A Summer To Remember

Astrophilia

“Astrophilia; a rare love of and/or an obsession with planets, stars, and outer space.”

It was now eight pm, we had been playing truth or dare for an hour and a half, it was now Elliana’s turn to spin the bottle to see who she would ask. She spun it fairly hard, and it spun for around 30 seconds. We all watched the bottle in anticipation as it slowed. 

The bottle came to a stop and everyone had seen it landed on me. My brain went into a small panic, but I managed to calm it so I could tell Elliana truth, I didn’t want to risk anything with a dare from her. 

Elliana began to speak and everyone payed attention to her question. “Is it true your dad died of a brain tumor when you were a kid?” she asked. My eyes widened and Piper started to try and defend me.

“It’s fine Piper. She’s curious about what you and I have been talking about. Its fine. To answer your question Elliana, yes my Dad did die from a brain tumor when I was young. Which is why we moved from LA. But no matter how sick he was, he was always an amazing dad, and always tried to have fun with me and my mom. And while he was around, and he wasn’t sick, he taught me alot of what I know about my horses, and he taught me how to ride.” 

I told her. She rolled her eyes and I threw a glare at her before standing up. “I have to go do a night check on the horses. Does anyone want to come with me?” I asked while putting on a jacket and a pair of socks along with my boots. 

“I’ll come, if you don’t mind that is.” Jentzen said. ‘Great, he’s gonna ask about my dad. It’s fine. I’ll be fine.’ I say inside my head. “Yea, it’s fine.” I say and wait by my bedroom door while he put his shoes on. 

Once Jentzen got his shoes on and was a few steps away from the door, I started walking to the staircase and headed downstairs. It took Jentzen a few seconds to catch up but once we were both downstairs, we headed out the front door and downt the front steps to the barn. 

We walked in scilence but I could tell Jentzen wanted to say something, but didn’t know if he should. I stepped infront of him, making him stop walking and look at me. 

“Look Jentzen, I don’t talk about my dad alot. I don’t know why, I just don’t, but it’s pretty darn obvious that you want to ask me about him. So before I shut it down completly, I suggest you ask.” I tell him trying not to sound rude or mean. 

He took a small step foward and put his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. My eyes widend and I didn’t move for around 10 seconds, I was shocked he was hugging me. He must have thought I wanted him to stop hugging me, because he got stiff and started to move away, but I wrapped my arms around him before he could, and he realaxed and just hugged me for a few minutes.

I usually hated when people tried to hug me, so I usually step away from them, or tell whoever is trying to hug me that I don’t like hugs and set a boundarie with them. But this was different…and I don’t know why, but I liked being hugged in this moment. 

I felt a tear roll down my cheek and I wiped it away. We both then pulled away and I tried looking away from him but he cupped my cheek and made me look at him. “Are you okay?” He asked quietly. I chuckled sotly and looked down before I looked up into his eyes. God those eyes. “I have no Idea.” I said and laughed a little bit. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked. “Not really.” I said while another tear rolled down my right cheek and he wiped it away. “C’mon. Let’s go down and check on the horses okay?” He said and I nodded my head, just now realizing we were only about 5 inches apart. He grabbed my hand gently and we walked to the barn in comfortable scilence. Once we got to the barn, he sat infront of Ebony’s stall while I did everything I needed to. 

Once I was done with the night check, I sat next to him. “What Elliana did was messed up, i’m sorry about her.” He said while looking at me. I laugh a little bit. “It’s fine. She only did it to try and jab at me because she thinks I like you or something.” I said, looking back up at him. “Why would she do that?” he asked confused. “She likes you. It’s kinda obvious.” I tell him while arching an eyebrow. “She what now?” he said with a slightly suprised look on his face. I laughed and looked foward. “You two used to date right?” I ask him. “Yeah, we did.” He replied.

“She still has feelings for you. She could either actually still really like you or, she could be acting like she likes you still beacuse she might think she didn’t get closure.” I told him. 

“Well shit.” He said and looked foward as well. After that we sat in scilence for a few minutes beofore he spoke up again. “Do you?” He asked. 

“Do I what?” I said looking at him again, knowing full well what he was asking me. “Like me…or something?” He said turning to look at me. My eyes widened again slightly, and my heart started racing. ‘Do I?’ I asked myself silently. “I don’t know. I don’t think so?” I said, but it was more of a question. I looked forward again, and I felt him still looking at me. 

We sat like that for about a minute. Until he put his hand under my chin and made me look at him. “Elliana wouldn’t be trying to make jabs at you unless she thought you liked me.” He said. “I know.” I replied. “So do you?” He asked again. “I don’t know.” I said again. I felt his thumb rub softly against my cheek and I had to fight myself to not lean into his hand.

“Do you want to know?” He asked, speaking in barely a whisper. ‘Yes.’ “I don’t know…” I whispered back while fighting with myself. I looked into his eyes, those stupid eyes that I could get lost in within milli-seconds. He looked at my lips while barely leaning in, then he looked into my eyes again, searching for some sort of answer. Our lips were barely centimeters away, and I barely leaned in, telling him it was okay. 

He leaned in, just barely brushing his lips against mine.

“Ahem.”