Starry Night | Kurtis Conner × Harry Styles

4

CHAPTER FOUR

That night, I went home and did research on the far away lands of the United Kingdom. There was some stuff about beans on toast and their old ass queen, but nothing about spontaneous British accents. I needed something more. Something specialized.

That's when I found out about a bookstore in the neighboring town of Lost Angeles that carried books about Brtish culture. Maybe I could find something there.

So that next weekend, I made a trip out to Lost Angeles with Danny and Drew under the pretense of going to a stupid movie.

Halfway through the movie, I got up to leave.

"Hey guys, I actually really wanted to go to this bookstore, so I'll meet up with you later yeah?" I told them, and they just nodded and continued eating their popcorn.

Since we all took Danny's car, I walked to the bookstore. I didn't mind, though, because it gave me more time to think.

When I walked into the store, I saw all the displays of different countries and cultures. It all looked very interesting, but I was here for one purpose.

When I reached the England section, I found a magazine all about British pop and rock stars, and a few books on other British crap, including a CD that taught you how to speak in a British accent.

I bought my books and CD, then left the shop. By then, it was starting to get dark, so I started walking back towards the theatre.

That's when some guys I saw in the theater earlier approached me.

"Hey there, partner!" One of them said, "You ever want to see some real films? We got a whole bunch of em."

"Yeah, and none of that PC crap either!" Another one of them said, "We're talking racist, sexist, and ableist jokes!"

"No thanks," I said, and tried to push past them, but there were too many and they were surrounding me.

"You should watch Joker man, cause it says a lot about society." They continued to spew out stuff about how 'we can't joke about anything without getting canceled.' And I couldn't escape.

"Hey!" I heard Starry yell as he rode by on his motorcycle, "Go back to your mother's basement!"

They all looked to Starry and shrunk away, leaving me alone.

"Kurtis?" Starry asked when he saw who I was.

"Starry? Were you following me?" I asked.

"What? No! I was just in town to pick up some things from a clothing shop here and just so happened to be riding by." He explained.

"Oh," I replied. At least he wasn't a creep.

"You need a ride?" He asked.

"Sure," I nodded and looked at the time on my phone, "I'm supposed to be meeting Danny and Drew for dinner."

Starry nodded and I slung my leg over the back of the motorcycle, and hung onto him for dear life as we rode to the restaurant.

When we arrived, Danny and Drew were already leaving.

"There you are Kurtis! We were calling you but you never picked up!" Danny scolded.

"Sorry, I got sidetracked." I shrugged.

"Well we got hungry and already ate, but we can totally go back in with you."

"Actually," Starry said, "I'm going to take Kurtis to dinner and drive him home if that's okay."

"Um, sure that's totally fine." Drew replied and looked at me with wide eyes, like oh my god Starry is actually interested in you!

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" I told them, and they nodded and left.

We got a table and I ordered a burger.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" I asked Starry when he didn't order anything.

"I'm on a special diet," he explained, "I only eat strawberries, watermelon, kiwis, and cherries, and I only drink grapejuice."

"That's a lot of fruit," I said.

"Okay everyone, next up is Samantha singing Blood Related!" An announcer's voice said.

I watched as a blonde lady headed onto a stage and grabbed a microphone, then started singing along to the music, with a TV screen of lyrics in front of her.

"Holy shit, they have karaoke here?!" I said excitedly.

"You know, I'm something of a singer myself," Starry said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yep," he nodded, then got up and walked over to sign up for a song.

Starry and I talked a little while I ate, until the announcer called him up onstage.

"Next up is Starry singing What Makes You Beautiful!"

Starry headed onstage and started singing.

"You're insecure, don't know what for.

You're turning heads when you walk through the doo-oo-oor

Don't need makeup to cover up

Being the way that you are is enough..." 

The song was amazing. Starry really did sound good.

I finished dinner and Starry paid for my meal, then he started driving us back into Spoons.

He dropped me off at home, and I said thank you.

And then as soon as I got inside, I started researching.

And what I found was shocking.

The magazine, the books, even the CD were all leading me to the same conclusion:

Starry Hyles was not who he said he was.