The Stars, The Moon, And You

Dandelion Seeds

Lee had a job.

Somehow in a couple of days she had managed to get the job I'd been wanting for years at the small cafe that smelled like happiness itself between our neighborhood and the school. Honestly, I wasn't jealous. I hated having to talk to people and pretend to be nice while they stuck up their noses at orders that didn't have organic, super purified, double heated, skim milk. Lee did that kind of thing perfectly.

After school I started sitting at a table in the loft of the small coffee shop, waiting for her shift to be over. Drinking a cup of tea and struggling through maths homework, which would be the death of me. It was cozy and nice, but it wasn't home.

I see Lee walking up the loft to me, a mug in her hand. I tried to pay for the things she brought me during her shift but she never let me. The money would just end up back in my coat pocket, or in my sock drawer. She was really creative when it came to finding places to put it.

"Could there be any more sugar in that?" I said, eyeing down the steaming cup of whipped cream and whatever else could be in it. I never liked these fancy drinks people invented, with their fancy names and high prices. They all tasted the same.

"No." Lee said sitting it down in front of me. She leaned her elbows onto the table, glancing over the problem I had erased and restarted at least a dozen times. Our foreheads were almost touching and I felt her breaths, steady and warm. It was home. "Zero."

"What?" I say, pulling back a bit.

"Your forgetting the zero on the end." Lee said, matter of factly, pointing out the tiny mistake that had been ruining the whole problem, over and over. This is why I despised maths.

I blew purple pieces or hair out of my eyes. "How in hell am I going to pass this class?"

Lee gave me a small smile, dipping her finger into the creme on my drink and popping it in her mouth. "With my help, duh." She said, winking, standing from her seat and walking away, not letting me reply.

When I finally solved the problem, I picked up the mug, still steaming a bit. Sipping what tasted like caramel hot chocolate. It was icky sweet, but it soothed my throat, which was sore. I felt like the small arguments with my parents were had escalated to screaming matched very suddenly and it left me with circles around my eyes and a sore throat on most days. It was exhausting living in that house.

Lee had subconsciously been teaching me how to be confident. It was good. It made me feel more in control, but it also made it hard for me to keep my mouth shut when someone at the dinner table would say something hateful and ignorant. My parents were home a little more because at this time of the year, their business tended to slow down, and honestly, I wished they weren't. It got harder and harder every day to live in a house that I wouldn't be welcome in if they knew the slightest bit about Lee and I.

Of course people noticed the stress. Rick would send me comforting glances every once in awhile while we were working on the new website designs and teachers would give me extra pity points on assignments I had flubbed. Really, there was nothing they could do to fix it. All I could do was wait this out until my dad went back to flying across the country for business and my mom could go back to photoshopping models until they were twigs.

I considered telling them almost every day. Out of frustration or anger or even just curiosity over how they would react. I couldn't risk it though. I needed to at least get through high school before being kicked out for being a lesbian.

Lee would always tell me that she had an extra bedroom in her house on nights where I would sleep on her floor because being at home was just too much. That her mom would be happy to let me crash there if things turned for the worst. Those conversations were always filled with awkward pauses and trailed off sentences. It would feel weird, living with my girlfriend. I was only 15.

There was a hand, pulling my pencil away from me, pulling me back into reality. I had sunk into a spiral of my own thoughts and now Lee sat across from me. She held the pencil, staring at it like it had disappointed her, worry in her eyes. "You have whipped creme on your nose." She said, in a sad voice.

I rubbed it off with my sleeve.

Lee sighed. She raised her eyes to me, setting the pencil back down. "You've been staring at the wall for, like, ten minutes."

"Sorry."

She widened her eyes, looking into mine, trying to find answers to questions I didn't even have answers to, leaning in closer, and making me blush, thinking about the people sitting around us. What if one of them knew my parents? What if one of them was just disgusted with how much Lee cared about me and said something that would make me want to cry and punch someone at the same time?

"I'm okay." I assured her. Sometimes Lee would be like an overprotective mom if she was worried about me. It was cute. I smiled at her.

"You sure?"

I nodded. Things were a bit stressful right now, but I truly believed that in two months I would be fine. I had cigarettes and Lee to help me through.

Lee rested her head on the table, letting out a huff of air. "I'm here, If that ever changes." She mumbles.

"Yeah, I know." I pulled a lock of her hair so that it didn't get soaked in hot chocolate.

We sit there, trying to read each other's thoughts. The smell of coffee and conversation between us. You can never tell what's in Lee's head, even though she could read me like a book. She had an unfair advantage.

Lee finally stood up. "My shift is over, I should set up for the next person." Instead of walking back to the front counter, she stepped closer to me, kissing my forehead. I could feel my cheeks turn pink. I felt people staring. "I love you." She mouthed to me.

Lee started walking away but I caught her hand. "I love you too." I said to her honey coloured eyes and the way she felt about the night sky and the slight curve of her smile. She smiled now, and I felt like all of my problems were just dandelion seeds in the wind.

Gone.

A.N
(I wrote this story a while ago but Susan actually just turned 16 so woop woop 🙌)
Oh boi Susan and lee are so adorable. I'm so jealous of their relationship. My crush in Spanish class made a gay joke about herself today though so hope is here. Gonna try to start updating every Friday. I'm probably gonna start writing a Phan AU I'll try to update every Wednesday. Life is stressful so have a hug *hug* 💙