With Or Without You

10.

Teja's POV:

Hawaii is an incredible place to visit after dark and no I'm not talking about the nightclubs.

The island chain's isolated existence way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes it one of the top places in the world to take in the night sky and I plan to do just that.

Scientists estimate that there are 70,000 million stars in the known universe and at least 170 billion galaxies stretching 13.8 billion light years away from us in all directions.

Our galaxy alone contains 400 billion stars.

I quickly make my way towards the park, making sure no one is following me and lie down on the soft grass.

And I look upwards, at a sky coated in glitter.

9 February, 2020 (2 years ago)

It was Valentine's Day. Karan was on a work trip and couldn't be here with me.

We'd talked about hanging out on Saturday, maybe watching a movie, but neither of us mentioned Valentine's Day. He just wasn't a flowers and candy hearts kind of guy. No big deal. I'd never been that kind of girl either.

I was in my room watching tv that night when I got a text from him. It said, 'Look out your window.' I'd gone to look, thinking there might be a meteor shower that night. Karan kept track of that kind of thing.

But what I saw was Karan, waving at me from a plaid blanket in my front yard. I clapped my hand to my mouth and let out a shriek. I couldn't believe it. Then I jammed my feet into my sneakers, put my puffy coat over my flannel pyjamas, and ran down the stairs so fast I almost tripped.

I made a running leap off the front porch and into his arms.

"I can't believe you're here!" I couldn't stop hugging him.

"I came right after shoot. Surprised?"

"So surprised! I didn't think you even knew it was Valentine's Day!"

He laughed. "Come on," he said, leading me by my shoulders over to the blanket. There was a thermos and a box of Twinkies.

"Lie down," Karan said, stretching out his legs on the blanket. "It's a full moon."

So I lay down next to him and looked up at the inky black sky and at that shining white moon, and I shivered. Not because I was cold, but because I was happy.

He wrapped the edge of the blanket around me. "Too cold?" he asked, looking concerned.

I shook my head.

Karan unscrewed the thermos and poured liquid into the lid. He passed it to me and said, "It's not that hot anymore, but it might still help."

I got up on my elbows and sipped. It was cocoa. Lukewarm.

"Is it cold?" he asked.

"No, it's good," I said.

Then we both lay down flat on our backs and stared up at the sky together. So many stars. It was freezing cold, but I didn't care. Karan took my hand, and he used it to point out constellations and connect the dots. He told me the stories behind Orion's belt and Cassiopeia. I didn't have the heart to tell him I already knew; my dad had taught me those constellations when I was a kid. I just loved listening to him talk. He had the same wonder in his voice, the same reverence he always had when he talked about nature and science.

"Wanna go back in?" he asked, sometime later. He warmed my hand with his.

"I'm not going in until we see a shooting star," I answered him.

"We might not," he said.

I wriggled next to him happily. "It's okay if we don't. I just want to try."

Smiling, he said, "Did you know that astronomers call them interplanetary dust?"

"Interplanetary dust," I repeated, liking the feel of the words on my tongue. "Sounds like a band."

Karan breathed hot air on my hand, and then he put it in his coat pocket. "Yeah, it kinda does."

"Tonight, it's—the sky is like—" I searched for the right word to encapsulate how it made me feel, how beautiful it was. "Lying here and looking up at the stars like this, it makes me feel like I'm lying on a planet. It's so wide. So infinite."

"I knew you'd get it," he said.

I smiled. His face was close to mine, and I could feel the heat from his body. If I turned my head, we'd be kissing. I didn't, though. Being close to him was enough.

"Sometimes I think I'll never trust another girl the way I trust you," he said then.

I looked over at him, surprised. He wasn't looking at me, he was still looking up at the sky, still focused.

We never did see a shooting star, but it didn't matter to me one bit. Before the night was over, I said, "This is one of my top moments."

He said, "Mine too."

*****

We didn't know what was ahead of us then. We were just two kids, looking up at the sky on a cold February night. So no, he didn't give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity.

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A/N: Please don't be a silent reader and do vote and comment if you found this chapter to your liking. Your feedback means the world to me!

Until next time.

Lots of love,

D