The Girl Who Chased Stars

XIX

After a long time of just sitting together, Skai tells me that she's hungry.

So we decide to go back to my house to get some food, but after three failed attempts to start Skai's truck, she gives up on the poor thing and decides to just ride with me.

The drive back to my house is quiet.

Skai's hand rests on my leg, and she stares out of the window with a dull look.

And I find myself unable to keep my eyes on the road.

After a while of silent driving, I pull the truck over, and just look at Skai.

"What?" She asks.

I continue to look at her.

"Why aren't you driving?"

"You know what?" I say suddenly, "let's do something."

"What?"

"Let's go somewhere. I can call my dad, and tell him I'll be home late...let's just do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know... Anything."

Skai looks at me weird, and then cracks a small smile. "Alright..."
____________

After an hour of sitting in the car, Skai and I finally come up with an idea.

"I've never gone camping."

My eyes widen. "Seriously!? Camping? It's awesome. There's this little place up near the lake where you can just hide out for like months at a time."

Skai smiles, an I tell her. "That's it. I'm totally taking you camping."

I call my dad, and tell him that Skai and I are going on a camping trip. He tells me that it would be alright with him.

"And Amy." Says my dad through the phone, "Be back by Monday. I want you to be there for mom after her chemo."

"Yeah. I forgot about that... How is she doing?"

"Great, actually. She's remembering more. Forgetting less. And she's pretty stable. The doctors have her all prepped for Monday."

"Okay good. Are you seeing her today?"

"Yes. In a few hours. Why?"

"Just tell her I love her, that's all. And you too."

My father tells me he loves me back, and then we hang up.

"Sweet! So we've just gotta stop by my house to get some stuff, and then we can go."

Skai smiles, and then I start up the car.

"But first..." I turn the corner into an empty parking lot. "I'm starving."
_____________

The restaurant was a Japanese place. It was one of those types of restaurants where the chef cooked in front of you, and where you sat next to strangers.

The couple we were placed beside were extremely cute. The guy, who seemed to be about my age, had shaggy brown hair, and his date had a scar on her face, which stretched from her forehead and diagonally across both eyes. It was kind of sad, but it didn't mess up her beauty.

Because we were pushed in so close together, I took it upon myself to introduce myself.

"Hi. I'm Amy." I say a bit shyly. The boy looks over at me, and smiles. "Hey." He says, " I'm Matt. This is Caitlyn."

The girl smiles, and Skai smiles back.

"Hey, I'm Skai."

Matt smiles, and suddenly a chef pops out of nowhere.

"Welcome to Jyro's Kitchen. Here we serve to please, what'll it be?"

Matt places an order, and then we all follow suit. Once the chef starts cooking, we all settle into a friendly conversation.

From what I can tell, Matt seems really nice, and obviously him and Caitlyn are in serious love. Every time he'd turn to kiss her, which was a lot, I'd accidentally look over at Skai's lips.

I really wanted to kiss her.

Like a lot.

Eventually, I think Skai caught me looking at her, because when Matt turned to look at Caitlin lovingly, Skai put her hand on my jawline and turned my head so that she could kiss me.

If you've never been kissed in a Japanese restaurant, I highly recommend it.

Her lips tasted like the cherry coke she had been drinking, and also like the cigarette she was smoking before we walked in.

She tasted like obsession. And I couldn't get enough of it.

"You two are cute" Matt says. He turns and looks at Caitlin. "They're like Chris and Haley." He says.

Caitlin nods, and smiles.

"Are you two dating?" She asks.

I freeze, and look over at Skai.

"Um, we're just-"

Skai squeezes my hand under the table.

"Yeah." She says, " We are...she's my...girlfriend?"

Skai smiles up at me, and I nod, and kiss her cheek.

"Totally." I reply.

Matt and Caitlyn grin, and I can feel Skai's hand holding mine underneath the table.

"Well for the record," begins Matt, "you two are freaking cute."
_______________

An hour and a half later, it's six o'clock, and Skai lays on my bed with her feet in the air as I attempt to fit three days worth of stuff into a duffel bag.

"Why are you bringing Mosquito repellant?" Asks Skai.

"Wow." I laugh. "You really never have been camping, have you?"

Skai shrugs, and kicks my butt lightly as I turn around.

"This is going to be epic." I say.

Skai pulls a jar of peanut butter out of the bag, and sticks her finger into it.

"You seem so excited."

"I am."

I grin at her, and Skai puts down the jar and grabs me instead. "You're adorable, you know?"

My stomach flops, and Skai leans over to kiss me.

"I forgot!" She says suddenly, breaking from the kiss. "We need marshmallows! You can't go camping without marshmallows."

"It's cool." I say, "I've got some."

Skai nods, and then stands up, and wanders over to my desk.

"What's this?"

She picks up my leather notebook, and flips through it.

"Nothing." I say, trying to hide my embarrassment. "Just some story ideas..."

Skai looks up at me quizzically. "I never knew that you wrote."

"Yeah..."

"This is really good!"

I shrug, and Skai must be able to see my discomfort, so she puts the book down.

"Do you need help carrying the stuff out?"

I nod, and hand her a backpack.

"Yeah. We've still got to load up the tent and the cooler."

Skai hefts the bag onto her shoulder, and walks out the front door.

Ten minutes later, we're in the car and heading off to the only real escape I know of.

"This is gonna be fun." Says Skai.

I nod, and smile.

"An adventure," I reply.