To The Moon and Back

𝟑𝟖 | 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

S T A R L I G H T

The light that is granted from the stars.

T O T H E

M O O N & B A C K

I FOLLOW A few meters behind her as we walk up the street and I shake my head. She isn't mad at me. She doesn't hate me. She loves me. And I fucking love her. I don't understand the word or the meaning behind it, or maybe I do, but I know that I love her.

When she reaches her front door, she holds her hand up to me, as if saying wait. I stand still in my place as she leans forward, peering inside, then turning toward me, quick, she mouths.

Jogging toward her, she looks over at me. "He's upstairs."

I nod, understanding the routine after all this time. I walk in, she closes the door quietly. She rushes to her bedroom door; I follow closely and silently behind. She shuts me in her room, leaves to get Archie from outside, and returns with him.

It's always the same.

I sit down on the edge of her bed, lying back, my legs dangling off the side of her bed. Shortly after, I hear the faint creaking of her door as she enters again, Archie's heavy pants are heard as he happily makes his way over to his fluffy bed on the floor.

Seconds pass before Rory steps between my legs, staring down at me, I sit up, grabbing her hips with my hands. She stares down at me, her porcelain complexion somehow even paler, the tip of her nose and her ears red. Grabbing her hands, I wince at how cold she is, despite being inside with the heat on.

"You're freezing," I whisper, pressing both of her palms together, enclosing my hands around hers in an attempt to grant her some warmth.

Forcing a smile, she shrugs. "It's cold today." not that cold. "I'm gonna go have a hot shower. Won't be long," she says, leaning down before pressing a kiss to my lips, and then, like a ghost, she disappears.

I lie back down, shuffling back so that I'm in the centre of the bed. I close my eyes momentarily, enjoying the sound of rain ricocheting against the roof and just followed by the mere thought of being so far outside of the city, bringing me the littlest sense of peace.

The sound of Rory's phone going off causes me to open my eyes and I groan irritatedly, glaring at the lit screen which rests at the end of the bed where she had mindlessly tossed it before. I ignore it—considering it is her phone—and attempt to close my eyes again when it begins to ring. Annoyed, I sit up, reaching over to grab it.

Ophelia's name flashes across the screen and I press decline. The ringing stops and her name disappears and countless text messages appear across the screen, coming through quicker than I could read.

So, he can ghost you for almost a month and you run back to him like it never happened?

Aurora, I know you're with him but have some self-respect, will you?

Atlas is bad news. You should hear some of the things that Orion has told me.

I roll my eyes. Like Rion is some fucking saint. At least I never claimed to be.

I place her phone on the nightstand before lying back down.

My mind begins to wander. Are she and Ophelia friends again? Did they ever stop being friends? What has happened since I stopped seeing her? She doesn't seem—she doesn't look like herself. She just expressed her love for me but even still, she somehow feels so distant.