Stargazing: Changing Our Stars

Chapter Nine

“Daiman, may I ask you a question?” Paige asked. Ever since we left from the garage, she had remained silent. Nearly as something had been eating at her. Whatever it was, it had been there since we left the hospital.

“Of course.” I said. The wipers of the car squeak as it slid back and forth against the cold glass of the windshield. The snow had stopped but that hadn’t exactly ended the chain of miserable weather.

“Your grandmother.” She responded while fiddling with a small sheet of paper between her fingers before gingerly folding it into a smaller square and canceling it in her fist.

“Yeah, what about her?” I asked as she turned her head towards her window. “She once told me that God was in the rain. She told me that no matter how loud the storm may be, God could hear you.” She said while dragging her finger across the glass drawing half a heart.

A red glow flooded into the car as the traffic ahead of us pulled to a stop. In the full force of the downpour, it was hard to see anything apart from the blinding lights emitted by the cars. “Please, tell me what she meant.” She said as she turned to me. Her face glowed a vibrant red. Either from the flood of light or the acidic sting of the tears that ran down her cheek.

I hadn’t seen her cry before. Perhaps I did, I am unsure. Paige had always brought about a sense of strength to any situation she had been placed into. At first it seemed she were purely stubborn, but now I realized that it had always been more then that. Paige had pledge to be strong, no matter how badly she wanted to give in.

I slid my hand over to hers and tightened my grip. “It’s okay to be scared.” The words briefly turned up the corners of her lips, unfortunately, the smile melted just as quickly as it formed.
“That night, on the roof.” She spoke while struggling to hold back her emotions. “I week to the roof because you grandmother spoke those words.”

“God was in the rain.” I said nodding. “Both of us were the roof that night for the same reason. To understand what she meant.”
“Yeah.” She said still sobbing.

“That night, after you left I realized what she meant. Or at least I believe I did.” I said still staring at her. This time she didn’t respond. “God is everywhere. Whether we think his listening or not, he is there. Even in the strongest storms and toughest battles, he’ll always be there to help.”

Paige remained silent as the red glow faded and turned to green. The cars ahead of us took to life, each going their own way with us following suit. Under the green light, her features became more distinguished. The tears that escape her eyes were still present. Some ran down her cheeks slowly, some remained on her lashes. Glistening.
Dare I say I was falling for her, I do. Even in her weakest moments, she had amazed me.

“Daiman.” She said while struggling to dry her face.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” She said as she leaned over and placed her lips against my cheek. It hadn’t been the first time she had done it, we’ve have even kissed before – well, sort of – yet the action completely stunned me, so much in fact that I completely lost control of the car for that moment and swerved out of lane, earning us both a series of angry hoots.

Just as before, Paige looked more surprised then I was. Although, this time she bursted into a child-like fit of laughter. I couldn’t help it. I smiled. Seeing her laugh through the tears we really something to see. She caught me smiling and smiled back.
“Eyes on the road, waiter boy.”

“Oh yeah, right.” I said quickly looking back at the road.

“Daiman.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s a girl got to so for some food?”

“Shocking. And here I thought you lived on caffeine alone.”
I laughed as I pulled over into Domino’s. The place wasn’t packed – luckily, but it wasn’t really empty either. I pointed over to a table with two seats as I walked towards the counter while Paige sat down. After making the order, I sat down next to Paige.

Again, she was acting all strange. Slacked down into her chair with her collar zipped all the way up, hiding underneath her Hoodie. “The hell you hiding from?”
“Waiter boy, shut up for a second.” She said pressing her eat against her chair as if she were trying to over listen to the conversation behind us. I lowered my eyebrows as I looked over the seat, trying to see who she was evevesdroppin on when I suddenly felt a kick into my shin.

“Ouch... “ I said under my breath, trying to make a sound that would earn me another kick. Why the hell would Paige be evevesdroppin on cops? I shock my head and moved closer trying to listen in why.

The first cop was rather scrawny. His features sunk into his face and wrinkles plagued his freckle-filled face. His gray hair was combed neatly to the side. The second seemed alot younger. He had a more bulkier frame. His brown hair was combed in a similar neat fashion.

The older one shook his head and slammed his hand into the table, “As if dealing with crime and gangs in this city wasn’t enough, we have to deal with a kidnapping as well? I tell you, Ethan, I’m getting to old for this.”

The younger one, Ethan, nodded in agreement. “How the bloody hell do you kidnap someone out of a hospital anyway? Wouldn’t the security teams have been on alert?”

“I could have understood if this girl, what’s her name? Witherstone right? Had been younger.”

“Possibly a teenage run away story.” Ethan shook his head as he stood up. The older man followed suit as they made their way to the door.

“Could be. But, we’ll still have to investigate this properly. It’s our duty.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ethan said as he walked out. The older man soon after.

“Paige... “ I hissed.

“Why is this pizza taking so long?” She chuckled nervously as she sunk further down into her chair.

“Ms Witherstone, answer me. How old are you”

“Seventeen... “

“You're a minor.”

“Maybe.”

“Bloody hell, Paige.”