That night Jude found himself sitting on the bench that stared out into the lake. The moon wasn't around, and the light post was off. He patted the spot next to him, and Aludra jumped up on the bench with him.
"I'm not scared of my own shadow," the male mumbled underneath his breath. Aludra sneezed, and he jumped before hunching over in his seat with a hand to his chest. His head snapped to his dog with a glare, "You're not funny."
The dog glanced at him licking her snout before turning her head back to the lake and glancing towards the sidewalk, an ear twitching towards the male occasionally, but her attention mainly on other sounds.
He slumped in his seat and stared back at the lake. The night was cool, but he could feel the cold front ending. Spring wasn't too far away, and he wasn't too excited about the Floridian-heat the very word promised.
With his gaze on the stars, he stared at Orion, wondering how would he even teach someone about the stars. He was a stargazing rookie too.
His head rested against the back of the bench, and let his brown eyes focus on the dark space above him until his eyes adjusted and could detect more stars. His eyes fell on a white moving light, that was much smaller and dimmer than the other stars. It traveled North as he always saw it doing, and left him wondering what it was each time.
He heard the grass move about behind him and his dog's leash jingle as she stood on the bench. His head turned as his gaze fell on the stranger-boy, heart brutally constricting as his nerves kicked in. Anxiety truly hated strangers.
"You see that too, right?" The teen questioned, not once looking over at Jude.
The curly haired male looked back up pushing up his glasses. His gaze scanned the sky until they fell on the moving light again. "You mean the light?"
"Yeah."
Aludra placed her paws on the back of the seat sniffing at the stranger and wagging her tail. Jude watched as he smiled at her and sat on the other end of the bench, his dog rubbing herself all over the male.
"Aludra, no come back here."
The stranger shook his head, "It's fine; she's adorable."
Jude stopped tugging on her leash and let her have her way with the teen. His hoodie was down today, allowing Jude to see the male's dark short hair. But then again everything looked dark when the streetlamp wasn't on.
"I bet it's a UFO."
Jude blinked, "What?"
"That light thing, I bet it's an alien."
Jude looked back up with an arched brow, it was gone, "That seems far-fetched." His gaze leveled back down only to find the other teen looking straight at him.
"Then what do you think it is?"
"An asteroid."
The boy hummed.
It became quiet between the two, and Jude shifted in his seat not knowing what to say or do. "You start conversations weirdly."
He laughed still petting the dog, "And you don't keep your promises."
Jude squinted, "What promises, I never promised anything."
The male didn't look up, just kept playing with Aludra, the dog having the time of her life it seemed, "Well then," he paused as if to think, "lie? When you say something, it's pretty much a promise."
The boy crossed his arms leaning back on the bench, "It wasn't a promise. Plus, I don't know you." He caught a smile on the other's face. He fidgeted in his seat again not knowing what to do. He glanced at the other, "I forgot your name."
The male looked over at him, "Elle. And yours was..."
Jude felt relief at knowing he wasn't the only one to forget their exchange, "Jude."
The teen looked down at the dog and smiled, "And you're Aludra, I wouldn't forget you."
Jude chuckled at that, his tension easing but not entirely, "Gee, I'll try not to be offended."
Elle looked at Jude again allowing Aludra to sit on his lap. Her owner shook his head in disbelief at her affection for the other. "Shouldn't you be used to it? I thought it was common for people to only remember the dog's name, and that even dog owners refer to each other as 'owner of blank dog'."
Jude smiled, "That's true."
It became quiet again, and yet again Jude shifted in his seat as he looked towards the lake.
"You know it's cool if you don't want to teach me. You could've said no the other night, and I can go now if you're uncomfortable."
Jude glanced at the other briefly as he could hardly keep eye-contact, "To tell you the truth I think you're some serial killer."
Again Jude was greeted with laughter, "Why would you ever tell the killer you suspect he's a killer, wouldn't they just kill you right then and there?"
"Does that mean you're gonna kill me right here and now?"
"Nah," the teen shook his head, "then I won't have someone to teach me the constellations."
The curly haired male started to relax, and his nerves began to be replaced by innocent curiosity, "Why do you wanna learn?"
"Because I hate them."
Jude blinked, now truly and utterly confused by the other male. "You know...you're not making me like you."
"I don't think many teachers like their students."
"Nice save."
"Am I back on track to being liked?"
"No, just starting."
Elle rolled his eyes, "You know you're the one who should be trying to be liked after ditching me."
"I had good reasons."
"Fair enough."
"So why learn about something you hate?" Jude continued.
" 'Cause everyone from Shakespeare to John Greene has an obsession with them."
Jude had never read The Fault in Our Stars, and the only star related line he could remember in Shakespeare was "Star crossed lovers." He didn't think many people were into them, so he failed to see the male's point.
"I just wanna get it. They're dots in the sky to me. How do you even make up a constellation?"
Jude looked back up at the sky, and he wondered why he was obsessed with them, and just as he started naming reasons, he found himself holding back a blush at his embarrassing conclusion. "I think their purpose is cool," he mumbled, and the male beside him shrugged.
"I don't see it."
Jude hummed, "As an for the dots, did you not play Connect the Dots as a kid?"
"You mean the game where you make a picture?"
"It's exactly like that."
Elle looked back up at the sky, and he seemed to ponder it for a moment. At the sight of the other the corner of Jude's lips twitched into a smile.
He turned his own gaze towards the sky, and pointed at the three dots that were aligned within the black blanket. "You see those three that are in a perfect line? I used to know them as the Three Kings' Stars."
"Yeah," the other confirmed.
"Well if you move up to that red dot there, you start making up Orion. The three dots are his belt. If you make a box with the three dots you've got his hips and upper legs, and so on."
"I don't see..."
Jude leveled his gaze when the male paused and was startled when the other exclaimed his next words.
"I see it!"
The curly haired male smiled shaking his head looking back up, "Well there, first lesson: finding the most obvious constellation in the sky, done."
Their gazes met, and Jude couldn't help but scoot back to his side some more. He hadn't noticed that at some point he had gotten closer to the other male to be able to pinpoint where the stars were.
"Do you know all of them?"
Jude shook his head, "No, I'm a rookie. Pines Blvd makes it hard to see the sky, so even though this is closer to Southwest Ranches, the city lights nearby still cause light pollution."
Elle nodded, "Guess it would be better if we were in Southwest Ranches, that's more urban."
There was a small amount of silence between them along with Aludra's occasional jingle, and the humming wavy sound Jude always questioned if it was a gator.
"Well, I guess we could find them together."
Jude's head snapped to the side, "What?"
"The constellations, since you don't know all of them we can find them all together, it could be like our goal or something. We dedicate each weak to finding one."
Jude looked at the other perplexed, "I thought you wanted someone to teach you."
Elle shook his head, "I like this more, I'm more of an adventure type of guy," he shrugged, "Who knows, maybe I can teach you some stuff too. I hate stars, and I can't find them, but I know about them."
"About them?"
The male winked, but Jude wasn't sure if he actually saw what he saw.
"Guess you'll have to find out." The male pulled out his phone and handed it to Jude, Aludra sniffing the item as it was passed over her.
Jude hesitated for a moment confused before grabbing it.
"Your number, we have to keep in touch if we're gonna do this, right?"
Jude looked down at the phone unsure.
Elle sighed, "Okay, how about this, let me give you my phone number, and when you trust me enough or make-up your mind you can text me."
Jude glanced back at the male and took his phone out handing the male both phones, watching as he types away his number. Jude received his phone back and saved the contact under the name Elle.
"Have you ever found Orion's arms?"
Jude shook his head putting his phone away, "Light pollution won't let me."
"Okay," Elle stood stretching his arms, "Let's find the rest of him whenever you text me again."
Jude smiled at the other male standing up, "Alright."
"Don't take too long though, Jude. Good adventures await."
As the teen watched the other wave him goodbye and walk off Jude couldn't help but continue to smile. For some reason, he was starting to believe this was going to be fun.
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