“I can’t believe you fell asleep during the show.", Tomas exclaimed while chuckling internally.

“ITS NOT MY FAULT!“, Aila shrieked. “The show was prerecorded and that man's voice was so monotone that it was impossible not to fall asleep during it!”

“Sure. Sure.” Tomas couldn’t keep up the farce any longer and burst into a fit of laughter.

“Hey, do not laugh at me, Tomas! I have no idea of how you managed to be awake during that whole endless lecture by that presenter who kept going on and on about the classifications of stars and the…the naming system of the different constellations! Like who cares about that!”, she spoke so passionately about the subject that Tomas finally let his laughter subside for he realized she was being serious.

“Well, I thought you were one who cared about the stars. You were the one in the first place who mentioned going to the planetarium.”, he reminded her.

“Next time, let’s go to a live show then. At least, then we can ask questions and tell the presenter to engage in less techno-babble.”, she pouted in reply.

As they walked along the sidewalk, Aila confessed something else as well.

“It may not…have been entirely the presenter’s fault…I’m tired from writing and handing in 3 papers that were due this week. I think the professors are conspiring against us from having fun and being free!”, she spread her arms out when she said the word free to emphasize it.

Aila could never be a bird in a cage, Tomas recollected. He was different than her in that aspect, she had no restraints from living life freely and he let himself caged from embracing life to the fullest. Fortunately, it seemed Aila was bringing out the more adventurous side of Tomas by making him partake in activities he would never bring himself to do otherwise.

One day, he would have to thank her for that. She was freeing him from his inner cage and letting him fly free. Just the other week, he sang in front of a choir director which he had not done since middle school.

“If you were really that exhausted, you could have just canceled the date then.”, Tomas responded.

“I know, but…Tomas, I like you and everything, but I feel like…aren’t we going a little bit fast?”

“Fast where?”, he asked.

“In our relationship, I mean.”, she responded back. “I remember that you asked me to be your girlfriend last week and this is our first date. Tomas, this is my first relationship, you remember that, don’t you?”

“I don’t follow…”, he replied, fearing the worst from her lips.

“I just think…we should take it slow. We’re both new at this and I have no idea what is going to happen in the future…and I just don’t want to…”

She was interrupted with his embrace, stopping her from saying the words ‘hurt you’.

“Get hurt? I will never hurt you, Aila.” He added, “At least not intentionally”, while withdrawing from the hug.

“Ooo…Tomas. Wait a minute, you scoundrel!”, she tried to hit him and he ducked from her blow, laughing as she missed.

“I was just joking, Aila! Please?”, he held his hands in surrender.

“Fine.”, Aila recovered and stroked her skirt aggressively; it turns out he’s just like his brother, she thought.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Will you forgive me fair maiden?”

Not like Alexander at all, she whispered back to herself.

“Of course, my knight in shining armor! Where doth we go from here?”, she giggled at the last line.

“Did I ever tell you that when you sang in that choir audition, I was enchanted by your voice?”

“No. Did I ever tell you my heart dropped when I heard you sing ‘Pure Imagination’?”

They both stopped their leisurely stroll and stared into each other’s eyes at this point.

Tomas spoke first, asking in all seriousness, “Was I that bad that you nearly had a heart attack?”

Aila started laughing again and answered back, “No, Tomas. Your voice was beautiful! It was like listening to…a mockingbird singing in the sky! Oh, how I loved it so…”, she trailed off and looked at the horizon, leaving Tomas wondering if his voice was now his competition instead of Wesley, a fictional character.

She broke the silence after a few moments and spoke again.

“Tomas, I think I never told you how much I appreciated going to the planetarium with you. Here, in the city, it’s so hard to have a clear view of the night sky with all the stars...When I look at these skies and remember how growing up, I had an uninhibited view of the universe…I miss home.”

Finding a bench to sit on, Tomas sat with her and tried to console her from her homesickness.

After Aila had spent some time reminiscing, she asked, “Tomas, what was your childhood like? I remember that during my entire childhood, I wanted more than what my village in Scotland had to offer. I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could and wasn’t grateful for the family I had or anything really. Now, looking back, I regret not taking the time to marvel at the beauty of my homeland and sing its praises. I think that’s why I chose the folk song, Loch Lomond, to sing at the audition.”

“Well, my childhood…”, Aila turned her head and looked intently at him.

“My parents died in an airplane crash when I was young and I grew up with Oma and Opa who took care of me. They were good people, but Oma was the one out of the two who truly cared about me and my brother. I think you’re right on that aspect; people don’t appreciate the things in front of them ’til they’ve lost them entirely.”

Aila suddenly remembered what had been on her mind.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Tomas, have you written your toast yet for the wedding?”