“You’re going to make me prove it to you, aren’t you?”
“Maybe,” I smirk at him but look back up into the sky.
Simon pulls his phone out of his pocket and pushes a few buttons, pulling up an app with every star imaginable on it. “See for yourself, love.” He puts the device in my line of sight and points it toward the glowing orange thing. Sure enough, he was right.
I take the thing from him and hover it over the other one—Saturn. My eyes widen with disbelief. “You’re a freaking astronomer and didn’t tell me?”
Simon grins. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, love.”
“I’d say so.” I spin and continue directing the thing at the sky. “Look at that one.”
"That's Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky. Twice the mass of the Sun."
“How the fuck do you know that?” I gawk at him but turn back to the app, clicking the star and confirming that he was correct. The thing explains something about the northern constellation Lyra.
“By doing what you just did. Every time I see something interesting, I click it to read more. After a while you just sort of retain the information.” Simon shrugs. “Plus, I’ve spent enough time up here to have a general idea of where things are.”
"Is this where you bring all your hot dates?" I side-eye him.
“Are you saying this is a hot date?” Simon tilts his head to the side.
“You know what I mean.”
The smile melts away from his face. “I’ve never brought anyone up here.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never wanted to.”
“Oh.” I focus back on his phone, scanning the sky and distracting myself from what he just told me. A notification pops across the top of the screen. I don’t mean to, but I glance at the message, the name Sarah with some hearts in the text. Immediately, I give him his phone. “Uh, I think your girlfriend just text you.”
“What? No, I don’t have a—”
I cut him off. "You don't have to lie, Simon. You're allowed to have a life outside of this." I motion between us. "And you don't owe me an explanation." I cross my arms over my chest and walk away while looking up at the sky.
Simon stalks after me. “Are you jealous?”
“What? No. That’s ridiculous.” I roll my eyes and continue to move away from him, anything to get some space between us.
“You’re acting jealous, love.”
I turn toward him, my cheeks flushing hot. “I’m notjealous.”
Simon throws up his arms. “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.”
“I’m going to punch the duck in its face.”
“What did the duck do?”
“You know what the duck did.” I lean against a large boulder and stare at the sky to distract myself from him and his accusations.
Jealousy. Is that what this is? But why…Simon and I aren’t dating, and the possibility of that ever happening is zero. Still, I can’t shake this strange feeling coursing through me, and the more it festers, the more it pisses me off.
“June…”
“Simon…”
“Sarah is just—”