On warm mid-summer days like these I like to ride my bike out to the coast and eat lunch. It’s a little risky, but I sit right on the edge of the cliff and watch the sky while I eat whatever I’ve packed. Today, it’s some chicken wings I grilled myself last night. The marinade had lemon and lime juice in it, and the flavor has a great tangy undertone to it.
I like it most when there are clouds in the sky. Cirrocumulus clouds are my favorite, but it’s far too warm for them to form right now. It’s cumulus weather, and the sky is dotted with their cotton-like forms. I absent-mindedly swing my legs as I try to identify patterns in their shapes. One of them looks like a snowball — very simple, but very cute. Another reminds me of a horse. Far into the distance, I spy a single contrail made by an airplane that flew by far before I arrived here. I’m on Arcadia’s northeastern coast, and the contrail looks like it runs east to west. I suppose it could’ve been made by a plane flying to or from the Azores.
I reach towards my bike and grab the water bottle nestled in the holder on the frame. The sun is really bearing down on me, and I do enjoy the heat but it’s making me sweat and I don’t want to be dehydrated. As I take a swig, the temperature seems to tick up a few degrees. I wipe my forehead and briefly consider taking off my shirt. I forgot to put on sunscreen, so it’d be safer to keep it on. Instead, I aim my finger at the crashing waves below me and swirl it around. A ball of water rises into the air until it’s eye-level with me. I cup it in my hand and gently hold it to my forehead. Chilly seawater drips into my eyes a little bit, but it’s very refreshing overall.
A couple of minutes later, a wave of heat brushes over me, and I realize that this weather isn’t mundane. There’s something magical in the air, consolidating right on this cliff. Just to my left, it feels as if the sun itself chose to sit down and watch the sky with me.
I look in that direction and think, No, the sun herself. In the blink of an eye a woman whom I don’t recognize sits down next to me. She’s a few inches shorter than me, with much darker skin, a poofy Afro shaped like the clouds I’ve been watching, and orange eyes that look quite pretty, if not intimidating. There’s a weight behind them that implies a level of strength and knowledge that I could never begin to comprehend. She’s dressed like a tennis player, and she looks about my age. A goddess like her must be at least a few thousand years old, though.
“Do you want some chicken?” I offer her a wing. The sun visiting the earth feels similar to having a friend over to me; I’d feel bad if I didn’t offer. “My name is Ricardo, by the way.”
“Thank you. I’m Croix.” She takes a bite and nods, although she isn’t really chewing it. Not one of the deities that enjoys eating, it seems. “You recognize me?”
“I haven’t seen this form before, but it’s like the process of elimination. I don’t know who else would have your…” I gesture randomly as I try to think of the right word. “Atmosphere?”
“Yeah, my atmosphere.” Croix doesn’t blink much, as non-humans are wont to do. She’s breathing deeply, and I notice that the temperature drops slightly with each breath. This is how she reigns herself in, pares herself down into a form safe enough for humans like me to handle. “Can I tell you something sudden, Ricardo?”
I laugh and quip, “More sudden than materializing next to plain old me? Go ahead.”
“I can see everything on Earth when I’m in space. If my light touches it, I can zoom in and see every detail.” Croix finally finishes the bite she was chewing and takes another one. “Sometimes I find a particular person very interesting and keep an eye on them for a while.”
“Like playing a game of I Spy?” I guess. It sounds overwhelming, processing that much information at once. How does she handle witnessing four billion people at a time going about their day? All the insects buzzing around? The fish swimming throughout the seas?
“Somewhat.” Croix looks out at the ocean for a second, then back to me. “I’ll just cut to the chase. I find you quite attractive, and from what I can tell you’re single. Are you sexually attracted to goddesses and, if so, would you be willing to enter a relationship with me?”
I’m so shocked, the water I’d been holding to my forehead loses its form and drenches my face, making me drop my chicken wing. It falls dozens of feet down, past jagged cliff rocks and hardy shrubs, into the Atlantic with an inaudible plop. “Me? You? What?” I mentally say a prayer for the fallen chicken wing and use my shirt as a towel, dragging it down my face to get the water off.
Croix watches the chicken wing fall. “I mean it. You don’t have to say yes.”
“You’re attracted to me?” My heart races a little, and I drink some more water. “I didn’t even notice. You’ve just been looking at me for a few days? Weeks? From all the way up there?” I point at the sun; the fiery ball in the sky, not the direct woman in front of me. It looks the same as it always does, although I’m not looking directly at it. If I did so on any other day, would I see her face peering down at me?
The goddess tilts her palm back and forth in a kind of gesture. “More like a couple of months. I like to take my time with this sort of thing.”
“You’re very honest,” I observe.
“It’d be worse if I lied. Did my suddenness offend you?”
“No, not at all. I’m just processing all of this. I think you’re attractive too,” I rush to assure her. I really am a fan of her outfit. She chose a bright yellow tank top with matching skorts and black leggings. They look both form-fitting and comfortable. “And you were right about me being single. I just hadn’t thought about dating anybody lately.”
“It doesn’t have to be a relationship,” Croix shrugs. “I wouldn’t mind if we only had sex once. I know I sprang this on you, so the choice is up to you.”
I rest my elbow on my knee and prop my chin on my hand. “Do you mind if I take some time to think about it?”
Croix copies my pose and smiles. “I’m billions of years old. Your definition of ‘some time’ is nothing compared to mine.”
“Thanks.” I return to admiring the clouds. A slight breeze picked up at some point, and it’s blowing Croix’s heat away from me. I consider how in my twenty-two years on Earth I’ve considered dating outside of my species, and how I have always loved the sky. It could be destiny, Croix being the first goddess I have sex with. I notice that she has rarely taken her eyes off of me for this entire conversation.
“What do you see in me? I’m genuinely curious.”
“You’re just my type. I do like how you have such prominent smile lines and crow’s feet. You seem like a joyful person.”
“Well, shucks.” I blush and scratch my chin, flashing the smile that Croix seems to love so much. I have a 5 o’ clock shadow that I might grow out into a full beard. I have been told that my smiles make me look older; it’s one of the first things people notice about me. Somehow it’s nice knowing that the sun noticed that trait, too. “I just try to stay positive.”
By now I’ve finished eating, and my water bottle’s nearly empty. I pack up my things and hop onto my mountain bike. It has cute blue streamers on the handles, and a basket that I attach when I’m riding casually.
Croix stands up alongside me and asks, “Did you make a decision?”
I shake my head and laugh. “Oh, not at all. I still have so many questions. Like, how would I even touch you? You seem very hot, both figuratively and literally.”
“Well, I’ve cooled down a lot by now.” Croix cocks her head. “You’re not going to ask me for more answers while I’m still here?”
“No?” I frown slightly in confusion. “I finished my lunch and I have other things I’d like to do today.”
She stares at me for a moment, then shrugs. “I respect how you have priorities. Do you want this back?” She holds up the half-eaten chicken wing between her thumb and pointer finger.
“You put your mouth on it, so no thanks. I know gods don’t really get sick, but…”
“Understandable.” The chicken wing catches fire and, within seconds, is reduced to ash between her fingers. I think of a prayer for that wing, too. Croix dusts her hands off, but that only spreads the ash across her palms. She wipes her hands on her skorts instead, staining them with black streaks. She glances up at me, back to her soiled clothes, and awkwardly purses her lips. “I’ll be going back to space now. When you make up your mind, stand outside on a sunny day, speak my name, and I’ll find you.”
“Sure thing. I’ll see you around — or, I guess you’ll see me around.” I wink and start pedaling back home. Croix’s presence circles around me for a bit, then rises back into the sky.