STARRY EYES | mileven

nineteen

el's stirred awake, her sleep-soaked eyes slowly fluttering open. sunlight filtered through the patio window, a soft glow of gold caressing her arms. she felt a comfortable weight set on her waist seconds before a gasp parted her lips, her attention falling on mike's sleeping silhouette traced by the warmth of the sun.

his face was peacefully mushed with sleep, laying on the side facing her.

a smile tugged at her mouth before she could stop it. she stayed still, afraid that even the smallest movement might break the moment, and let herself exist in it just a second longer. the memories of last night played like a movie in front of her eyes and lingered on her body, vivid enough to make her bite down on her bottom lip. heat started to bloom low in her stomach.

thinking of everything they'd done. everything they hadn't yet.

the buzz of her phone on the nightstand cut through her thoughts. she groaned softly, reaching for it without fully sitting up. robin's name lit up the screen. el stared at it for a second, then let the call die, already deciding she'd call her back later.

but when the screen dimmed, she noticed it hadn't been the first call. five missed calls from robin and a text that said to call her back.

a flicker of unease stirred, but it didn't quite take hold. robin panicked over the strangest things sometimes — there were times she blew up her phone like the world was ending with missed calls and desperate texts, nearly giving el a heart attack, only for it to turn out that some radio station had shut down. the one only she and eighty-year-old hank still listened to.

so chances were, this was just another repeated case.

still, el gently lifted mike's arm from her waist, careful not to wake him, and slipped out of bed. she padded toward the patio, dialing robin back as soon as the sliding door closed behind her.

robin picked up on the first ring.

"what's wrong?" el asked lightly, teasing laced through her voice. "did they run out of succulents at home depot?"

robin was unusually silent on the other end of the line. she wasn't met with her usual rambling or waterfall of words, and the more seconds ticked with robin's lack of a reaction, the more el felt at unease. a sudden chill crept up her spine — whatever lightness she'd carried just before was filled with instant dread.

robin exhaled slowly, her voice gentle. "there's something," she said carefully, "but don't panic, okay?"

wrong thing, absolutely terrible thing to say. because now el was in full-on panic mode, her heartbeat almost louder than robin's voice. "what?" she demanded, "what happened?"

"it's nothing we can't fix," robin rushed on, as if wanting to ease el but it only made it worse. "i just — i know stuff like this freaks you out and it's never really happened to you before—"

"robin," el cut in, her pulse roaring in her ears with anxiety, "i am freaking the fuck out. what is it?"

robin heavily huffed again. this time she didn't let el sit with another round of loaded silence and went for it. "an article dropped this morning," she said. "it's about you, mike, aiden and that girl—angela. there are photos," she continued. "of you hanging out on the beach. looks like paparazzi were following you."

the words paparazzi were following you shot a weird sensation through her. robin was right, this had never happened to her before. she'd never been followed by weird men with their cameras, trying to catch a glimpse into her life. she'd never had to live with that level of being known, but hearing that her private wasn't guaranteed to stay private anymore felt caging. even more so because she hadn't even known they were there.