Iowa | Thursday FT

[pursuedthestars]

Iowa was boring. It was really, really boring and it was starting to eat away at Jim's psyche. He felt like he'd done everything, seen everything, knew everyone and it was boring. He didn't know how much more stagnation he could take. The urge to do something, anything, was growing in his belly, hot and fierce and strong.

Jim kept ignoring it because he knew (he knew) what he might end up doing. He ignored it to drink and to date and to walk and drive and fight. But, it was still there. Still waiting and Jim knew he wasn't going to be able to ignore it for much longer before he gave in.

It was dark tonight, warm and sticky. Jim's feet were stretched out in front of him, dirt gathering on his boots. Inside, Frank was watching something loud on the television and his mother was off somewhere, doing her thing. It was just him and the vast openness in front of him.

He sighed and tapped the porch with his fingers, watching streaks of light brighten the night sky before it sunk back into its darkness. Those people were doing something. Something good, something new and something that wasn't sitting on a damn porch on a Thursday night.

God, he sucked.

[NFB but open for usual things]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

For awhile, Jim just drove in silence. The only sounds were the winds whipping past them and the occasional vehicle passing them. He had no real destination in mind but he figured she'd spot something or he'd find something sooner than later.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave him a hint of what she was looking for, after a while of just enjoying the feeling of moving. Fast.

"Can you find me a hill or something?" she called out over the sound of the air rushing past.

[pursuedthestars]

"A hill? In Iowa? Way to give me a challenge, Natalie," he said, pushing the bike faster and veering them off the main road onto something a little darker and bumpier. "I know a place."

[whenshewasnice]

"I know this is flatness central," Natalie replied, "but any old slightly elevated place will do."

It was the thought that counted, really.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim nodded to let her know he understood and kept driving for a few minutes longer before he came upon a few gently rolling hills in the middle of what was probably once farmland.

He drove them through the dirt and to the base before stopping the bike and shutting it down.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie released him and got off the bike, then took off the helmet before sighing and looking around.

This was more like it.

[pursuedthestars]

"Any particular reason you needed a hill?" he asked since he was curious. He tossed the helmet down near the bike and stretched.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't toss her helmet. She set it down neatly, then straightened up again.

"I wanted to look at the stars."

And something about that just called for being a little higher up. Even if it really was just a little higher up.

[pursuedthestars]

"Not that I'm complaining but you came here for that?" he asked, stepping closer to her again. "Again, not a complaint."

[whenshewasnice]

"I came here for that," Natalie replied, turning a little more towards him. "It just felt right."

You wanted stars, you came to the part of the multiverse that has it right in the title.

[pursuedthestars]

"Never knew you were such an astronomy buff," he teased, nodding towards the hill. "Come on, then."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm not," she said, sticking her hands in her hoodie pockets as she started towards the hill. "I just want to look at them for a while."

She wouldn't know any of their names. It would be fine.

[pursuedthestars]

"How romantic," he teased, climbing up the not so steep hill until he was at the top. The grass was a little taller here and the dirt underneath was soft, no longer frozen from the previous hard winter.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie quirked a crooked little ghost of a smirk at him as she stopped beside him.

"Could be."

Then she tilted her head back to look up towards the sky. Hello, stars. She sighed, and some tension seemed to leave her shoulders.

[pursuedthestars]

"Is everything okay?" he asked her quietly, glancing at the stars and then down at her.

[whenshewasnice]

"Everything's fine," she said, and reached out a hand for him, without looking over.

If he took it, she was going to try and tug him behind her. She could be needy sometimes, in her own quiet way.

[pursuedthestars]

"Mmm." Jim took her hand, fingers twining with hers. "Just got the urge to look at stars in the middle of nowhere?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't answer. Yet, anyway. The answer was too complicated to just be given out just like that.

So instead she gave his hand a tug. "I started at the University of Toronto," she said. "And now it's already summer break. Time goes much faster there."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're in Canada now?" he asked, sliding behind her and leaning against her back. "Wow."

[whenshewasnice]

She leaned right into him, and tried to wrap his arms around her, her hand still in his. See? Needy, but in a quiet and understated way. Perfectly Natalie.

"Yes," she said, "and no. I'm in Brazil and Canada. The time difference is ridiculous. When I'm in Brazil, time flows normally in Toronto. But when I'm in Toronto for a week, it's half a day in Ribeirao Preto."

Not that she was complaining. It was convenient.

[pursuedthestars]

"You're doing both?" he asked, sounding slightly surprised. "You're going to burn yourself out if you're not careful."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm being careful. I'm aging a little faster than usual, from your perspective, but I'm being careful." She tipped her head back against his shoulder, to look up at the stars. "I'll put something on hold if it gets to be too much."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're aging faster?" he repeated. That just sounded...strange.

[whenshewasnice]

"It's math, Jim," she replied with a sigh. "If I'm over there for a week and come back and only a few hours have passed over here, then from your perspective, I've aged more in those four hours than I should have."

[pursuedthestars]

"That's just weird," he said, shaking his head. "Is it healthy?"