Within The Stars | ✔️

1

~Samara's POV~

"Sammy." Poppy, my best friend, complained as she tried to get my attention. I had always hated the nickname Sammy, which was part of the reason why Poppy was the only person aside from my parents who I let call me that.

"What?" I muttered, my tongue sliding over the cool metal of the two snakebite ring piercings I had within my full lips. I tilted my head to the side as I looked over at her, leaning back in the creaky plastic chair I sat in. She was on the opposite side of the table, sitting more in the middle while I was to the end of the left side of it. Poppy gave me a sheepish smile, her bright gray eyes a stark contrast against her tan skin and her long brown hair that fell to her hips. "I'm hungry." She said, bouncing her thin leg beneath the table as I held open the book I was reading. "C'mon, let's go get lunch already." She pleaded, pouting a little.

I grumbled slightly but I relented and got out of my chair nonetheless, placing my bookmark within the page I was on so I could find it again later. Grabbing my black purse, I dropped my book inside and then looped it over my shoulder, waiting on Poppy to get all of her stuff together that she had scattered all across the library table. Truthfully, I was surprised that she had even lasted this long in the library because she had never liked it in this sort of atmosphere, even when we were in high school. She said it was just too quiet, which was precisely one of the reasons why I did like it.

"Yay!" Poppy exclaimed, practically swiping all of her shit directly into the giant bag she carried around before she shot up from her seat and beamed happily. I hid an amused smile and shook my head, walking beside her as we left the library and headed out to my car. It was a simple little convertible Volkswagen Beetle that my parents had bought me when I turned eighteen three years ago. I'd gotten rather attached to the sky blue vehicle and was still plenty happy with it.

"Where'd you wanna go?" I asked her as I dug into my pocket and pulled out my keys, pressing a little button to unlock the car. She climbed into the passenger's seat whilst I got in the driver's, glancing her way as I stuck the key into the ignition and started up the engine, waiting for her to reply. "Oh, actually, Elias and Sterlyn are the ones who picked. Those idiots were blowing up my phone because they wanted to go to lunch." She told me, twirling her long hair around her finger absentmindedly.

My heart skipped a beat and I reversed out of the parking lot. "Sterlyn and Elias picked?" I asked, trying to sound indifferent. I began down the road, unsure of exactly where we were going just yet. "So, then what place are we going to?" I added, focusing on the road ahead of me. Poppy hummed, using one hand to scroll through the messages on her phone. "They decided on Taco Bell." She told me, snorting as I rolled my eyes. Those two seemed to like Taco Bell, maybe a little bit too much. Regardless, I began to drive towards Taco Bell so we could meet up with the two of them.

Sterlyn and Elias were, admittedly, more friends to Poppy than they were to me. I knew them, but not very well and I really only saw them a couple of times a month. Even so, that didn't stop me from having a little bit of a crush on Sterlyn, for reasons that I couldn't explain. He was just sexy to me, and honestly perhaps my crush on him was more of a physical attraction towards him than anything else.

I pulled into the parking lot of the Taco Bell and parked my car, cutting off the engine before I got out with Poppy, who was already waiting patiently for me. My eyes flicked over to her and I gave her a grateful smile for waiting for me, brushing my fingers through my black hair, which had pretty purple highlights through it. "Come on, I'm starving." Poppy chirped, grabbing my arm within her hand as she began to tug me towards the door. I hurried after her, my slightly above waist length hair flowing behind me from the sudden movement.

We entered the restaurant, the scent of food making my stomach grumble, even if it was just Taco Bell. I hadn't realized how hungry I was, being that I hadn't eaten yet today.

"Look, there they are." Poppy said, pointing towards the back part of the restaurant, more towards the window where there was a booth table. I followed after her, anxiously playing with the rings on my bottom lip using my tongue, my purse thumping gently against my hip as I walked. "'Poppy!" Both Elias and Sterlyn greeted her excitedly when we arrived, my eyes falling upon Sterlyn as he sat beside Elias. Every time I looked at him, it seemed like I was just even more reminded of why I was attracted to him.

With his dark brown hair and brown eyes, the strong line of his stubbled jaw and the tattoos that were on his muscular arms, he was rather rugged looking. I'd always liked rugged looking guys, for some reason or another. "Hey, guys!" Poppy chirped, scooting into the seat before she pulled me down with her, releasing my arm. "You guys remember Sammy, right?" She asked, and Elias snorted whereas Sterlyn just nodded, giving me a friendly smile. "Yeah, I remember." Sterlyn said, whilst Elias said, "Who could forget the name Sammy?"

I glared at Elias, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned into the table. "Don't call me that. Only Poppy can call me Sammy." I told him, huffing in annoyance. He just rolled his eyes and Sterlyn gently elbowed his best friend in the side, silently scolding him. Funnily enough, Sterlyn and Elias behaved quite the opposite of how they looked. Despite the fact that Sterlyn was a rugged looking man, he had always been nothing but kind and welcoming, where Elias was exactly the opposite.

Elias had almost a pretty kind of face, his dark brown hair always styled so it was out of his face, the strands admittedly very soft looking. He had pretty, dark blue eyes and his dark brows were so perfect that it was actually envious, with full lips and a sharp jawline. Although he was a very pretty man, his personality was very confident and, to put it simply, one of that of a slight asshole. Well, he was one to me anyways. Elias had always been nice to Poppy, and was rather normal with her and Sterlyn. Maybe I was just easy to pick on, but I was also no idiot. I could tell from the way Elias smiled at Poppy that he had a thing for her, and rightfully so. Poppy was beautiful, inside and out.

"What took you guys so long to get here, anyway? We texted you like half an hour ago." Elias asked Poppy, and I felt my stomach rumble hungrily again. I decided to leave them here to talk to one another, walking up to the front of the restaurant to order something for myself to eat, as well as something for Poppy since she always got the same thing from here.

Whilst I got myself two things of nachos and a frozen baja blast, I ordered Poppy a quesarito and cheese quesadilla with cinnamon twists and a pepsi. Pepsi had been her favorite soda since the tenth grade, of all sodas. They gave me the food after a few minutes and I returned back to the table, sliding Poppy her food and drink while I settled with mine beside her. Sterlyn and Elias were still making conversation with Poppy when I returned, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to interrupt or input myself. Instead I just quietly listened to them talk, enjoying my food and occasionally glancing up at Sterlyn.

"What do you think, Sammy?" Poppy suddenly asked, causing me to look up and quickly meet her gaze, surprised. Moments before they had been talking about whether dogs or cats were better since apparently Sterlyn wanted a cat and Elias argued a dog was better. I cocked my head to the side and wondered why she was asking me this. We'd been best friends for over six years now, so she most definitely knew my preference of the two. "You already know I love dogs." I said, causing Sterlyn to pout whilst Elias silently seemed to be gloating.

"B-But cats are pretty cool, too, I guess." I added, and Elias rolled his eyes, leaning his arm on top of the table. "Yeah, maybe if you're an old lady." He said, his striking blue eyes meeting my brown ones. I glared at him and his lips twitched, always seeming to find enjoyment in irritating me. "Shut up." I snapped, taking a hefty sip of my drink.

"Eli, leave her alone." Sterlyn sighed, thankfully able to tell that his best friend was getting a kick out of being annoying to me. Elias just grunted, swirling his straw around in his cup. "Not my fault she can't take a joke." He muttered, and I could feel Poppy looking back and forth between the three of us, probably hoping that someone would say something to make it less awkward, but nobody did.

So I just went back to eating my food, in a slightly bad mood as I realized exactly why I never really spoke when I was around them.