The middle of the night proved to be the calmest time of the night, even though the city was still awake and the cars still raced down the avenue closest to the tiny hill Seacoast claimed theirs and used to plant a single tree on. But it was nicer than watching the sky through the window in Dan's dorm room, where the people next door never stopped partying and the intoxicating alcohol scent lingers and set fire to every sense.
Dan had figured out how to balance 3 cups of ice cream on his chest and had just taught himself to stand up and lie back down without disturbing them when the sun started to set behind the cluttered skyline.
Chris had been cheering him on for each ice cream cup he stacked on top of the one's he'd been using. "Dude, Britain's Got Talent is literally waiting for you."
Even I had to admit, balancing 6 cups stacked on top of each other was pretty impressive. Although, I wasn't going to admit it, because it would've egged him on to add more and eventually they'd all topple over and smack him in the face.
"It's a yes from me!" PJ yelled, running happily back up the hill with Cat's hand in his, and a bundle of wilting clovers peeking out from between his fingers.
"You two disgust me." I told them as soon as they were in ear shot. Cat flopped down on the blanket spread across the grass, but PJ shrugged and started sifting through the clovers he'd brought back, adding them to a pile of one's he'd gone through already. He was persistent on finding a four leafed one so he could get all the luck he needed for his big Chemistry test in the morning. He was taking 2 science classes, which I thought was pointless but he'd told me he wanted to do some veterinary stuff so I wasn't about to stop him.
Thankfully I'd opted out of that stupid class and had decided to take an extra year of German, a subject I didn't even know was taught at school, let alone counted under the much needed language section in the requirements for a graduation diploma. I could never pronounce my words right or even remember how to spell them, but it serves me right for jumping into the pool without a life vest.
And to the extent of my knowledge, the previous year PJ had taken French with Cat, who was still enrolled in the course, and he had no idea how to respond to Cat saying "Je t'aime mille fois" other than the single phrase she'd reminded him of, which was "Tu est beau mon petit chou". I had no idea what the language meant, but I think chou meant cabbage. I couldn't tell you for a fact though, and one life lesson that had been taught multiple times is 'don't ever trust google translate.
"Cat doesn't do gross things. She's made up of kittens, Saturdays, 20 degree weather, first kisses, and butterflies. Trust me, I cut that bitch open once to check."
"PJ, I'm right here. And that's disgusting."
"You're disgusting," PJ shot back, and quickly added "disgustingly cute."
"Now that's disgusting!" Dan shouted, a cup of ice cream threatening to topple over.
Chris sighed, exasperated, and said "stop saying disgusting it doesn't even sound like a word anymore," to which PJ responded with 10 seconds worth of "disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting" before Cat slapped him on the stomach to make him stop.
I'm glad I didn't choose different friends.
The sun had nearly disappeared over the building tops, the sky turning a deep mix of oranges, pinks, purples and blues. It was the prettiest sunset I've ever seen by a long shot.
Dan sat up, hugging his knees to his chest and pushing aside the ice creams cups. They tumbled into Chris' lap, tapping against his knees and rolling bumpily down the hill. I made a mental note to grab them later.
"Sunsets are fuckin' weird." He grinned and squinted up at the colours fading to the night sky. The stars were nowhere to be found, however. My best guess was light pollution at this point, due to the decent sized city right next to us. I wished we'd gone to the forest instead of just the hill Seacoast included in their territory. Then maybe, we would be able to see the stars, and the deafening car horns wouldn't be interrupting the serene lack of noise every 4 seconds. I'd counted.
The sky grew completely dark, the city lights burning bright and casting shadows on our faces through the trees. It looked like the Fourth of July, when the fireworks exploded and the light from them made the sky burst and got replaced with the next ones.
Dan had his eyes shut, absorbing the colours and breathing in the air like it was the last fresh breath he'd ever get. He was propped up on his elbows, legs dangling down the slope of the hill and his head upturned towards the sky.
Peaceful and calm, serene in the midst of a city that never sleeps.
Small and insignificant next to the bustling buzzing streets and speeding cars, buses engrossed in their jobs and secrets the buildings would keep until they fell to pieces.
A city huddled near other cities in a country in a continent miles away from other continents and a couple months expedition away to the moon and years' worth to the nearest star.
Nothing really matters, does it?
"There was once an invisible man who had grown tired of being unseen," he whispered airily and out of the blue, his breath twisting into smoke up towards the stars "It was not that he was actually invisible. It was that people had become used to not seeing him." Dan sat up and instead of resting on his elbows, he held himself up on the palms of his hands and tilted back at an angle, turning his head in my direction without actually looking at me and I could've sworn he was grinning maliciously with all his teeth shining white in the darkness.
"And if no one sees you, are you really there at all?"
Chris coughed and got to his feet, scratching the back of his neck and frowning. "Dan, that's like, depressing. I'm going home."
"I second that." Cat said, pulling PJ up and draping her arm around his shoulder. They waved to us as they walked down the hill and back to the dorm room, lights glittering behind them.
So it was just me and Dan again, left alone on the top of an insignificant city. He lowered himself down to his back and placed his hands carefully behind his head, closing his eyes and sighing contently.
"I followed the lights." He told the sky.
I glanced back over to him and was met with his unblinking gaze that made him look terrifyingly and absolutely insane. He wasn't smiling anymore though, which worried me. I looked back at him quizzically and he explained.
"The lights guided me home," Dan frowned as if he just realised how crazy he sounded "I felt it in my bones, like... Like a wildfire. And they took me back to you."
Plausible, I thought, deranged and hallucinatory, but plausible.
"I followed the lights," he repeated up to the stars "I followed the lights."
YOU ARE READING
Paper Hearts (Phan)
Fanfiction-NOT MINE- All credit goes to the original author, imaginary-numbers This is just a rewrite of the original story about a different ship so all I changed was (most of) the characters and the American to British stuff. I rewrote this for my best fri...
