Amidst The Stars

Eyes Like The Sky

  The next morning, at exactly five minutes past eight, Vicente found Madeline at her usual spot by the bushes. She was fidgeting, running her fingers over a small length of ribbon and bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet, but slowed down a little as he approached. "Good morning."

  "Morning," he returned. The incident from the day before still nagged at the back of his mind. "I-I'm sorry, again, for what happened yesterday."

  "You apologise a lot," Madeline observed. There was no malice in her tone; it was like she was just stating the truth. "You don't have to, you know, there isn't anything to be sorry for."

  "I guess old habits die hard." If he had a dollar every time he'd apologised to someone for something completely unnecessary, he'd have enough money to buy himself a house.

  "Not everything is your fault," she continued matter-of-factly. "Don't take responsibility for things out of your control."

  "But I did have control of what I was trying to say and I shouldn't have — "

  "It's fine. It really is. Just don't dwell on it, all right?" Madeline put her ribbon into her pocket and began walking towards the school building. "Now come on, let's go."

  They stepped inside the building, where a few other students were lounging around and drinking coffees. As they walked to the lecture hall, Vicente asked, "should we go to The Cove after classes today?"

  "Mmhmm." Madeline pushed the door of the lecture hall open and stepped inside. "I only have to teach at the city hall every Monday and Thursday, so I can spend all the other afternoons with you."

  They took their seats towards the back of the hall and pulled out their notebooks, the air silent save for the sound of flipping paper. The door creaked open not long after that, welcoming a few more students.

  Vicente peeked next to him, where Madeline was flipping through her textbook. In the dim light of the lecture hall, her blue eyes looked even brighter, like tiny, shimmering sapphires. She pursed her lips as she highlighted a point in a paragraph, so tense with concentration that she resembled a hunter tracking down their prey. It had to be a special skill, how she managed to make something as uninteresting as skimming through a textbook look so beautiful.

  Loud, heavy footsteps sounded at the front of the hall, and their professor cleared her throat. Vicente jolted, realising he'd been staring at Madeline, and flushed. He busied himself with writing in his notebook and prayed that she hadn't noticed.

...

  As per Leon's recommendation, Vicente ordered a mug of hot chocolate at The Cove. A toasted marshmallow bobbed up and down in the rich, sweet drink and was slowly melting. Across the table, Madeline was pouring herself a cup of red tea, the steam rising up from her cup fogging her glasses. The chef, who apparently knew her well, had left her a handmade doily on the saucer.

  Madeline set down the porcelain teapot gently and picked up her saucer, looking right at Vicente. Her gaze seemed to pierce right through him. Those sky-blue eyes could change so quickly, from being sunny with joy to stormy with rage, or, as they were now, sharp and cutting.

  The words that left her mouth, though, were a far cry from her gaze. "Tell me more about you."

  He nearly dropped his mug. "Huh?"

  "I want to know you." Madeline lifted the teacup to her lips and drank from it, closing her eyes briefly. "We've been friends for a month now, and I still don't know much about you. I know that your brother owns a restaurant somewhere here, you're the middle child in your family and you're an amazing baker, but that's all."