from the first story roof | purpled x oc

chapter 8

purpled is live! salem teaches me to play the ukulele and do other artsy kid things

"hi chat!" salem called. she was spinning in graysons chair, legs tucked up to her chest. the boy was in her stool.

"hello, chat," grayson sighed, waving to them. "today, salems taking over and teaching me to do things she likes because i taught her bedwars." salem lifted up her ukulele.

"this is gonna be fun," she grinned deviously at him.

his eyes watched the girl as she strummed away, seamlessly switching chords and making a difficult strumming pattern look like a cake walk. her voice was sweet and beautiful as she sang along to the song. she's good at singing, too he mused, he couldnt believe how she could be good at everything she did, beside bedwars of course.

she looked over at him smiling. "your turn!" she scooted closer, handing him the uke. his heart fluttered as she grabbed his hands, showing  him the proper way to hold the instrument. she held his fingers down on the strings,  showing him the different chords needed for the song.

"does this not hurt your hands?" he winced as the strings indented his fingers. she rolled her eyes.

"youre just soft, gray," she beamed, patting him on the shoulder. "youll get used to it!"

the stream persisted, minutes turning to hours. he was awful at the ukulele, not surprising. they moved on to painting, which was also not his forte. when the two bid a-due to chat, they were each covered in paint and sore from laughter.

the two were sat on graysons bed, chatting and enjoying one anothers company. after an hour of this, salem sat up.
"we should go into the woods," she remarked, toying with his fingers intertwined with hers.

"at night?" the boy asked her.

she shrugged. "what, are you scared?" she smirked at him. "i go into the forrest at night alone like everyday."

grayson sighed, looking over at her. "well nature likes you!" he protested.

"too bad. it will get to like you, too." she pulled him up, grasping his hands. the teens ventured into the night air.

"come on!" she cheered, speeding up, releasing his hands, running carefree into the woods. he grinned at her, following. "i have something to show you!" she cried as the boy chased the girl through the trees. he caught her glancing up at the stars quite often as she ran barefoot across the mossy ground. 

she suddenly stopped, grabbing firm hold of his hand again. she led him towards a clearing, large sycamores lining the outskirts. "close your eyes," she whispered, her voice sending shivers up his spine. she knelt by a tree, flipping a switch. suddenly, fairy light sprung to life, draping through the canopy of trees and over the small clearing. a homemade stand sat high up in a tree, a ladder leading to it. it was quite well built, salem had built treehouses with her dad before. the clearing was magical. books stored in trees, beauty emanating from the space.  it looked like where a fairy would hide out.

"open," she told him. he obeyed, and his breath caught in his throat as he peered around the space.

"it's beautiful," he breathed out.

"it is," she beamed up at him. she gripped his hand firm, placing another on her waist. "a dance?" she smiled, letting out one of her laughs like bells. she led him, swaying him side to side, him occasionally tripping over his feet, leading to snickers from the girl. the two teens swayed in silence, the dark woods surrounding them. she stood on her tiptoes, feeling the balls of her feet against the grass as she leaned up, kissing him. he smiled into it.

the two broke away. she led him to the ladder. "up we go!" she grinned as she began to climb.

"are you sure this is safe?" he asked from below. the girl scoffed as she made her way onto the flat platform, resting her back against the tree.

"of course its safe." he began to climb, nervous until he made it up to the girl. when he felt the platform, he sighed in relief, realizing it was, in-fact safe. he draped his arm around the girls shoulder,

"isnt the moon beautiful?" she whispered to him.

if only he knew. that was her "i love you". he nodded.

"salem?" she turned to him. "will you be... will you be my girlfriend?" she beamed.

"of course i will," she told him. a smile played at his lips as they stared into the stars, in comfortable silence.

"the dream," she said, interrupting the silence.

"huh?" he looked at her, puzzled.

"you asked about the dream. last night," she was looking at the sky.

"alana. tyler. dad," she breathed. she hadnt said those words out loud in what felt like forever. "they came. theyre gone. the reason i love the stars so much," she said, her voice barely a whisper, "is because of them. i imagine their souls became constellations." her voice wavered as she continued. "my father went away for business a lot. he used to say that, no matter what, we would be under the same moon. he lied. now hes in the moon. he lied." a whisper. a confession.

no other words were needed as the young loves sat in the tree gazing at the stars.