When You Admire the Beauty of Mars

On the way over to Sol’s surprise, he stands so close I can practically feel his body heat. Nico follows on the other side of me, his holo hand passing through mine now and again. I don’t know how he’s doing that—it shouldn’t even be possible for his holo to pass through solid objects. Did he seriously walk hack too?

The sidewalk feels too small for the three of us, the Wisteria trees suddenly suffocating, the cyclists zipping by too close. I draw nearer to Sol to get further from Nico and accidentally brush hands with him. “Sorry,” I gasp, my face getting hot. But then he takes my hand in his, clasping it softly. With a surprised look on my face, I glance up to see he’s similarly flushed, his cheeks twinged with pink.

He smiles through his blush. “Do you mind? I mean, we might as well, right?” Then his eyes search mine, and his voice cracks a bit when he says, “Am I reading this wrong? Am I being too forward?”

“Yes, he’s being too forward,” Nico says in my ear, and I can hear that he’s grinning. I bristle only slightly, trying my best to focus on Sol.

“You’re not being too forward. I’ve just… never done this before.”

“Held hands?”

“…Anything.”

His gentle smile softens further. “Honestly, me neither. I think I focused on my studies a little too much in high school. But then I ran into you, and it felt like…” Fate? No, that’s too cheesy, right? He continues, “Like I wanted to talk to you, more than I wanted to do anything else.”

Nico makes a gagging noise. “Why does he even like you? Cause you’re both huge nerd losers?”

Minus the insults, it’s a fair question. “Why do you like me?” I echo, staring up into Sol’s eyes.

“Oh,” Nico says, leaning in closer. “Look at you, listening to me.”

I ignore him.

Sol just blinks in surprise, then he turns his gaze up to the sky as he ponders the answer. “I guess… it was the way you looked at me when we first met.” He sits with that for a moment, before adding, “You didn’t look past me or through me. You looked right at me. And I felt like… you really saw me.”

I stare at him. That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.

“What?” Nico groans loudly. “Please don’t tell me this is working on you. I’m losing so much respect for you, and I didn’t have much to begin with.”

I want to kill him. I shoot Nico a rapid text before I can stop myself, my eyes flashing as I send the thought via my Linx.

Shut up.

Nico laughs as it comes through. “Yeesh. Bossy.”

Oblivious to my texting, eyes still turned up at the pale blue sky, Sol says, “And Mars is like nowhere I’ve ever been before. It’s the perfect backdrop for trying something new. I just… I feel like a new person here—without a to-do list, without people’s expectations breathing down my neck. I guess that’s why people go on vacation, right?” He grins at me.

I’m just starting to smile back when I hear Nico’s voice by my ear. “He likes Mars way too much. Bet he just wants a VISA. Now that I think about it… I bet that’s what you want too. A nice little Earth VISA for the little Earthling wannabe—”

My free hand swats at Nico’s holo body without a second thought. It does nothing but make him jump back and laugh, though it does get Sol’s attention. He tilts his head, looking behind me. “What was that?”

“There’s a bug buzzing by my ear,” I mutter, then squeeze his hand. “Sorry.” I give him an apologetic smile, but Nico’s words have made me tense. It’s not like that. We just have a connection. And what does he know, anyway?

At a split in the sidewalk, Sol hangs a right, out toward the edge of the public atmosphere. “We’re almost there,” he says. But it’s already obvious where we’re going as I take in the sight before us. It’s the port for the Mars flyovers. I look up at the sleek silver crafts on the tarmac, the hustle and bustle of employees, and the staff collecting tickets near the front entrance, and I quickly put together why we’re here.

Sol turns to me. “I wasn’t sure if you’d have to reschedule, so I kind of bought another ticket in case… well, in case you wanted to join me. Do you?”

Even Nico seems speechless at that. Flyover tickets are expensive. My mom and I had gotten a free one when we’d arrived here and become official Martians, but I was a baby at the time and have no memory of it. “I’d love to,” I breathe. Not because I care about seeing the entirety of Mars, but because it would make today with Sol absolutely perfect. I smile up at him happily. Then in the corner of my eye I catch sight of something that makes me even happier.

A shimmering field of energy surrounds the flight area—a holo block. Nico won’t be coming with us.

Nico seems to notice it at the same time I do, because I hear him sigh. “Guess that’s my cue. Well, this was a lot better than studying. Like watching a bad teen drama.” I glance back at him with a hateful glare that makes the real life person standing just behind him pale and turn away. Oops. Nico’s cold eyes meet mine for a moment and a look of delight seems to cross his face as he sees the anger on mine—then he’s gone.

I turn back to Sol, who’s let go of my hand so the staff member checking tickets can scan his wrist with hers. When it beeps twice, she smiles at the both of us. “You’re good to go. Enjoy your flight. And don’t forget—when you admire the beauty of Mars, it admires the beauty in you too!”

That’s a silly line.

“Maybe Mars should’ve hired some marketing people on launch day,” Sol whispers to me as we head through the scanner and onto the tarmac.

I laugh. “You have some ideas for us?” I can feel my spirits lifting now that Nico is gone. It’s just me and Sol on a real date.

He reaches out and takes my hand again. Instant butterflies. “Nah, but even I could come up with something better than that.”

I guess we’re right on time, because we’re ushered over to a line of people chatting excitedly. It doesn’t take long for everyone to climb the clinking steel stairs into the craft and find a seat, and I find myself feeling actually excited about this as I sink into my plush chair and spin it to face the glass wall of the craft. As I do, I notice Sol do the same, and I can’t help but beam up at him. “Thanks for inviting me,” I say shyly. Then after a moment, I add, “I liked the way you looked at me when we first met too. For what it’s worth.”

He gives me a wide smile, and I notice for the first time in the bright light of the window that he has some faint freckles scattered across his nose.

“You’re different from most people I know,” he says.

“In a good way?”

He laughs. “In the best way. You seem to know exactly who you are already. That’s a rare thing. You’re a breath of fresh air, Petra.”

With that, we take off, the craft lifting limberly from the ground below and instantly hitting a velocity that has us hurtling into the sky. The flyovers have some of the steadiest ships, so we don’t feel a thing, though people still gasp excitedly as the wider landscape of Mars becomes visible. The colony looks so small, a dot of green in a world of sandy red. Then the craft starts its steady trip in orbit around Mars, and soon the colony is reduced to a speck of color that vanishes past the curve of the planet. Patterns of red and brown, deep orange and burnt umber, map out the crags and valleys in the canyon below. Some AI voice narrates a general history of Mars, which just about everyone ignores to start chatting—it’s the kind of thing everyone learns in school anyway. Universal Standard Education and all that.

“It’s beautiful,” Sol muses quietly. He glances over at me, and I can see the hesitation in his eyes. “Do you want to do something again tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Like what?”

“Maybe we could continue our tour.”

I find myself nodding eagerly. “Sure.” I don’t really know what to show him; I usually spend my time in VR, like most people, but change sounds good right now. And spending time with someone like him in person feels worth it. “I do have some work I need to do,” I add, as Nico comes to mind. The sooner I get the tutoring out of the way, the sooner I can relax.

“Work during the summer?” He laughs lightly. “I respect that. You tryna get into Nova or something?” He’s joking, but the look on my face tells him everything he needs to know. His eyes light up. “Really? So we might be going to the same school in a year or so?” He reaches out and takes my hand boldly this time, and I grip his back with equal excitement.

“If everything works out,” I say.

“It will. Maybe I can help you with your admissions essay. I can send you mine for comparison.”

“That would be awesome!” I don’t care about sounding too eager, about being too vulnerable. Because he likes me—I can tell he likes me. And so I let myself be happy.

Or at least, I try to.

As the planet spins beneath us, looking so distant, so small, my feelings of excitement stall as a hint of trepidation creeps its way in. Everything below us is moving by so fast.

Are we moving too fast?