𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑔𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 (Stargazing)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟤

I couldn't help but smile as I looked over, seeing Abigail walking into the store. Her long black hair flowed behind her beautifully as she walked in, smiling at everyone. She didn't usually work weekdays, but since school was out for the summer, she could work more throughout the week. But even then, it was still limited.

She walked over towards me, embracing my soul tightly in her arms.

"How is your mom doing?" I asked, to which she solemnly let go of me. She kept her gaze away from my eyes as she spoke in her melodic tone.

"She's okay, she still remembers that I'm her daughter so that's good," she explained quietly. Her mother had Early Onset Alzheimer's disease. I had heard stories about the sadness of the disease, patients losing memory and the families watching as they slowly lose contact with their loved one.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"Hey, what did I tell you about saying sorry." She looked up towards me, offering a warm smile while telling me that everything was alright with her beautiful brown eyes. Quietly, her arms wrapped around me, as I felt a gentle warmness with her embrace.

"Kevin!" I heard Angela yell from the back office, causing me to shoot my head towards her demanding voice. I saw her looking out of the door frame with a joking smile, before speaking again. "You better get back to work. You guys have already spent too much time googly eyeing each other!"

There was a chuckle that swept over the store before quickly subsiding. Embarrassment flowed through our veins as we quickly let go of each other and proceeded back to our work. Running to the back, Cassey was making the sandwiches on the long, metal platform. Grabbing plastic gloves, I proceeded to assist him.

"Kevin, don't get too distracted now," Cassey said, looking over towards me with a wide grin. I smirked back at him, proceeding to drop the buns through the toaster. The shift itself was enjoyable, everyone cracking jokes and laughing through the hours. To me though, Abbys voice was the loudest. It may be because I'm biased but, it was as though she were the main actor on life's stage.

The sun had already begun hiding behind the horizon when Abby made her way to the kitchen.

"Hey Kev, can you make me a sandwich!" She stood by the toaster, watching me wrap the food within its colorful paper.

"I'm sort of busy at the moment, but you can make one," I explained, hearing a sigh from the reply.

"But I don't really want to. I don't know how to make it." I glanced over, seeing her do her best to hide her smile. I placed the sandwiches on the heating table for the service employees before walking towards the toaster.

"I can show you how to make it if you want." As she spoke, the creases of her mouth did a poor job of hiding her grin.

"No no, I can't learn," she explained as I grabbed the box of plastic gloves from the shelf that rested above the metal table. Handing it to her, she grabbed two gloves that were deeper in the box, accidentally ripping out multiple pairs of gloves.

"Abby!" I yelled as the plastic gloves fell onto the greasy floor. Upon impact, it was as though they became covered in the slimy, disgusting liquid.

"I didn't mean to! If you had just made it for me then this wouldn't have happened." Quickly, the two of us grabbed at the gloves on the floor before Cassey exited the crew room.

"Kevin! What did you two do?"

"Abigail can't grab gloves out of a box!" I called out to Cassey, causing Abby to look up towards me.

"Thats not right," she stated, turning away from me and towards Cassey. "He wouldn't make me a sandwich to eat and forced me to grab gloves." Cassey sarcastically gasped in surprise.

"Kevin! How could you do that to her?" Quickly, Abby stood up and ran to Cassey's side, looking down on me with the biggest smile on her face.

"Cassey, do you really believe that liar?" I asked humorously, causing all three of us to laugh. Cassey grabbed another pair of gloves, placing his hands through them.

"What do you want Abby?" Cassey and Abby made her food while I picked up the rest of the gloves, walking towards the sink. As I washed my hands, I turned towards the two of them, a slight grin forming across my face. Was this real life? To me, it seemed like I had everything I could want.

I had friends, a girl that cared for me deeply, a good paying job. Everything was perfect. As time went on, we went through our waves of customers with little difficulty, our laughing still erupting throughout the store. My shift was coming to an end, the hour hand getting closer to the number ten.

But there was something inside of me that just wished things could go on like this. I was standing at the front when the shift ended though, laughing and enjoying life alongside all my fellow employees. By this point, I had already clocked out but was spending a few moments with Abby before I left.

"How was your sandwich?" I asked, a smile plastered across my face. She was at the small heating pad, placing the food in brown paper bags as I stood beside her.

"It was good considering the fact that Cassey made it and not you." She began to side eye me, a wide grin plastered across her face.

"Well, that was rude."

"Says you." A chuckle fell from my lips, causing Abby to chuckle alongside me.

"Why are you still here, your shift ended ten minutes ago?" I asked, causing her to sigh.

"My ride isn't here yet, so I figured I'd stay for a little longer."

"Oh okay, you're getting that extra money huh?" I asked, nudging her arm as she laughed.

"Sure Kev, I'm getting that 'extra money' as you'd say." My smile couldn't fade around her, but it wasn't long after that she and I were walking out of the door.

"See you Saturday?" I asked, turning to face her. The lights from the streetlamps glistened in her eyes, as though they were stars in the night sky. She turned towards me, a pale white smile shattering my heart with its beauty.

"Yeah, I've already told my parents I get off at four, so we'll be good to hangout." With that, she surprised me with a warm embrace, her comforting arms wrapped around my neck. I followed, holding onto her for a long moment. With time, we slowly let go of each other and expressed our farewells. I made my way around the building and across the small divot in the road that led to the parking lot of my job.

Crossing it, I journeyed towards the old, run down building that Abby and I spent time together at during the Christmas party a few months before. I plopped down on the cold, hard concrete of the store and proceeded to look up to the dark sky, like I did several nights before. The moon was a pale white color, providing light to the darkest edges of our mortal world. It was beautiful, so beautiful that it seemed that for a split second one would fall for it, only to break back to reality. As I stared at the moon's beauty, my mind made its way to the thought of Saturday, and how I would explain to Abigail everything.

My body shook as I grinned at the thought, feeling anxious about that moment that I wanted to happen. I knew it was only natural to feel this way, but I wanted the feeling to leave me so that I would not have to fight it while talking to her. Despite all my efforts though, this feeling wouldn't let go of its firm grip on my mind and soul, and so, I was left to stare at the sky in wonder. Wonder at the thought of what she would say to my heartfelt words...