Planet Caravan

It was like something out of a cheesy old 80s sci-fi movie; the token moment of romance, assisted by intentionally beautiful, prose-y environments, where the hero and the love interest realize their true feelings for each other and attempt to act on them until they are interrupted by either a conveniently timed call to action or a well meaning but completely oblivious friend.

That was all Eileen ever wanted, and finally, it was what she got.

There were no calls to action either, or distracting acquaintances. It was just her, comfortably wrapped in the arms of her raccoon boyfriend, lying down on the grass looking up at the sky. The park, now encased in a large dome flying through the vast reaches of outer space, offered a closer than ever before look at the stars she loved gazing at so much. The constellations were brilliant and inspiring, and she couldn't help but feel her body shiver with goosebumps and grin with happiness.

“Man, this is awesome, isn't it?” She heard a voice behind her, but she could feel Rigby's smile, who was also mesmerized by the wonders of the universe. Her hands were placed on the raccoon's forearms, which were wrapped around Eileen's upper chest.

She laid her head back on his chest. “Yep,” she said simply. “At first it was kind of scary and even a little sad, being away from everybody on Earth, and hoping that there wasn't some asteroid or other object to break the dome glass, therefore sucking all of us out and into the cold, airless void, but I'm happy with where I am at the moment.”

She squeezed her hands to emphasize her feeling, and Rigby returned the gesture with a tighter embrace.

“Yeah. I know exactly how you feel. It's honestly been such a crazy time lately. But I wouldn't change anything about it.”

“Neither would I.”

A comfortable silence between the two, as they enjoyed staring out at the cosmos together. Until Rigby decided to break the silence.

“Hey Eileen, can I be honest about something?”

His tone of voice was naked enough to worry the mole girl, so she removed herself from his embrace and sat up; she shifted around to look at him in the eyes. “Is everything... okay?” she asked, a look of concern evident on her face.

He rose up to meet her level.“Yeah, totally. You see, that's the thing.”

He sighed, mentally preparing himself. He knew he had to be vulnerable, and this time, it was okay, he knew she could trust her. She wouldn't hurt him at all... at least, intentionally.

“Well you know how this year has been so awesome for me; I've finally graduated high school, I've got the best girlfriend in the world, I've been taking my job a little bit more seriously, all that jazz.”

She nodded.

“I just figured you should know... that I.... haven't really been this happy in.... well, a while.”

Her expression didn't change, but her heart was hurting for him, because he knew exactly what he was talking about. But she had to make sure.

“You mean, that you've been depr--”

“Don't say it,” he interrupted. “But yeah. I haven't felt anything but crappy for a long time. I mean, I haven't even told Mordecai about it. And now that that's been replaced with something different, something positive, well let me just say that it's a welcome change. And I'm very happy that you're a part of it.” Rigby smiled at her, and Eileen couldn't help but fire back the same expression. She wrapped him in a warm hug, and they returned to their original position, lying on the grass and looking up at the constellations. Neither of them wanted to leave, or shift their bodies, or look at their phones, or any of that. No, all they needed and wanted was each others company, and they were perfectly content.

She was happy to be physically and emotionally close to the boy she fell in love with after all this time.

Even better that she helped him grow as a person.

Even better than that was that she also helped to help him fall in love with life again.