The Last Of The Stars

Part 8

She's pretty as a plum, she remembers the little things. She questions her feelings often, wishes she were taller and gets excited easily. She smells nice but is a bit too obsessed with how people think about her.

Her color was back to the way I remembered it. Pale, but with a rose undertone. Her lips were pink again. Even her hair looked better - shinier. 

She frowned. She raised one hand and touched the place where my eyebrows were mashing together. Her fingers smoothed my forehead for a moment while she tried to make sense of it.

"It's not an issue. Three days. Big deal."

I was rooted to the ground by a shock so intense it broke through my body. Three days.

"I don't know if I can wait that long."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure it will be just torture for you."

"You know, you're awfully small to be so hugely irritating."

I watched as her eyes fluttered a bit.

"That's what I'm here for."

As she yawned, I kissed her forehead and sat down next to her to hold her hand until she woke again.

The girl was a classic saint. She'd totally been born in the wrong century. She should have lived back when she could have gotten herself fed to some lions for a good cause.

I was elated when it was late enough to be acceptable for bedtime. I knew I was far too anxious to sleep, so I did something I'd never done before. I took a bit of melatonin for sleep. I had heard that the stuff gave you vivid dreams, but that it was mostly to help you with sleep. I normally wouldn't tolerate that type of behavior in myself, but tomorrow would be complicated enough without me being loopy from sleep deprivation on top of everything else. While I waited for the drugs to kick in, I settled into the chair next to the bed.

I felt hyper; I couldn't stop twitching. A second was all it took to change everything: the atmosphere in the room, my mission here, the reason I leaned toward the glorious soul in front of me.

Tension rolled off of her, nearly visible in the air. I could feel the desire, the all-consuming passion that held her in its grip. Almost as if I could hear her thoughts, too, I knew what she was thinking. She loved me.

I suddenly thanked whatever force brought her to me.

"Don't be afraid," I murmured. "We belong together."

I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words. This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it. I'd never done anything good enough to deserve her. Sitting here, holding her hands in mine, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright.

Everything was going to be alright.