Chapter 8: The Constellations

The movie had been exactly what Grace had envisioned, which meant that she thought it was absolutely amazing. However, unlike Grace, Zoe thought that the movie had been completely terrifying and gory, yet she wasn't about to admit that to the raven haired girl. She was, after all on a date with the other girl and wanted nothing more than to impress Grace and show her that she too also liked horror movie. However, contrarily to how well she felt she had been handling herself during the movie, Zoe had had quite the death grip onto Grace's hand and had definitely been caught hiding her face behind her free hand on more than one occasion, which to Grace's surprise had actually been rather cute.

Still holding each other's hands, Zoe and Grace walked out of the theatre towards Zoe's car. Yet again, Zoe had walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle in order to open the car door for her date, for which this action still seemed to surprise.

"My lady" Zoe said as she gestured Grace inside of the vehicle.

"Thank you." Grace replied as her cheeks sported a rather pinkish colouration.

Walking around the car and into the driver's side, Zoe couldn't believe how well tonight had gone, or how nice it had felt to hold Grace's hand. Once seated in the car, Zoe glanced over in Grace's direction and couldn't help but get an almost uncontrollable urge to kiss the raven haired beauty. Deciding that kissing Grace may be a bit premature for a first date, Zoe decided to distract herself by asking Grace how she felt about the movie and asking her which other types of movies she enjoyed, while secretly hoping she and Grace could find common ground as to avoid having to view yet another terrifying horror flick. The remainder of the drive continued as such, with ample conversation and with both parties smiling and giggling significantly. A few moments after their departure, Zoe was now pulling into Grace's driveway.

"When are you expected to be home?" Grace asked, noting that it was not yet 11'oclock, which had been the curfew she and her mother had agreed upon.

"My mom isn't home tonight actually so she didn't specify a time for me to be back." Zoe replied hoping that Grace would ask her to stay and spend a bit more time with her. Which to her delight, Grace asked her if she would like to go for a walk to a nearby park to sit on the swings and admire the beautiful, shimmering stars which adorned the sky.

Grace had been right, sitting on the swings, Zoe could see millions of bright, twinkling stars along with the crescent moon which illuminated the sky with a pale glimmer.

"Wow Grace, this is really beautiful. I'm really glad you suggested star gazing, it's quite magical." Zoe exclaimed, with clear amusement present on her face as she gazed towards the heavens.

"I'm glad you like it. However, I do know an even better place to gaze at the stars if you'd like to go there?" Grace asked.

"Oh, yeah sure." Zoe replied looking rather puzzled.

"Don't worry princess I'm not taking you anywhere too far, it's just up ahead" Grace said as she pointed to the nearby roundabout.

After having made their way over to the roundabout, Grace gestured for Zoe to take a seat next to her and then laid down in order to better see the sky.

"See that over there? That's the Scorpio constellation, it is made up of a cluster of four stars which reside between the Libra constellation to the west, and the Sagittarius constellation to the east. It's one of my favorite constellations, seeing as Scorpio is Latin for the word scorpion, it takes the shape of a scorpion." Grace chimed as she looked intently at the Northern, summer night sky.

As Grace continued her monologue about the night sky and its constellations, Zoe couldn't help but stare in complete admiration at the beautiful raven haired girl which laid beside her. Zoe found herself completely entranced by Grace's enthusiasm and excitement, so much so that she completely overlooked how dorky she would normally have found anyone with this much knowledge about astronomy and astrology.

"Gosh I'm doing it again, letting myself ramble on and on about a topic that you might not actually care about. I tend to do that. I mean astronomy is just so fascinating to me and I kind of forget that it might not be as amazing to everyone else…" Grace said looking bashful.

"No, please continue. It never hurts to learn new things and you really do seem to be enjoying yourself so who am I to stop all the fun. Just for your information, even though I may not be as interested with celestial objects as you are, I am thoroughly enjoying myself looking at one of the brightest, most breathtaking stars here." Zoe replied whilst sending a cheeky wink in Grace's direction.

"Oh so you mean the Northern star?" Grace asked.

"For someone so intelligent you can really be clueless sometimes." Zoe exclaimed as she rolled over on top of Grace.

Unaware as to what she should do next and greatly caught off guard, Grace simply peered up into Zoe's eyes, daring her to make the next move. Only a few moments later, Zoe lowered her body farther until they were laying flat against one another, then she pressed her lips onto Grace's. At first, Zoe had simply intended on giving Grace a chaste peck on the lips, however, when the brunette attempted to pull away, the punk rocker tugged at her waist in order to deepen the kiss. Amazed at how magnificent this felt, both girls allowed themselves to be completely wrapped up in the moment. Soon their kisses grew shorter and hastier as their hands began to wander seeking the warmth of human skin. As their lips kept moving in complete unison, Zoe caught herself grinding her hips onto Grace's almost as though to ease the growing throbbing sensation they were both feeling now. As the pace of the grinding began to increase, a breathless moan escaped from Grace's lips breaking Zoe from the trance she was under. Having now realized where this was headed, Zoe's hip movements came to a complete halt and she leaped off of Grace.

"Oh my god Grace, I am so sorry. I swear I didn't mean for it to get that heated. I just wanted to kiss you but before I could stop myself things got way too heated." Zoe replied looking extremely flustered.

"It's okay Zoe, you weren't the only one who let this get a little out of hand. After all, I was the one who pulled you down in order to deepen the kiss. You did nothing wrong. I mean I am glad that we did stop when we did but I am in no way bothered by what happened. If anything, kissing you cleared a lot of things up for me…..I really liked kissing you….amongst other things which were exciting, yet a little premature for a first date. Seeing as I enjoyed myself thoroughly this evening, I was wondering if you'd like to go on another date with me?" Grace asked.

"Kissing you was…..what's the word I'm looking for….magical! I am pretty sure that our lips were made for each other's…. You're right about the other stuff being a bit premature though, it did feel amazing but I can't let you think that I'm that easy missy. I will need to go on at least six more dates with you before I let your hands venture wherever they please." Zoe replied with a cheeky grin.

"Six dates? A bit demanding aren't you?" Grace joked as she received an elbow to the ribs.

"Oh Ha Ha. You'll be wishing I had said less than six dates soon enough when you'll be wanting to get your hands all over this." Zoe replied as she slid her hands gently over the curves of her body.

She's right….I might already be wishing that she would have said less than six dates. Grace thought to herself as she examined the brunette's physique.

"This has been the best date ever!" Zoe exclaimed as she and Grace started walking back towards the Cardinal residence hand in hand.