If I Only Knew

Chapter six

  "There's Pyxis" she says pointing up to the sky. I watch as her eyes dart back and forth looking for different constellations

"And there's Monoceros" she says from beside me. I tip my head to the left so my ear rests on the soft blanket underneath us and smile at her. I have no idea what she is talking about though, I've never heard of the constellations she's naming. She swivels around and lays her head on my chest looking up at the sky.

"Ooh this is a cool angle" I look down and smile at her, she turns into her side so she's now facing me.

"When I was little, my mom always told me that when you die, you turn into a star" she says In a sweet soothing voice.  She looks back up to the sky "and they shine to show you that they are okay. That's how I knew it was okay to move on after my mother died. The stars shined bright and I knew she was okay" I looked up at the stars and felt suddenly at ease. My dad died 6 months ago, I usually don't think about it when I'm with Nicole, I can't think about anything except how beautiful she is and how luck I was to meet her, she leaves me breathless. Tears start to build up in my eyes but I blink them away. I can't cry, I have to be strong, strong for Nicole. I look down to find that she was sound asleep, I pull her a little closer and kiss her lightly on her forehead

"Good night princess" I close my eyes and I drift into a deep sleep.

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   I wake up to a bird chirping on the roof of my truck. I rub my eyes as the memories flood back to my from last night. I smile, remembering how amazing it felt to hold her close and to touch my lips against hers. Nicole's still sleeping on my chest, snuggled in the blanket. She looks so peaceful and comfortable. I lay there for a while before her eyes flutter open, she looks up at me with a smile

"Good morning" she says

"Good morning" i stroke her hair as the yawns and stretches her arms. She looks around like she's just realizing where we are.

"We fell asleep in the truck?" She asks

"Yea I guess we did" I sit up and lean back against the back of the truck bed. She does the same leaning her head into my shoulders

"I guess we should go back to camp I'm getting kinda hungry" I say

"Me too" I stand up and fold the blankets, Nicole holds them on her lap as we drive back down the mountain. When we get back to camp Christian is making pancakes and grilling sausage. I get out of the truck and take the blankets from Nicole and throw them in my tent

"There you are!" Says Alex "so are you gonna introduce us before you run off again" he jokes I totally forgot to introduce them when we came here last night, I was so worried about Nicole I guess it slipped my mind

"Everyone this is Nicole, and Nicole that's Alex, Brice, John, and Christian"

"Hey" they all say in unison.
She waves back with a smile

"Sorry I crashed your camping trip" she said with guilt

"Nah bro it's fine the more the marrier" Brice says

"Yea, welcome to paradise" jokes John showing off our little clearing. She giggles as she takes a plate from Christian.

"Thanks" she goes and sits down at the picnic table and I follow her. She shoves the food in her mouth eating as fast as she can. We all stare at her as wolfs down three pancakes and 2 sausages. She looks up and notices us staring at her

"What?!" She demands, we all just shake our heads and go back to eating.

   When we all finish eating we throw our plates in the fire pit.