Once Bitten, Twice Shy

11

That night Cathy was making her way to her room. Everyone else was asleep and the house was silent, as Cathy had stayed up for a few hours to write for a while. She shut off all the lights, walking into her bedroom and started getting ready for bed. Her window looked out onto the garden, and she spotted a figure on the lawn, buried under a bundle of blankets.

Anne often found herself outside late at night. On days when she couldn't sleep, and didn't want to bother Kat, she would find comfort in the world around her, take in the natural beauty, without all the buildings and people and vehicles to ruin it.

"Can't sleep either?" Cathy laughed as Anne reacted the same she herself had a couple of nights ago. "We need to stop meeting like this." She sat down beside the girl, pulling the sleeves of her jumper down to cover her hands. Anne saw the shiver and threw the other side of the blanket over her back.

"What are you doing out here it's November?"

"Could ask you the same thing" Anne challenged, a grin playing on her lips.

"Well I saw you through my window and, being the nosey bitch that I am came down to see what you were up to." Anne chuckled at her answer and scooted closer, pulling the blanket tighter around them.

"Nice to know that you look at me through your window"

"At least I'm not looking at you through your window." Anne laughed and lightly slapped her arm. "So come on. Why you down here?" Cathy nudged her.

"It's peaceful." She shrugged. Cathy sensed there was a reason behind her that statement, but decided not to push the girl too far.

"How about you?" Anne turned to Parr.  "Up all night writing again?"

"It's only eleven" she laughed. "And I'll have you know I was just on my way to bed, if it wasn't for someone's distraction."

"Ah, now I'm a distraction am I? Your pulling out all the stops tonight aren't you" She cheekily smirked. "But in future I'm gonna expect some better pick up lines than those."

Cathy gasped dramatically. "Who knew Anne Boleyn would be such a flirt." She teased. This time it was Anne's turn to give her a nudge. She smiled fondly and faced back to the sky, lost in the sea of sparkling dots above her.

"Do you know any constellations?" Cathy asked, noticing the girl's fascination with the stars. She reclined onto her back, Anne following.

"A few" She wriggled about a bit and made herself comfy. "When's your birthday?"

"August"

Anne took her hand and pointed it to the left, tracing out a shape with her finger. "That's the Leo constellation, it's supposed to represent a lion. It means your vivacious, theatrical and passionate" She said in an over dramatic tone.

"I'm guessing you don't believe in the horoscopes?" Cathy laughed, tilting her head to face Anne.

"Well I definitely don't believe in yours." She chuckled. "Your supposed to love attention, 'bask in the spotlight' but you don't seem the type." Anne also turned her head, looking into Parr's eyes and smiling softly. "Too modest."

"Now look who's dishing out the compliments." The writer smirked. "so what's yours?"

Anne faced back to the stars, Cathy keeping her eyes trained on her face. She looked so at peace here. "I'm a Gemini. Your can't see it this time in the year, but it looks like this" She repeated the motion of drawing the shape with her finger, tracing what looked like two people holding hands. "You start to see it again around January."

"Well then Miss Boleyn, I will be expecting another lesson in two months." They both smiled and fell into a comfortable silence,  huddled up under the stars as the night carried on. Cathy noticed the full moon in the centre of the sky, becoming entranced in the soft glow. Around it lay millions of little stars, scattered around the night like spattered paint on a canvas. They didn't know how long they'd been out there until Anne pulled out her phone.

"Right it's 1am, and time for you to get some sleep; no more writing until all hours of the morning." Cathy huffed, internally warmed by her friend's caring nature, as Anne rose from the grass and pulled her up with her. They made their way back across the garden, taking much longer than needed due to Boleyn tripping over a buried root every few steps in the low light. They made it to their rooms, thankfully keeping quiet enough not to wake up everyone in the house, and said goodnight, each of them feeling much more willing to give into the exhaustion after their little chat. However, once Cathy returned to her silent bedroom, there was nothing distracting her from her thoughts, the same question kept coming back to her and it was driving her mad. She had seen such a change in Anne in only one day, the quiet, anxious girl suddenly became an outspoken troublemaker, and she couldn't think why she had been the one to see it, out of everyone.