Caeleste

Two

That night I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. I checked on my alarm clock. One and a half hours I've been laying awake. But I couldn't fall asleep. My mind kept circling back to Daniel. I felt as if I knew him. It  wasn't what he looked like or that he had any kind of resemblance to anyone I knew, but the way he looked at me. As if somehow we were connected. And that freaked me out, because I never believed in love at first sight or all that stuff, I was more the rational, reasonable kind of person.

Ten minutes later I decided I couldn't stand another minute rolling around in my bed and got up. I threw on some comfortable clothes and made my way to the kitchen.
"What do we have here?", I murmured to myself, pulling out a bottle of white wine from the bottom shelf of our fridge.
I gazed towards out kitchen clock. 12:06 a.m., that'd be alright. I threw on my coat and put the bottle into a little backpack I always kept around downstairs for situations just like that. As I walked out, a warmish breeze stroke my cheeks. The moon illuminated the streets almost brighter than the street lamps. It seemed to be full moon. Quickly and quietly, I pushed out my bicycle from the garage onto the street. What I really loved about my neighborhood was, that you could go outside at whatever time without any concern about criminal activity or even about what you looked like. Okay, that second part might also be, because I really couldn't care less about what my neighbors thought of me. Yes, they were nice and all, but there were no cute boys I would want to impress.

I made my way to Madison's house. When I arrived, I saw that there wasn't any lights on anymore, so I climbed up to Madison's window. That, actually, was one of the best things of her house. You could basically get into Maddy's room without ever going through the front door. I climbed up the external stairs which led to her parents' balcony. But before reaching that, I hopped over the banister onto the flat roof right in front of the window I wanted to get in. When we were younger, Maddy's parents always claimed, that the roof would break in once we stepped on it, but nevertheless, we had used that escape route ever since we were kids.
I knocked onto her window and waited, but no reaction.
Again. But like at the first time, there was no movement at all. I pressed my face onto the glass. The moon lighted up the room, but I could see that there was nobody in it. Apparently, my best friend was out. Weird, since she never mentioned anything. In fact, earlier, before I dropped her off, she even asked me whether I were in for a sleepover, but I had to finish my presentation for a school project. Whatever she was doing, it wouldn't help me now. So I put my bike into their backyard - I had decided I'd get it the next day - and went for a walk.
Two blocks away was as beautiful, little park. One of my favorite places ever since I was a little child. I had already gone one and a half blocks and was about to turn around the corner behind which the park was located, when suddenly I felt a painful sting in the back of my head. It got worse and spread across my whole skull and then came a ringing sound, as if someone was brutally ringing a high-pitched bell, which got louder by the second.
"Ahh!", I cried out. I fell onto my knees, "Aaargh!"
I held my head between my hands and pressed my eyes together, but I couldn't stop screaming.
And suddenly, there was a hand on my head. A big hand.
"Shhh", a voice said and within the blink of an eye, the pain was gone.
However, I startled, seeing of course as someone had just suddenly touched me in the middle of the night, sitting on the street screaming. I made a big leap and turned around.
"What the hell? Are you following me?"
With a confused, implausible look and narrowed eyes I stared at the new guy from my school.
"Following you? Whatever reason would I have to follow you?", he said mockingly, half laughing, "I live near here. And besides, I suppose it was you who was sitting in the dirt, in the dark, screaming as if you'd seen a ghost. I just wanted to check whether you're okay. But I guess you are, since you're here, accusing me of following you. In the middle of the night, might I add again - which is, by the way, not only really absurd and weird, but also really sort of self-centered, don't you think?"
"Oh, so what? You just happen to walk exactly here, at exactly this time. Or did you just hear me all the way from your house and decided to help a citizen in need?"
"Wow, you really gotta have fears.", he just said and turned around, shaking his head, ready to walk away.
"Okay, wait!", I stopped him and took a deep breath.
"Sorry. I get a little aggressive when I don't know how to handle a situation, especially at this time at night. But... thanks."
He turned around, smiling.
"It's okay. You know, I'm there when there's a citizen in need."
I had to laugh a little.
"So why are you here?", I asked.
"Couldn't sleep. And you?"
I hadn't realized until that moment, that it was actually him, the reason I was here. The reason I couldn't sleep. I looked him into the eyes, a bit curiously, as if I were searching for something there. I remembered the incident from the afternoon, in front of the school. But of course, I didn't mention anything and I didn't have the impression that he would.
"Too.", I just answered after a few seconds.
He didn't say anything, he kind of just looked at me. And I looked at him. But it wasn't weird. At all. It was like getting to know each other. Without the talking. The moonlight was shining exactly onto him, highlighting his contour and profile. He looked beautiful, almost like an angle.
All of a sudden I noticed that I was standing around in my night gown and sandals. I had no make-up on, of course, and my hair must've looked like a broom after rolling around on my sheets for almost two hours. My coat was not buttoned up and I became really aware at once, that I also didn't wear a bra.
So, yeah, that was that.
I didn't want to seem embarrassed but I most definitely was and in that moment I thanked a higher power that I was at least standing with my back towards the moon, so my front was in the dark.
"Okay now", I slowly began talking and broke the silence. "I guess... I am... gonna head home... now."
I wanted to jump out of a window. 'Embarrassing' must've been written all over my face. But he didn't really seem to care. Or even say a word. He just looked at me, making me even more uncomfortable.
"Okayyy...", I just said and turned around and walked away. And before turning around the corner, I felt his smile in my back.

"Weird", Madison said and looked up into the sky. We were sitting at Mugs' Coffee Place, at London Square, downtown. I couldn't sleep for long, so I had texted Madison in the morning and asked her to go for brunch.
"And what was that thing with your head? The ringing, you said?"
I just shook my head.
"I don't know. Honestly, I've never had that before."
"Have you considered going to a doctor?"
"Yeah, but... The more I think about it, the more I wonder if maybe I just imagined that."
"What? Why would you imagine that?"
"I don't know. It's weird... Where were you anyway, last night?"
She gazed up again, avoiding my looking at her.
"Oh, you know... just out with the guys."
There was more to it than she was letting on, I saw that instantly. But I knew my best friend, she'd tell me anyway when she wanted to and when it was something important.
We chatted a little more about anything and everything and around noon, I went home.