The Man Who Never Speaks

11. Wish Upon A Shooting Star

"Love you to the moon and to Saturn
Passed down like folk songs
The love lasts so long."

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"FP, where are we going?" Alice chuckled as she let him lead her through the woods, the sky above her bright and the full moon shining down on them. The only sound around them were some crickets and the small branches breaking under their feet.

"Trust me." He looked behind him with a smirk, his hand tightly in hers as he searched for the spot he wanted to take her to.

The woods were a second home to him and tonight he wanted to show its beauty to Alice. He was nervous, afraid that might not be enough, when that was all he wished for it to be.

"Are you kidnapping me?" She joked, still following him behind on this mysterious trip. He refused to tell her what his plans were for this bright night. It was something special, something he wanted to surprise her with.

"Kinda, yeah. But just for tonight." He teased, until he had found the tree that he had marked with his knife when he was a teenager.

It was the sign he had made when he was fifteen, to always find the place back where he had seen it for the very first time. FP had always been protective of places that felt like his own, his safe place to escape, but since Alice was becoming part of his world he felt ready to open up step by step.

They ended up at a small hill in the woods that was a little higher than the other parts, giving them enough space to sit down and look up at the sky. It was as if the woods had created an open space in the sky just for them to admire the beautiful stars. FP smiled shyly when he stopped in his tracks to show her what he had prepared for their evening together.

"What's all this?" Alice said softly, when she looked at the blanket spread out on the ground with a basket with food next to it. He had prepared it this afternoon, before she came to spend time with him at his cabin.

"They have predicted shooting stars tonight. I wanted to watch them with you." He said shyly, his cheeks flushing a little.

Though FP hadn't been around people for a long time, he was aware of how star gazing could be seen as something cheesy and for a moment he got scared that maybe it had been a ridiculous idea. But then he lifted his head up again to look at her and could read how touched she was by something so simple, yet so meaningful.

Alice's eyes started to sparkle in the moonlight. Nobody had ever done something so beautiful for her. FP gave her a sweet smile and sat down onto the blanket to settle just right to look up at the sky.

"Being romantic isn't really my strong suit, so I hope you like it." He said softly, gesturing for her to come sit down next to him. Alice cuddled close to his side, wanting nothing more than a night like this to last forever.

"It's perfect." She said sweetly, a happy smile curling on her lips.

He looked sideways to meet her eyes and grinned even brighter when he saw how she gazed at him with such a loving expression. FP loved the stars, but if he had to choose he'd rather looked at her all night. She was brighter than every star he had ever seen.

"Here, a blanket to keep you warm." FP grabbed his bag and curled the soft fabric around their legs, making sure they wouldn't be bothered by the cold. She wrapped it tightly around her and smiled to herself that he had thought about keeping them warm and cosy.

"It's been so long since I took the time to appreciate how beautiful our sky is." Alice confessed quietly, her eyes glued to the sparkling orbs, millions of miles away from them.