Head In The Stars

"When did you get married?" I asked Karl. I'd noticed the ring on the finger. All through high school and university he'd had girlfriend after girlfriend, so I was surprised to hear he'd settled down.

"Just last spring," Karl replied, the picture of happiness. "Want to see pictures?"

Without waiting for a reply, he got up, went around the sofa, and sat on the arm while brandishing his phone.

"Isn't she gorgeous?" he asked as he flicked through an album dedicated to his wife.

I looked. She was good looking, but I didn't feel anything for her. I didn't roll that way after all.

"She is," I replied and took another green wafer from the bowl.

"Mum…?" came Aron's uncertain voice from the kitchen.

His mother picked up the cue and went to go help with whatever disaster had just happened. I hoped it wasn't too bad. Aron would be so sad.

"Ha, I can't wait for this," said Karl. "You know, I specifically came round this time just to see how'd this go."

"I'd hate to have you as a brother," I said.

"You don't know anything," he said. "I mean, this kid," he nodded toward the kitchen, "spends his whole life barely touching a pan and now he's suddenly all…" he finished his sentences with some arm waving.

"Why the change?" I asked. I was curious.

"I have no idea," Karl replied but with a tone that suggested that he did in fact have an idea. An idea that involved me, most likely.

I ignored him and turned my attention to Millie.

"Have you tried cooking before?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Why cook when there are other people willing to do it for you?"

She had a point.

"I like this kid," said Karl. "Where'd you find her?"

"Well…"

One odd story later, Aron and his mother called us to the dining room just off from the living room. Millie and I had demolished the table snacks, but I was still hungry.

"Food!" said Millie happily. She was hungry too.

We filed into the dining room. There was a long mahogany table in the centre with six chairs set around it. The food was already lined up in the centre. It smelled so good.

There was a buzzing and everyone went to check their phones. As it turned out, it was Aron's mother's.

She said something into the phone then hung up with a sigh.

"Your father's not coming back tonight," she said.

"Aww, why?" asked Karl. "What's his excuse?"

"He has to work overtime on a case."

"It's always like that…" Karl said conspiratorially.

"That's just how it is for us police," said Aron. He came in last holding a large rice cooker filled with, who would have guessed it, rice. He plugged it into the wall and set it on top of a sideboard. "Feel free to refill your bowl whenever," he added.

"That's a pity about your father. He won't get to enjoy your cooking," I said, taking a seat next to Millie. She and I sat on one side while Karl and Aron were opposite us. Their mother sat at one head of the table.

"It's alright," Aron said smiling. "Mum already helped me put some leftovers in the fridge for him."

"She's well prepared."

"Thirty-plus years of marriage."

"Wow." I was genuinely impressed.

"Come on!" said Millie impatiently. "The food won't eat itself!"

"Millie, manners," I said sternly.

Millie pouted and did her best to rein in her wild nature.

"Are you sure you're not related?" Aron's mother asked with a laugh.

"Very sure," I said with conviction, which only made her laugh more.

"Wait!" Karl said suddenly. We all looked at him. "We're forgetting something very important." He got up went to the glass cabinet in the corner of the dining room. I could see there were a good number of wine bottles in it.

"Lachlan, what's your poison?" Karl asked as he pulled the doors of the cabinet open with a flourish.

"I don't drink," I said curtly. Karl looked at me aghast. "Anymore," I added.

"Why?" Karl asked, still aghast. He took a bottle out of the cabinet and grabbed an opener then returned to the table.

I shrugged at his question. "I uh…" I glanced at Millie. "I once woke up in a hotel room," I finally said. Hopefully that was vague enough to pass over Millie's head but detailed enough that Karl got the picture.

Karl's eyes boggled. "You…" he began then winced. "Ow!" He glared at his younger brother.

Aron poured his mother a glass of wine and acted as if nothing had happened. "Would you like some orange juice, Millie?"

"Yes, please!" said Millie.

Aron turned to me. "Lachlan?"

"Me too." What did I do to get such good friends?

"I'll go get it."

After Aron returned with a jug of orange juice, the dinner was finally ready to commence, and it was… good. Really good. Had Aron really only been cooking for a week or so? How was that possible? He had to have some real raw natural talent.

Unfortunately, Karl was not 'good'. He had decided to take it upon himself to update me on all the bits and pieces of gossip he could dredge out of his brain about our former classmates and anyone else he thought I might know. I don't gossip as a rule and this just…

"Ah, who else is married… I know there was someone," Karl muttered as he grabbed the last piece of pork in the dish in front of him. It had been my favourite among all the dishes and I'd gorged myself already.

"This tastes really good," Millie told Aron.

"Really?" asked Aron

"Yeah, almost as good as Lachlan's," Millie replied.

I squinted at the girl and wondered what she was scheming. "I'm really not that good," I said.

"I'd like to try your cooking one day," Aron said.

"Oh!" Karl exclaimed suddenly. "Jasmine! That's who I was thinking of!"

My breath caught in my chest and I felt a knife press against my throat. The world around me seemed to shift. Everything became brighter. Too bright.

"Hey Lachlan, did you hear that Jasmine got married last month? After you guys broke up, she didn't date anyone for ages then, like, two months ago she starts dating this guy and BAM! They've tied the knot."

I can hear waves. No, not waves. A waterfall. There's a waterfall in my head. It's getting louder and louder and…

"Lachlan, drink this."

Something cold touched my hand. It was fresh glass of orange juice.

I looked up. It was Aron.

Aron.

a-ron.

How did you pick your English name?

What? Lachlan? I just picked something that sounds like my Chinese name.

Lok Laan… Haha, it really does sound like it.

Do you have to pick one now for school?

Yeah…

Don't have one in mind?

I do, I just… Someone else in the class already has that name.

What name?

Aaron.

Oh, that's easy then. Just take out a letter.

--

"Are you okay?"

I lifted my head out of my arms and looked blearily at Millie. We were in the library, a different library from usual, sitting at a study desk, Millie with her books and me…

I rubbed my eyes. My music notebook lay closed on the table.

"I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

Millie pouted and poked me with her pencil.

"You don't seem okay," she said.

I sighed and gave her head a ruffle. She would normally kick up a storm over this but this time she let me. "I'm fine," I repeated, but we both knew I wasn't.

Rain pattered lightly on the windows. Next to them was a poster advertising a new aquarium that had opened in the city. The crisscrossing shadows from the rain made the whale shark in the centre look like it was moving.

I pointed at the poster.

"Interested?" I asked.

Millie looked and pouted. Not as interesting as space, it would seem.

"If you're interested," she said, "You should bring Aron there. He seems like he would like fish."

The idea struck me as odd. "Why is that?"

"His smile," she said. "It looks like a shark's."

An image popped into my mind and I couldn't help smiling myself. The comparison was apt. Then I sighed. Millie knew I was avoiding Aron and that it was making me sad but she didn't know that I was doing it for his own good.

"Can we go back now?" Millie asked.

"Is your head hurting again?"

Millie nodded. For a while now, the poor girl's been having headaches a few times a week. I asked if she wanted to see a doctor but she said she was fine so I just made sure to be very careful when reading the over-the-counter pain medication instruction for children instead.

"Alright. Found any good books?" I asked.

She nodded. I'd returned my books so she was back at a maximum capacity of six books.

"Alright. I'll help you borrow them."

I didn't want to go back to the police station right now. I knew Aron should be off duty right now and I really didn't want to run into him.

I initially dragged my feet heading back but the rain was coming down heavier and heavier so it seemed best to just head straight back.

It was pouring when I finally turned off the engine. The place where I parked my van in the police station carpark was under cover but the route to get into the building was not.

Did I have an umbrella hanging around.

Millie slid open the door on her side and got out. "I've got books to read. I'll leave you two to chat," she said.

"Huh? What…"

I turned and saw that someone was standing outside of my door with an umbrella. Behind him I saw Millie run off through the rain and into the dry indoors.

Aron.

I unlocked my door and he stepped back, letting the door swing past him. But then he stepped forward again, stopping me from getting out.

"Hey," he said.

Why are you avoiding me?

I was good to you, and this is how you repay me?

I should have known you were…

"Hey," I replied, my voice barely a whisper in the rain.

"You alright?" Aron asked.

I forced myself to look up at him. There was concern written all over his face and his eyes, for once, weren't faraway.

I nodded. "Yeah." I looked away again.

"Hey I…" began Aron.

I stared down at his feet. He was wearing white trainers but they were already dirt stained from the rain. He should be indoors.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know must have done something at the dinner, but I don't know what…"

It didn't entirely surprise me to hear him say that but it still cut through my heart.

I shook my head. "Please. Don't be sorry. It has nothing to do with you. You didn't do anything." His shoes were getting dirtier. "I know I'm presuming a lot but… I think you think too well of me. I don't know why but you just…"

"I do hold you in high regard, but it's justified," Aron said.

I smiled sadly. "It's not. It's really not." I sighed. "I'm not a good person, Aron. Believe me. Please. Once all this with Millie is over and I'm gone, just forget about me, okay?"

I could see that didn't sit right with him. "I'm not-"

My phone buzzed loudly on the dashboard of the van, cutting through the drone of the rain, and we both looked to it.

I wanted an escape this conversation with Aron but I also didn't want to do that by picking up my phone. It felt wrong.

I bit my lower lip, unmoving, as I stared at my ringing phone.

Aron leaned forward and reached past me then handed me my phone. "Go ahead," he said. I didn't look to see what kind of expression he had on his face.

I took the phone from him and looked at the caller ID. It was Kai.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lachlan, are you free tonight?"

"I…" What was this about? I found myself looking at Aron. I knew he could hear the other side. "Why?" I finally asked.

"There's a professor who'd like to have a chat with Millie and he's got time tonight. He's an astronomer and he's crazy about aliens. Interested?"