AC was on." She groaned. "We didn’t program it to turn off when it gets cold, so it just kept getting colder."

"Oh." Mark frowned. She giggled softly at the expression on his face.

Worried, he looked at Jennifer. His eyes ran down her beautiful golden-brown hair, then looked into hers, big and brown. He couldn’t stand seeing her so cold.

"Here, take my jacket." He pulled off his windbreaker and gave it to her.

Jennifer smiled softly. "Aww, thanks, but then won't you be cold?"

"Just a little," he lied.

There was concern in her eyes as she spoke. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I can take a little cold. You wear it."

"If you’re sure…" She slid an arm through each sleeve and then tugged on the collar to loosen the jacket up and make it fit better. With that accomplished, she gave him a big smile. "I'm already feeling a little warmer." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him, pulling her back against his chest. She let out a content sigh and leaned against him, resting her head against his neck. "Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm."

For a few minutes, they just sat there silent, Mark with his arms around Jennifer while she sat at his side. This was his favorite kind of moment; a time when he could be near Jennifer, and just hold her, and have all of the love and emotion flowing between them without having to do anything more than just sit there together.

After a bit of time had passed, Mark began to wonder whether he should break the silence and say something. What if she’s bored? She might want to talk. She probably thinks I’m an idiot who can’t even think of a decent conversation topic. He began to panic, although he tried not to show it. This happened to him often, where he would become paranoid and self-conscious and worry about every little minute detail of whatever was happening, and often of things that had happened in the past. He desperately wanted to say something to prove to her (and to himself) that he could think of something to talk about, but the panic overwhelmed him and he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Luckily she broke the silence for him. "Mark?"

Mentally he sighed with relief. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He hugged her closer. "I love you too."

There was a knock on the door. Jennifer’s mother’s voice floated in. "Hey kids, we’ve got some food in the living room if you’re hungry."

"Kids?" Jennifer yelled in response.

"I’m just kidding, honey. Sorry."

Feeling a bit hungry, Mark nodded pointlessly at the door. "Sure, we’ll be out in a minute."

He kissed Jennifer quickly, then stood up and held out his hand. "Shall we?"

This caused her to giggle with delight. "Of course." She rose to her feet and took his hand.

They walked to the living room together. When they reached it, Mark looked around. It hadn’t changed since the last time he’d come. There were two beautiful black leather couches, the biggest and most comfortable the Reys could afford. Several smaller, less ornate chairs sat gathered around a fireplace that had been devoid of fire for as long as he could remember. A large television sat inside a well-kept media center shelf made of pinewood glossed to a perfect finish. The room was very lavishly decorated, and was completely unexpected considering the rather small size of their house. Jennifer’s parents thought the best way to impress people was expensive furniture and furnishings, and so they continuously decorated the rooms would see the most guests, while largely ignoring the rest of the house.

In front of the couches was a glass coffee table covered with an array of little treats. Popcorn, soda, various, and kinds of candy just waiting to be eaten.

There was a whistle from Jennifer. "Are we having a party?"

Her mother shook her head. "No Jen, we just haven’t had any treats – or guests- in a while, and it seemed like as good a time as any to have some good food."

Jim nodded. "We’ve got Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Sierra Mist. There’s some kettle corn, some regular popcorn, and some different kinds of candy. I think we’ve got everything you two like."

Mark whistled.

"So, Mark, do you want to sit down?"

He nodded quickly and leapt into the cushions. Jennifer sat down next to him, pressed up against him despite the large amount of room on the couch.

Mark took two cups and poured some Dr. Pepper into each one. He gave one cup to Jennifer and took a large sip out of the other one. They both liked Dr. Pepper more than any other soda, although Jennifer was quite fond of Cherry Coke.

Clarice went down the hallway to the kitchen, while her husband went into the room’s walk-in closet look for something.

After finished her Dr. Pepper, Jennifer whispered in Mark’s ear. "They haven’t done anything like this in ages. I think they’re trying to make sure we stay together or something. Not like we need their encouragement…" She smiled and snuggled up against him.

Her father reappeared with an armload of videos. "Here you go… take your pick."

"Oh, dad, I could have gotten one!" Jennifer protested.

"No, no, it’s fine." He sat on the other couch. "So, what do you want to watch?"

Mark shrugged. "I don’t care."

"Let’s watch Matrix," Jennifer suggested.

"That sounds good," agreed Mark.

Jim dug through his pile of tapes. "Ah, here it is." He popped the tape into the VCR.

As Matrix came to a close, Mark grinned. It was one of his favorite movies and he always enjoyed watching it. An additional fact that pleased him was that Jennifer liked it just as much.

"That’s really a great movie," Jennifer’s father remarked as he entered the room. He had left after the first few minutes. "Did you have fun watching it?"

Jennifer groaned loudly. "Dad, do you have to tease me, pester me, and embarrass me?"

Her father nodded. "Yes, yes I do." He winked at Mark.

Mark smiled. "Yeah, we had fun watching it. We both love it!"

"Hey Mark, what about renting the new one, Matrix Reloaded?" Jennifer suggested. It had come out a few months earlier. Mark had grabbed some time to see it but she hadn’t.

"Yeah, I’ve heard that’s good," added Jennifer’s father. "The video store is surprisingly still open, although I think they are selling videos instead of renting them out. Do you want to go now?"

Rather than making the decision himself, Mark turned to Jennifer. There was a pause as she thought.

"Okay, sure dad, just let me go get some stuff out of my room."

"All right then. Take your time. I’ll go start the car." He turned and left the room.

Tugging on his Mark’s arm and gesturing for him to follow, Jennifer walked quickly out of the family room and down the hall back to her room. She then let go of his arm and darted inside.

Curious, he followed her in. She was digging through a box of various items that appeared to have been under her bed. Every few seconds she would say "Ah-hah", remove something from the box, and toss it on the bed. When she was done, there was an unlabeled book and two small electronic devices Mark did not recognize on the bed.

She tucked the book under her arm. Then she handed Mark one of the two little gadgets, which Mark then recognized as a text communicator. It was a minute plastic thing with a small keypad and an LCD screen. Any person with one could use it to send text messages back and forth between any other nearby person that had one, creating what was essentially a portable digital chat room. With the two devices, Mark and Jennifer could talk silently, retaining their privacy and not annoying her parents. They could also talk to anybody else that had one of the things.

After he had finished inspecting it Jennifer explained, "You can keep that one, of course. It’s a present."

He gave her a kiss. "Thanks! I’ve always wanted us to have a set of these!" He rubbed his chin. "Ah, but now I have to get you something."

"That kiss was a good payment," she intoned with a flirtatious smile.

His smile turned into a grin. "Oh, that was just a down payment. The best kiss is yet to come."

She giggled and blushed slightly. "You’re funny."

"Who? Me?"

From outside came the honk of the Rey’s car. "Well, we should get going go," Jennifer suggested.

The two of them walked out to the car together. It was a beautiful red Honda Prelude, the previous year’s model. Mark rubbed his hands together. He loved taking the Prelude, both because he liked Honda cars, and because they usually drove a lot faster in it than in the Rey’s other car, an old minivan.

Always the gentleman, Mark opened up the rear door and waved Jennifer inside. She slid inside and scooted over to make room for him. He climbed in and sat down next to her, pulling the door closed behind him.

"All right, kiddies, let’s get going. And remember, no making out in the back seat. That’s not what it’s there for." Jim turned and winked.

Mark laughed and Jennifer smiled. Her father turned back around and started the engine. There was a soothing purr as he pulled out of the driveway, but Mark quickly forgot about the sound of the engine as he became engrossed in a conversation with his girlfriend over the communicators.

He figured out how to use the gadget quickly; technology had always been his greatest strength. She already knew how to use it from the more conventional method of reading the manual. In a few minutes they had a conversation going.

Just then Jennifer’s father turned and spoke to them. "We’re here. If you two can put your little Game Boys or whatever those are down for five minutes," he teased, "we can go in and get the movie." He opened his door and exited the car, then walked in front of it and sat down on hood.

"What’s he doing?" Mark asked.

Since she knew her father better, Jennifer recognized the behavior. "He’s waiting… well, he’s being impatient. How about we let him go get it?"

"How are we going to do that?"

She raised her right arm and jerked her thumb back at the trunk. "We sit there."

Mark and Jennifer worked their way out of the car and sat down together on the trunk.

"Fine, I’ll get it myself," her dad yelled. The rear end of the car suddenly sunk lower as weight was lifted off the front.

Eager to see the movie again, Mark rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Looking forward to seeing it?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"

Mark leaned backwards until his spine touched the window. He stuck his arms behind his head, cupped his hands, and formed a sort of pillow with them. "Whoa, just look at those stars."

The light pollution was absolutely terrible, and the stars were barely visible.

Craning her neck and probing the heavens with her eyes, Jennifer leaned back as well. "What? What stars?" She turned her head to Mark.

He winked.

Not feeling quite as humorous, she looked at him sullenly. "We won’t be able to see the stars any more, will we?"

He sighed. "Not with all the lights on."

"Oh." She stared off into space. In the dim light coming from the windows of the stores across the street, Mark saw her eyes sparkle and glisten with moisture.

"Aww, Jennifer, I’m so sorry! I know you love looking at the stars. And now you can’t see them." He hugged her, trying to provide some comfort. "Don’t worry, eventually people will turn out some of the lights. It’ll be like night used to be: street lights, porch lights, and not much else."

She stopped crying and leaned up against Mark. "I hope so, Mark. I don’t all the beautiful stuff to die and disappear. It looks like plants and animals are already gone, I don’t want to lose the stars."

Mark held her close and stroked her hair. "No Jennifer, the beautiful stuff is not going to disappear. The most beautiful thing on earth is right here next to me, and no matter what, I won’t let her die."

---

Thirty minutes later, Mark sat next to Jennifer on the couch in her living room. She was leaned up against him, with her head rested on his shoulder. At first, Mark was slightly uncomfortable with this obvious display of affection in front of her parents, but he figured if she didn’t care, he shouldn’t either. Besides, they’d hugged and kissed before in front of her parents. What was there to worry about?

Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to get the movie. The store was almost sold out of Matrix Reloaded copies and the guy working there wanted a ridiculously large sum of money for one. Not wishing to spend that much on a single video, they left, dejected.

The TV set was on, on the news station. Not that it mattered which station they were watching. All of the one hundred and thirty stations the Reys received were showing the same thing. A group of scientists had studied the disappearance of the sun, and they were ready to publicize the results of their research. Mark watched with interest as a scientist walked up to a podium. The man had messy jet-black hair and a thin figure. Without waiting for applause, he started talking.

"Hello, my name is Jason. I am one of the head researchers at NASA. I’m going straight to the point. We have studied the sun’s position carefully for several hours, through telescopes, satellites, and several other methods. We have checked every known source of information on cosmic activity. And we think we know what happened.

"Evidence suggests that this is the result of a quantum singularity. I am not going to bother explaining what that is – I don’t mean to insult you’re intelligence, but if you don’t already know you won’t understand. Anyway, a quantum singularity has caused the spontaneous generation of a black hole precisely in the center of the sun. The black hole is not a particularly large one… none of the planets are in the event horizon, so it yet to have any major impact on the solar system, other than a loss of light and heat.

"Essentially, this means that we are flying off into space. We are too far outside of the black hole’s gravitational pull to orbit around it. Also, and on a more negative note, if nothing is done to preserve the planet everything will freeze and die. However, this is no reason to panic as of yet. NASA is confident that we can develop some sort of means of survival. Right now, the greatest probability of success lies inside of the earth. Deep below the surface, it is still warm. Sometimes this heat reaches the surface through a volcano in the form of molten rock. Until further research is conducted, volcanoes seem to be the most promising of our options to stay warm.

"Rest assured, a means of survival can and will be obtained. We can and will adapt. We can and will survive."

The scientist stepped down and walked offstage. There was a great deal of applause. The camera panned over the faces of the audience. Most of the faces conveyed an expression of relief. Jason had obviously convinced these people not to worry. J Jennifer looked confused, and her parents were exchanging worried looks. Mark didn’t say anything. He was stunned as well. Let’s see. The earth is now doomed to perpetual night, and it is freezing cold, because of little black hole eating up the sun. Oh, this is good. This is real good.