What Once Was

1: nothing feels like us

    "Mason!" I yelled

   "Clara? where are you?" he questioned

   "What fun would it be if I told you?"

   "A lot more fun than this. Come on it's the middle of the night." he sighed  

  "Guess you better find me then..."

        He didn't respond, I heard his shoes ever so slightly stepping on the branches, careful not to cause too much noise. I was only a few feet away from where he was looking when I heard him scream out in pain. I ran out of the bush I was hiding in, and started to panic.

"Mason! Mason! Are you okay?" I hovered over his body which was now lying on the cold, and dirty ground.

"Gotcha!" he yelled as I clutched my heart, clearly not expecting him to get up.

"You're a real ass you know that?" I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest 

"Sorry babe, but it gets funnier every time" Mason responds while wiping a fake tear from his eye

"You're lucky I love you so much" 

    He grins and pulls me in for a long kiss on my lips, my eyes flutter closed as I wrap my arms around his neck to pull him in closer. It's soft and sweet, the kind that makes your heart melt. He pulls away and looks into my eyes,

"I love you too Clara" 

 I look away blushing, as many times as he says I love you it will never cease to amaze me.

"Alright enough of that I'm tired and hungry. Let's go back to the house" I say climbing off of the ground and ridding my pants from any dirt. 

We quietly stepped back into my house by the sliding glass door in the back, careful of not waking my parents up. They knew he was staying the night but I know they would not be amused by being woken up at 2am. I shut the door behind us as Mason swiftly climbed the steps taking them in two at a time. I laughed and followed behind him avoiding the spots on the stairs that creaked whenever someone stepped on them. 

When I got to my room Mason was lying on his back staring at my ceiling.

"I always meant to ask, why do you keep these glow up stars above your bed?" he asks while turning his head to face me 

I plop down in bed next to him and stare up as well before taking a deep breath, "When I was younger, my grandpa put those up there, he used to babysit me a lot when my parents were on business trips. He told me that if there ever came a day where he was no longer here to tuck me in, I should look up at those stars and remember that he is always with me. I guess I just never wanted to take them down after he passed."

"Wow" he blew out a breath I hadn't realized he'd been holding

"Kind of a mood killer, I know, but hey, you asked"

"And I'm glad I did, I like knowing the little things about you" he smiles and reaches over to tuck my hair behind my ear.

I lean into his palm and allow my eyes to close to soak up this moment. I wish times like this could last forever, just me and him here in the silence taking in one another presence. 

Mason is not my first real relationship, but in all the ways that count he is. I have never opened up to a person the way I have to him. And I certainly had never felt this way about anyone else before him, I don't even think I knew what love was. He is also the only one to ever care about me so deeply, my ex-boyfriend literally told me he just went out with me because I was the only available one in my friend group. Long story short I broke up with him not even a minute later, he was kind of a dick anyway. But nothing feels like us, the relationship me and Connor have. I can't get enough of him and we are approaching our three year anniversary. We started dating in our senior year of high school and just happened to end up at the same college, which was actually by coincidence shockingly. And ever since we have had the best times together, obviously we fight but I would never trade a moment with him for anything.