See The Stars [Completed]

Chapter Nine

Her face left me in batters. I never thought I would see her again. And then, like magic she was in my house. She changed. Her voice did. Or maybe she didn’t change. Her priorities did. And I wasn’t her priority anymore. And that hurt.

I closed the door after I watched her go. I ran a hand through my hair and walked upstairs. My phone was ringing when I entered my room. It was Dylan. 

“Hey.” I greeted him.

“Bro. Why did you have to bring these two along? I swear I will throw them out of the car.” He sounded irritated. I laughed at his obvious distress. Dylan was my best mate. I wasn’t thinking about coming back here this summer but we were all lounging around thinking about what to do this summer when Ezra, another friend of mine decided that we would all go on a summer trip. I told them about my summer house and hence, this became the final destination. 

“Change cars or something,” I said. He scoffed. 

“What do you mean by change cars? I am driving my own and they both keep fighting on the song choice—” His voice got cut off by Kristen's. 

“The fuck is your problem?” 

“You! You are my problem. First, you called shotgun and now you won’t let me change the song. My ears are fucking bleeding.” Ezra shouted. Kristen replied with something but it was blocked out by Dylan’s shout. It was a mess. I shook my head.

“I cannot concentrate on the GPS anymore. So guide me along the path. I am near Lane 2, left or right?” Dylan spoke.

“Turn right and drive straight until the end and you will be on the main road,” I explained to him the way to the colony as Ezra and Kristen kept mumbling profanities at one another. They were a part of the friend circle but their personalities clashed so much that they would either be bickering or sleeping together. Yes, they were that kind of friends. Although they kept it a secret, we all knew. And we were keeping this a secret from them, that we all knew about their secret.  

“Why didn’t you take one of them with you?” Dylan muttered before I cut the call. I could’ve taken one of them with me but I came from the other side. I first visited dad's and mom's graves and then came here. It was a bit personal to me. I didn’t want them to intrude. 

After fifteen minutes, their car honked at the front. I opened the garage as their car rolled in. Kristen was hanging out of the window with a gaping mouth. 

“This isn’t a house. It’s a fucking castle.” She jumped down and punched me in the arm. “You rich bastard.”

“I will take the biggest room.” Ezra ran past us and that made Kristen run after him too.

“I am never ever in my fucking life ever driving with the both of them again.” Dylan looked worn down. I laughed. We walked inside and closed the door. Dylan didn’t waste a second and ran upstairs. Ezra was raiding the possibly empty fridge while Kirstein was sitting on the counter. 

“There is no food here,” Ezra announced. 

“Yes, I will handle the groceries tonight. You all can go shower and freshen up and we can go out and eat somewhere,” I told him. Kristen jumped off the counter and climbed the stairs. 

“Hey, Ez.” He halted. 

“Convey the message to Dylan too.” 

“Yes, boss.” He gave me a salute and ran upstairs. I started picking out their trunks from the cars and putting them in the living room. As I predicted, all of them came down one by one to retrieve the bags. It was kind of awesome to see this house getting filled with new memories once again. I walked upstairs and opened the door to let Silver out. He didn’t like being locked inside a room. 

“Sorry for locking you up buddy. We had animals in the house.” I scratched his head and he calmly followed me back into the room. He was a leg magnet. He really liked rubbing himself on people's legs. Just like he did to Darla and scared her. I looked at my ruffled sheets and sighed. It was alright. She was showing a sane response. Anyone in her shoes would’ve done worse. I picked up my phone and I found hers on the side table. Oh shit. I forgot to give her back her phone. She dropped it when she fainted. Never did I ever believed she would be here again and would faint in my arms. I grabbed the phone and jogged downstairs and towards her house. It was just two lanes away. I knocked on the door. Once. Twice. Thrice. 

“Darla!” I shouted at her window. There was no response. We never exchanged numbers ever. Because I told her, my dumbass self told her that whatever we do, we should leave it in this town. No strings attached. Well, now all I wanted to do was bind us both with ropes. Her phone had no password. I was tempted. So, I did it. 

I bound us with strings. I saved my number on her phone. And called me from hers. And now, I had her number. I walked back to my house, grabbed a sticky note from my desk, and wrote on it. 

“Where are you going?” Ezra asked. 

“I’ll be back in a moment and then we'll go.” 

“Okay.” 

And I ran to her house. Put up the sticky note on the entrance door and put the phone in the mailbox. 

You left your phone at my house. I put it in the mailbox. 

-Ronan 

I walked back again and gathered my friends. 

“So what is famous around here?” Ezra asked. 

“I don’t know, man. Everything is good here.” 

“When are we going to the island?” Kristen poked in. I shrugged.

“Whenever you want to go. After you are tired of this town, we can go to the island resorts,” I said as we all walked out of the Bellowen colony's gates. I nodded at the watchman and we all walked to the town. I smiled seeing the familiar streets. 

“Look at you, beaming.” Dylan put his arm around my shoulder. I shook my head and looked away. A cluster of little kids ran inside an ice cream shop. I halted when I saw Darla inside the shop. She was sitting on the counter next to a boy, she was smiling at something. I didn’t even realize that I had walked closer to the glass. The boy looked at me and then Darla did. Her eyes widened and her smile vanished. Due to me.  

“Is this shop any good?” Ezra spoke from behind me. 

“No.” I backed away. “I know another great shop. Let’s not go here.” I broke eye contact with her. She would feel uncomfortable if we went inside. And I didn’t want that. So, I took them to a restaurant. And we had fun. The most fun I could have with Darla on my mind. So when we left, I purposely took the long lane and passed in front of her house. The sticky note was gone. I turned away and kicked the stone. I guess she got my message. 

And I cried at my own joke.