fall back ... sapnap

nine.

the stars.

they were stupid, well that's what nick thought. it wasn't the stars themselves that were stupid, merely the thought of them that were.

they were just specks in the sky, sources of light, it was nothing special. and the thought that the stars were some beautiful thing that showed love and family and friendship was stupid.

but he didn't always think that.

"they're so cute though!" anna laughed as she handed him the pack of glow in the dark stars,

they'd taken a stop at michael's craft store so they could finish their tenth grade science project. anna had just gotten her license, and what better way to celebrate driving to a store full of paint?

"i'm not putting them in my room, anna." he laughed, though he tossed them in the cart,

anna raised her eyebrows, "then why did you put them in the cart?"

he shrugged, "for my sister."

"sure." she laughed, before turning the corner to the aisle.

anna had been struggling a lot recently, with everything happening with her dad, her gpa, and noticing that her best friend was being a little too distant to hang out with other girls, she felt stressed.

she sighed as she stared at all the different poster boards, trying to pick which one would fit their project best,

"are you okay?" nick asked her, putting his arm around her shoulder to snap her out of her trance,

"i'm okay, just tired." she smiled up at him,

"i know you are. it's gonna get better though, don't worry. i love you, you know?"

she hadn't meant that when she said the word tired, but the truth was, she was emotionally drained. and he knew. he always knew.

well he didn't know everything.

"i love you, too." she spoke.

hours later the sweet boy sat on his bed, the same feeling of staring at the ceiling, only his thoughts to sit and wander.

thoughts of how he probably needed to try harder in school, thoughts of his online life, thoughts of what he had for dinner that day. everything just left to sit in his mind, things to make him stress.

anna didn't know everything either, like the real reason he continuously was hitting on different girls, the real reason he was starting to become distant with her.

he sat up, walking over to the bag of supplies anna threw into his bedroom, and pulling out the bag of stick on stars.

he stood up on his bed, slowly putting all of the stars across his ceiling. seconds later he was back to his normal spot, staring at his ceiling, leaving himself to think.

but as he stared up at the glowing stars that now cover his room, the thoughts that usually roamed his brain were gone, and he was only was left to think about one thing,

her.

the stars were still there.

years later and they still sat on his ceiling, only now they didn't have a special meaning, they were just stars. that's all they were. stars.

but right now, as he woke up inside of his dark bedroom, he looked up at them, thinking about the girl he missed so much.

anna had the same feeling about the stars, she thought about the boys room and the pretty stars that he hung up for her. but right now the stars meant something different,