The Blue Hue

Sticky, watermelon flavored lip gloss clung to Reed Hart’s lips after the kissing. He smiled in spite of himself at the taste, running a gentle hand though the brunette hair of the girl in his arms and wishing the moment never had to end.

Cassidy Conway had caught his eye two years ago in their sophomore chemistry class. She was quiet, but smart. Never too scared to raise her hand with a correct answer, but always too scared to peek at her cell phone in class. Her ashy brown hair would get natural highlights when she spent too much time in the sun, and she had a set of big, hazel eyes, and arguably the sweetest laugh in school. Reed could not believe his luck after pining for her from afar for two years straight, they had been randomly assigned as lab partners for astronomy junior year.

“I kinda like the lip gloss,” he said playfully, licking it from the side of his mouth with his tongue. "Where can I get some?" Cassidy swatted at him and giggled, and Reed's stomach did a backflip at the sound.

“We should probably get back to work,” she murmured, sitting up and gesturing towards the telescope angled up at the starry sky on the far end of Reed’s dad’s study. She readjusted her sweatshirt to cover the pink mark his lips had left on her collarbone. Reed swallowed and nodded in agreement, even though he would have preferred to stay with her on the couch until the end of time.

“Right,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Sorry, I just-”

“No, no.” He shook his head, encouraging her to take a look first. He would need a minute.

“It’s really cool your dad owns one of these,” she commented, sauntering over to the telescope and peering into its eyepiece. The way she was bending over the telescope caused her wavy hair to cascade down her back, nearly reaching the thin line of exposed skin between her jeans and cropped sweatshirt. Reed had to look away, at the picture of his dead grandfather in uniform on the wall behind his dad’s desk.

“Yeah, he kinda prides himself on being an amateur astrologer,” Reed explained, still staring at a young Grandpa James. “I think he would have preferred to go into science, but chose to be a financial manager for some dumb reason instead.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Cassidy replied, still staring into the eyepiece as she slowly swiveled the lens. “I don't ever want to settle in a career for money.” Reed finally joined her by the window, his textbook and notebook in arm. Neither had been opened despite Cassidy arriving over an hour ago.

“Same,” he agreed. “I have actually been considering an astronomy major…or maybe biology. I really like science.” Or at least he really liked that science was the one subject that his classes overlapped with hers.

“You better decide soon,” she chastised, her gaze still dutifully in the eyepiece. “We’re seniors, my guy.”

“Oh and I suppose you have got it all figured out. Little miss-”

“What the hell?”

Reed felt heat in his cheeks as he stammered to backtrack. “I uh…I’m sorry. I was just kidding. I know senior year can be really-”

“Reed,” Cassidy cut him off again, standing up abruptly from the telescope, her big eyes even wider than usual. “Look.”

The word came out sharply and Reed hesitated, looking from Cassidy to the telescope with confusion. He leaned down slowly towards the eyepiece, his vision adjusting.

There. In the center of what should have simply been Orion’s belt was a bright blue light with a grainy blue tail moving…at an alarming pace.

“What is that?” Cassidy asked in a hollow voice, and Reed squinted, shifting the telescope slightly to the left to follow its movement.

“Can’t be a plane,” he murmured. “Maybe a comet?”

“Reed,” she repeated his name softly, in a way that should have stirred feelings in his stomach, but instead sent shivers down his spine. “You can see it without the telescope…”

He straightened and looked to where Cassidy pointed, confirming the tiny blue light had become visible to the naked eye. Light abruptly bathed his neighbor’s yard below, startling him. Reed watched as the elderly couple rushed outside, looking upward. He walked around the telescope, leaning out the window into Charlotte, North Caroline’s warm fall air and saw neighbors across the street hurrying out their front door too.

“Reed…what’s going on?” Cassidy whispered. Voices could be heard on the second floor landing, and Reed realized the sound from the living room television had grown in volume. The door to his father’s study was suddenly thrown open making them both jump, and revealing Reed's parents and little sister.

“It’s on the news,” Reed’s sister, Hope, exclaimed before his dad could say a word.

“Let me look,” his dad said quietly, and Reed tugged Cassidy away from the telescope, looking to his mom who stood silent in the door frame, her arms wrapped around twelve year old Hope.

“Should I go?” Cassidy asked the room softly. Reed looked back to the window. It was bigger, yet. The cobalt blue light vibrant against the black sky.

“Sean?” His mom asked his dad. “What is it?”

“I don’t…,” his dad muttered, making an adjustment to the telescope and continuing to follow the light across the sky. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll go,” Cassidy insisted in Reed’s ear just as the small television in the study was turned on by Hope.

“Experts are saying it’s a potential meteorite…it’s impact point uncertain due to the sheer speed-”

“What does that mean?” Hope asked the room anxiously, her seventh grade mind neither too naive nor too educated to fully grasp the reporter’s dire tone. Cassidy looked at Reed. They had just learned the difference between meteors, asteroids, and comets yesterday. “Impact point? That means it’s going to hit something?" Hope asked, her voice cracking. "To hit us?”

“Hope," their mom exclaimed, shaking her head.

“A meteorite is a meteoroid that hits the earth's surface,” Cassidy said to the room in a monotone voice.

“Cass,” Reed said quietly, wishing she would turn off her intelligent thoughts for the sake of his fearful sister. “Let me take you home.”

“I don’t think either of you should leave,” his dad said suddenly, finally breaking his attempt to identify the light.

“Mr. Hart, I think I need to check on my parents-”

The reporter’s voice cut over their conversation. “We’ve just received word that the southeastern United States is the most likely target based on current trajectory and speed over the last hour.”

Reed’s mouth went dry.

“Daddy?” Hope whispered.

“It’s bigger,” Cassidy said breathlessly, trembling as she stared out the window. The sky was beginning to glow a disturbingly neon blue. Reed instinctively reached for her hand.

“We should go downstairs...to the pantry," his dad declared. “You too, Cassidy." She was squeezing Reed’s hand with all her might and looked over to Mr. Hart with a trembling jaw. “Call your parents to let them know."

His mother and Hope hurried out of the room. Reed could hear their fearful cries as they bounded down the stairs. He felt nauseous; his head starting to spin as the reporter’s voice on the television grew more anxious as updates on the impact point continued.

“Let’s go,” his father urged and Cassidy dropped Reed’s hand and started to the door, her phone already to her ear as she swallowed back tears.

“Dad,” Reed pleaded, the two of them left upstairs. “Is this bad?”

His father studied him for a moment, cocking his head to the side. “You have something-” his father murmured, ignoring the question, and bringing a thumb to Reed’s cheek, wiping away the watermelon lip gloss. His father’s solemn expression turned to a brief, knowing smile. “I like her.”

“Me too,” Reed whispered, feeling tears brimming at his eyes.

“Hurry” his father replied, his express serious again. "Just in case."

Reed paused in the door of the study, taking one last look over his shoulder, out the open window, at the glowing blue sky. It had become painfully bright, turning the office a harrowing hue of blue. He licked his lips anxiously, tasting the last bit of remaining gloss from the girl he had spent two years yearning for, but had finally kissed.

If it all might end, at least it would end with this.