Janet laid on her back staring up at the stars as he rolled off her. These weren’t real stars. The two of them were under the Community College’s planetarium dome. Carpet under her back instead of grass. They had just made love, only her second time ever, though much better than the heated rush that first time in the back of his car. She watched the stars slowly drift as her mind drifted among them.

“So, Jan, you like my ‘Do It under the Stars?’ Get it? Duet, Do It.” Patrick laughed at his joke as he sat up, pulling the used rubber off his softening dick.

Janet giggled, still just lying there naked. Their clothes scattered all about the floor around them. He turned up the red lights, just a bit, just enough so he could find her and their clothes. He found her first, kissing her even as she giggled.

It was her father’s fault.

Nearly a year earlier, the sixteen-year-old sat at the dining room table with her mother and father. As she picked around her broccoli, he spoke up.

“There’s an astronomy lecture at the Community College this Friday. You interested?”

Her ears perked to that offer, “Dad! You kidding?”

He smiled, already knowing her answer.

Years earlier, he had taken her out to watch a meteor shower that night. Being out on a small farm, their sky was perfect, right out the door. They had laid side-by-side on the hood of his old pickup truck with her in her shorty pajamas and wrapped up in a blanket. There was no moon that August night and the Perseids were plentiful.

“THERE! LOOK!”

“And another one!”

“Daddy, I saw it!”

He had awakened her late that night, actually early that morning, 2 AM, to go see them. Her first time. Grumpy and sleepy at first, it only took a couple of sightings to turn her around.

She was HOOKED!

A year later, for her fifteenth birthday, he had presented her with her first telescope. It wasn’t much, just a little Tasco, used even. But she didn’t care, she loved it. He fixed the broken mount and cleaned the optics as she watched, even helping. He already knew it wouldn’t be great, having had a similar one when he was a boy, so he decided to just show her the Moon.

They took it out one cold evening, the Moon in First Quarter. He carefully focused it, showing her the slightly wobbly knob. Her eye went to its single remaining eyepiece, the others lost.

“Do you see it?”

She squinted, moving her head around a bit.

Suddenly, “OH WOW!!!!”

“I guess that means you can see it,” he grinned.

He had to leave her be as she stayed glued to the little eyepiece, now making out individual craters.

Patrick sheepishly handed Janet her panties as she buttoned her blouse. It was lucky that the dim red light hid just how flushed she was. They had made love. She was just seventeen and he twenty-three. He quickly pulled on his boxers and jeans, already having pulled on his polo shirt.

He looked over at her as she struggled to pull up her slightly too-tight shorts.

“You are beautiful, you know that?”

She giggled yet again. She was still in dreamland, the red glow of the room keeping reality out. This time it had been fun, exciting, naughty.

He had chased her into the planetarium dome, its floor covered in carpet, its small projector in the center. He made comments about her butt as she crawled barefoot under its low opening into its darkened interior. She could have just stooped over a little to enter as the light trap entryway was just short of her five-foot-two height. But he had tried to grab her leg as she took off her sandals and she had wiggled away, laughing.

Inside, it seemed cooler, quieter. The red lights came up about half brightness as he turned on the electrical controls. She had lain down onto her back. He turned on the little tape recorder, playing Pachelbel, Canon In D Major, now her favorite. He dimmed the lights to just the barest glow, sunset all around them. The stars, her stars, came on above her. As the music began, tears came to her eyes. The beauty. He came to her.

Fourteen-year-old Janet stood at the Public Library counter yet again. The decades-old astronomy book, Norton’s Star Atlas, in her hand. The stereotypical librarian smiled at her, nodding.

“You again? Same book?”

The librarian looked at the worn book and its well-used library card. Well used that is, by the young teen girl on the other side of the counter. Glancing at the card, filled with Janet’s name and date repeated over and over.

The librarian pushed the book over to her, “Here, take it. You’re the only one that ever checks it out anyway.”

Janet looked down at the book then up at the librarian, “Really?”

She nodded, taking the card and stamping it, ‘LOST/DAMAGED’.

Janet cherished that book, nearly memorizing every page of its facts and figures, constellations and planets. It didn’t matter to her that the book was older than she.

That book and a notepad went with her every time she went out observing.

However, it was her friend, Sandra, that had previously taught the 14-year-old something else.

Sandra and Janet were snuggled together in Janet’s bed. A sleep-over. Janet had shown Sandra the planet Saturn in her telescope, but Sandra wasn’t impressed at the small fuzzy dot with its warped shape. Janet on the other hand was amazed. She had already learned that Galileo’s telescope was even smaller and cruder than hers, yet had revolutionized astronomy. Where eyeballs could only see dots, he saw worlds, Jupiter and its four brightest moons, and where everyone thought the Moon was a perfect sphere, even if somewhat blotchy, he saw craters battered its surface. Thus, Janet was happy just to be able to find the bright planets and even make out those Galilean moons.

Sandra, on the other hand, had discovered something else, something of human physiology. The two were nestled in the bed, light off, nearly nose-to-nose whispering about this or that; Sandra talking about boys, Janet about galaxies.

“Have you ever kissed a boy?” Sandra asked, trying to shift Janet’s attention.

It did. She giggled and said “No.”

“Here, you should practice, before doing it.” She said as she took the role of teacher.

“First, lick your lips, yes, like that. Tilt your head that way, I’ll go this way.”

They kissed. Just a peck and a giggle. But then another attempt, longer this time. And again. Janet, no longer focused on the stars. In the darkness and warmth of the bed, she didn’t feel ill at ease. It seemed something new, surprising. Since Janet was an only child, growing up away from the city, she hadn’t the experience that Sandra had with older brothers and sisters.

They silently continued the kisses, growing more confident as they went. Sandra put her arms around Janet and began stroking her arm. Janet placed one hand on Sandra’s waist as they flamed their passion. Sandra’s fingers glided down Janet’s arm stroking past her waist and to her hip. In the dim light of the room, the two girls stared into each other’s eyes. Janet felt fingers caress her leg, bare beyond her shorty pajamas. Lips met again as fingers flowed over thigh and in between leg. Janet unconsciously opened her legs, allowing Sandra’s hand access.

Janet sucked a short breath at the touch of fingers against her cloth-covered crease. She felt nervous but anxious for more. Never had someone touched her there, touched her like that. Sandra kissed Janet again as her fingers began to dance in little circles over Janet’s inexperienced pussy. Janet felt unexpected new feelings welling up.

Sandra whispered, “Have you ever done this? Touched yourself?” as she increased her rhythmic motions.

Janet shook her head no, not really, not daring to speak, her voice not under her control.

“Here,” Sandra’s fingers abandoned their task, took Janet’s hand, fingers nearly intertwined, and slid together up Janet’s belly. She instinctively sucked in, gapping her pajama bottoms and panties. Their hands went underneath and downward, over peach fuzz and right into her gap. Eyes widened at the first touch of moistness and clit. The intimate feeling of two hands, hers and now her young teacher’s.

Sandra guided Janet’s fingers as they moved, circled, quickened, little moisture noises creeping from under the covers. Janet rolled from her side onto her back, bending her knees widening her legs, eyes closed then opened then closed as the first waves of new arousal traced lightly from below her belly.

Suddenly, she sucked in a breath, her body shook in little fits. A quiet moan rose from her. She forced Sandra to stop stroking her, too sensitive now.

Sandra whispered, “Like? My big sister showed me.”

The two girls giggled.

Friday came and 16-year-old Janet and her father drove to the small town and its community college. They entered the college classroom, so different from her high school. About a dozen or so people filled about half of the available stadium-style seats, most in the back, as typical. Janet wanted to sit right up front, but her father led her to two empty places a couple of rows back. She looked around at the people, a few much older than her father, retired likely. A couple families with young children that squirmed. A few college-age couples. A few individuals, all college boys. She was the only high school age girl.

She sat her worn Norton book, notepad, and pencil down and looked towards the front.

There he stood. A bit disheveled, his long hair needing a cut, though clean-shaven, wearing an untucked shirttail, jeans, tennis shoes. This was their professor? She had expected some old geezer, actually, some old, infinitely wise and critical, someone that intimidated with complex astronomical calculations done in their head.

Instead, he looked barely mid-20’s, smiling constantly and a little disorganized. Not especially tall, quite slim, definitely not athletic. Not the professor type.

“Hello, welcome, thank you for coming. I am Professor Patrick Dempsey. I welcome you to tonight’s lecture on Observing the Stars for Beginners...”

She had expected an ancient astrophysicist and lecture on the evolution of the universe. She almost laughed. She could have taught this course. Nevertheless, moments into his slide presentation and listening to his voice, with its mix of Irish and Midwestern accents, she was ... HOOKED!

The lecture and slides ran about an hour; a brief history of astronomy she knew by heart. An intro to a few constellations, with the Big Dipper, not really a constellation of its own, being part of larger, that she could find blindfolded. He gave a few tips on binoculars and observing the Moon. She wanted to correct him on the name of one of the landing places of Apollo, but then he ended with...

“We have a small planetarium here at the college as well as an observatory. The R.L. Johnson Planetarium and Observatory, actually. The college was fortunate to have Mr. Johnson bequeath a substantial sum for it and this building’s construction and well, I was fortunate enough, and I guess cheap enough, haha, to gain a teaching position here even as I work to complete my Masters and onto Doctorate.”

He had her attention. Planetarium! Observatory! And well, she admitted to herself, not so bad looking, either. She got worried, would he accept a sixteen-year-old (almost 17!), a girl, hanging around?

“Next month, we’ll go into the planetarium and I will point out current events in the night sky. And if it’s clear, we’ll take a peek at Saturn through the twelve-inch Schmidt telescope.”

Her eyes went wide. She was in love. Ok, in love with the idea of a planetarium and a big, really big for her, telescope, almost in her backyard!

“If you have any questions, feel free to come up and talk to me. Thanks for coming.”

She begged her father to let her talk to him but he was already surrounded and her father told her he had to get up early. It was an eight-mile drive back home. She relented but marked down the next meeting date. She was going to bring her lunar and Jupiter’s moon drawings to show him. Next time she would not take no from her father.

She lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, little glow stars stuck there. She was wide-awake and energized after getting home from that first lecture. She was too tense and emotionally excited to sleep. It was summertime and quite warm, hotter still inside the house, even with the windows open. She tossed off the covers, dressed in just an old tee shirt and her panties. She got up, tiptoeing to the open window. Looking out, the stars were calling her.

She quietly climbed out as she had done many times before, though not in just her current state of clothing. The dewy grass between her toes and lack of clothing, as well as the excitement of the lecture and Him, her new ideal of a professor, made her happy, free.

She looked up, the sky full of stars, Milky Way arching across the sky. She almost danced to her favorite spot, away from the house lights, open field all around. She sat down and lay back, looking up. The ground was a little damp on her butt, but not bad. Cool in the warmth of the night. She felt an urging. She snickered to herself, suddenly struck by the notion. She wanted to be naked. Naked under the stars. She sat up, pulled off her tee. Her bowl-size breasts firm and round. Eraser sized nipples stiffening in the air and excitement. She laid back, arched, and quickly pulled off her white panties, dropping them with her tee.

She sucked in a breath, lying nude out in the open field. She fell free, alive, just staring up at the stars, picking out constellations, her mind slipping back to Him. He was much older than she was, though not really by that much. She was, she reminded herself, going to be seventeen. Seventeen next week! She got worried. Did he have a girlfriend? Or worse, a wife! She let her imagination say no; no girlfriend, no wife. She would greet him and they would talk all night long about the infinities out there. The possibilities. He would hold her hand. Under the moonlight, he would kiss her.

She made kissing faces to the sky. Practice. Her fingers roamed her body, touching her breasts, nipples now hard and areolas tender. Her period soon. Her fingertips glided down her rib cage and to her navel, circling in and out of it. She spread her legs widely, bending her knees. Her hand quickly moved down her flat belly, over her pelvis, and across her fuzzy mons. She brought her hand up, licked her fingers, and placed them between her legs. She repeated, this time tasting herself slightly.

What would it be like? Making love? Would he be her lover? Her first? Her fingers fell into their pattern, familiar now, learned, they knew how to move themselves, how to touch. Would he touch her? A fingertip found her entrance, pierced over a year ago, Sandra showing her. She had said this was the 1990’s, women were free. They could do these things. That old idea of untouched hymen long vanished to young women today. That first time, it had hurt a bit, a sting. Sandra said it was the sting of the bee, as in birds and bees. They had giggled.

Two fingers now inside, twiddling, then coming out and rubbing clit, clitoris, labia, vagina ... she knew them almost as well as the stars, thanks to Sandra. She wondered if Sandra was gay.

She whispered to herself, “Am I a lesbian? No, ok, Bi- maybe. Experimenting is what Sandra’s older sister had told Sandra. They experimented. She even experimented with her brother, well, kissing and touching, not DOING IT, though Sandra had thought about it. The two girls had blushed and snickered over that.

Her fingers twirled and stroked fast now. Her breathing deepened. She stared at her stars, wondering if they stared back. Lying nude outside after midnight, fucking herself, masturbating. She wanted to make love. With him...

She came!

“Uggghhhmmm” she muffled herself with her free hand.

Her stars exploded in her mind as her orgasm washed over her, rippling her body. She shook several times. This was a strong one, she thought, grinning. Now eyes felt sleepy, the sexual tension of the evening released. She sat up, picked up her tee and her panties, attempted to brush herself off, tiptoed back to the house, only putting her clothes back on just outside the window. After one more glance at the night sky, she was in and soon asleep.

Her birthday came and went. Party, friends, simple but fun. Her mom wanted to give her a bigger party, but there wasn’t much money. She didn’t mind. Particularly, especially, because she got the best present yet! A brand new Norton’s handbook and a nice pair of 10x50 binoculars. She also got nearly fifty dollars from her aunt and grandmother. Her mom wanted her to save for college but she was determined to get a better telescope. She had already picked out the Newtonian 6” reflector. She already had over half of its $250 cost. She planned to do more babysitting during the summer and have the scope by the end of the year.

In the meantime, another month passed. The next meeting! She was so excited hardly eating at dinner.

“Dad, it’s Friday, the astronomy meeting...”

“Oh, honey, I was up before dawn and am really tired, and I have to get up early again tomorrow. Can we try next month? You can go out back with your binoculars.”

She was ready to SCREAM! NO! She HAD to go. She had waited so long, another month was longer than she could possibly stand it. However, she knew pitching a fit would just make things worse.

“Mom?” she almost pleaded.

“Your mom doesn’t see well for driving at night, honey. You know that.”

She pouted for a moment, “May I be excused, I don’t feel hungry and I want to go to bed early.”

Her mom started to object but her father said, “You may. Sorry baby, next month.”

She quickly huffed off before she lost her temper. She’s old enough to drive but her dad wouldn’t let her at night either. She said goodnight, stuffed pillows under her bedsheets, grabbed her book and notepad and was out the window. Dressed in a blouse and shorts, she headed towards the highway. She had decided she would hitchhike if she had to.

It was sunset, still plenty of light, these long days. A couple of cars passed without slowing down as she walked towards town, her thumb out. The next one pulled past, stopped and opened the door. As she got to it, she hesitated, peeking in. Inside were an old couple, man and woman.

“Where you headed? You know it ain’t safe for young girls hitchin’.”

She nodded, “Just to town, the college.”

“Oh, you a student?”

She went along with it, nodding.

In town, she leaped out, thanked them, and was off in a run to the small astronomy building. She crashed through the door, then halted at the noise, trying to be quiet. The lecture had already begun.

Patrick and everyone else looked at her, “Well, welcome! Come on in. We were just getting started. I had gone around the room asking names and interests or skill levels. You are?”

“Oh, uh, I, uh, sorry sir, doctor, I’m Janet, Jan, I like astronomy...”

A giggle rose from the audience.

Patrick smiled, “Well welcome Janet Jan. There are not many young women going into Astronomy. Glad to see you here. In case you forgot, my name is Patrick, not sir nor doctor, just Patrick is fine. Or Pat.”

Another ripple of laughter.

She settled quickly into the first seat she saw, right in the front row, just to his left. He smiled at her, noting the book she had.

“I was about to tell a list of books for beginners and advanced alike. May I?”

He came over to Janet, holding out his hand towards her book. She handed it to him.

“This is Norton’s Star Atlas, a very good book for those really enthusiastic about astronomy...” he went on.

She was transfixed. He handed it back, looking straight into her eyes, his face a big smile. She was in heaven.

After the introduction, “Ok, as I said last time, we’ll go to the planetarium for about a half-hour. Sorry, but it’s cloudy tonight, likely rain, so the observatory will have to wait until maybe next month.”

She hadn’t even looked at the sky as she raced in, now realizing it had been gray and overcast. She also realized it would be dark, very dark, going home. She put it out of her mind.

“Ok, this is a very small 20-foot dome, so don’t expect to be amazed. You’ll need to leave your shoes and stuff out here, it’s just carpeted and padded flooring, no chairs like the big guys. Anyone wishing to donate substantial endowments...”

They all laughed.

“Duck as you go in. The entrance is only five feet tall! Kids love it. They walk right in. I do shows for grade schools during school days. Sorry ladies if you are in dresses.”

Janet was right there in front. Patrick went in first, turned up the red lights illuminating the interior of the dome, and pointing them to scatter around the round room. He pointed Janet to right beside the small console near him.

“Ok, as your eyes dark adapt, this thing in the center of the room is the star projector, actually the planetarium proper. Around you is the dome and where I am is the control console. Feel free to lie down, but don’t get too cozy. It’s G-rated here,” he looked at Janet with a smile.

Her blush hidden in the red lights as they went down.

The show over and everybody was leaving. This time Janet stuck close to Patrick to talk to him. He didn’t seem to mind. The final goodbyes came as he turned off the lights.

“Sir, Patrick, ah, I’ve been interested in astronomy for years. My father got me interested.”

“That is wonderful. As I said, there’s a serious lack of women in astronomy. Of course...” he laughed, “There’s a serious lack of jobs and money, too. You attending here at the college?”

“Oh, I, uh, next semester,” she blurted. At seventeen, she was just finishing as a junior in high school.

“Good, maybe you’ll sign up. I need students. Any students...” he laughed.

She laughed, too, as she swept her hair from her face. She was in love.

They sat down in the classroom. She showed him her drawings of the Moon and of Jupiter’s moons, explaining that she was trying to recreate Galileo’s work.

“You did all this with just a Tasco? Damn, you’re a better astronomer than any of my students!”

They ended up talking for nearly two hours, bouncing from subject to subject. She learned he was 24 and one semester away from his Masters, already working on the thesis on the spin of black holes. No girlfriend or wife as she tiptoed into that subject. She was 18, she lied, and hadn’t set on a degree yet, also leaving out that she was still a high school student, and worse in her eyes, a virgin. He seemed captivated by her. He smiled as she would brush her hair back away from her face yet again. She became completely at ease with him, pouring out her interests in astronomy and her near memorization of Norton’s as he listened and watched in fascination.

He looked at his watch, “Well, I guess I better let you go. We could probably talk all night. By the way, I do remember you from last month. I guess with your father?”

She nodded and smiled broadly and held out her hand, thinking he would shake it. He took it but just held it. Their hands together. She left it there. They were holding hands. Finally, the spell passed and he let go and they stood up.

He peeked out the door, “Oh wow, it’s really raining hard. Only astronomy tonight is the bottoms of clouds. Where’s your car, I’ll take you there.”

She hesitated, “Uh, well...” she was trying to figure out an excuse.

She didn’t want to say she hitchhiked. She didn’t want to hitchhike back in the dark and rain. She didn’t want to lie to him more.

“You don’t have a car,” he seemed to be able to read her mind, “don’t worry, I’ll take you home. Your home, that is. Well, unless...” he grinned.

She blushed, this time he could see her cheeks turn rosy. He pushed back her hair just as she was about to. She froze. Their eyes met. She remembered her practice and licked her lips then tilted her head. She wanted him to kiss her. He saw the signal and took it. They kissed. A short one, then a longer one, much longer as the rain continued to fall. He released her, realizing his hand held her arm.

It was his turn to be flustered, “Oh, uh, I, sorry.”

She put a finger to his lips, then leaned in again. Another kiss, this time with arms around each other. She was glad of Sandra. He was glad he had those mints earlier.

“I think I need to get you home. Where do you live?”

She didn’t try to hide that she lived out of town with her parents. He had no problem with the drive. She sat beside him, drying after their run through the downpour to his car. He held her hand as they drove.

“I must look like a drowned rat,” she had protected her book and not her hair.

“You look beautiful, Jan.”

They talked quietly together, she warming against him. Both feeling completely at ease with each other as if they had been a long dating couple.

He pulled over to the side of the road, just before her driveway. She leaned in to kiss him again. She didn’t want to leave. His hands holding her felt so right. So perfect. She realized she wanted him.

He whispered as they released from another kiss, “I should have taken you home.”

She understood. His home. His bed. She wanted to.

“I’m all wet,” she meant clothes.

“You need to take them off,” he meant now.

She looked at him, tense, heated, wanting. They kissed again. Passionately, tongues licked lips and darted together. She felt his hands holding her, touching her. Unbuttoning her blouse. Her hands repeated on him. She rubbed her hands over his bare chest, under his opened shirt. She felt his hands on her bra, feeling her breasts. She trembled to his touch. Her first. He thought she was cold, her shirt still damp. She helped him remove her blouse. Then unfastened her bra, slipping it off.

He whispered, “Jan, you are beautiful! So perfect.”

His hands went to her mounds, softly squeezing their pillow softness.

Nervous, unsure of herself, she just followed his lead. This was happening fast.

He seemed to detect, “You ok?”

She nodded. Her mind swirled. She couldn’t resist. His lips went to one breast, sucking into its reddened nipple then over to the other. She squirmed trying to get closer to him, his bucket seats keeping them apart.

“Here, into the back.”

She nodded and pulled off her shoes, then climbed between the seats into the back. She was small and limber and squeezed through as he tickled her and watched her rump pass so close to him. His tickles and her giggles helped cool her burn but made her feel more comfortable with him. She didn’t think about that they had hardly met. That she barely knew him. Instead, she felt like she had known him forever. That he had been waiting for her. She felt alive, exhilarated. She wanted him to be her first.

He couldn’t contort and climb back as she had, so had to open the door. The dome light flared, making her blink, ruining her night vision temporarily, exposing her bareness to the world, or at least to him.

“Shit, sorry, I need to replace that with a red light. Astronomy, you know.”

She giggled, she was more interested in biology at the moment.

He climbed in, closing the door, throwing them back into darkness. She had lain down on her back. He was above her. He awkwardly climbed on her, both of them still in pants, but had removed their shirts. She moved to unbutton her shorts as he came in to kiss her. They collided and giggled. The kisses rekindled desires. He helped her undo her shorts and pull them off as she wiggled in the cramped space, her panties being partially pulled off with her shorts. She didn’t hesitate like she thought she would but pushed on her panties where he took over.

She again fell into territory where she had no training from her friend. He struggled in the tight space, pulling his jeans down. She knew there was no going back, she wanted him. She giggled as he struggled, shaking the car.

“I need a bigger car.”

She was afraid to speak. She was naked under a man about to be laid. About to have sex for the very first time. She didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, he was on top of her. She grunted, he apologized and tried to shift his weight. Mustangs were just not built for sex, even if they attracted such.

They kissed in the dark, him still adjusting himself, even as she was as well. A belt buckle pressed into her back. She arched to shift it out of the way when she felt him, his stiff prick, against her, between her legs, pressed into her slit. She sucked in a gasp at the touch.

“Oh shit, protection?”

She didn’t comprehend exactly what he meant. Her mind spinning on what was about to happen.

“It’s ok,” she meant ok to fuck her. Ok to make love to her. To have sex.

He thrust and she felt a twinge of pain and feelings different from her fingers. It was happening all so fast.

“Sorry, a little dry.” He pulled out as she grunted, licked his fingers to help moisten her.