these darkened stars {andy biersack}

chapter six

the night was cool, the far-off smell of icy rain reminding them that winter was soon to come again, waiting for the first snow to fall. they opted out of taking the truck somewhere, instead walking along the sidewalk. it was empty tonight, so the only people passing by were driving vehicles. needless to say, they were alone together; the two of them a complete oxymoron.

the air had settled and was easier after their earlier conversation on the balcony of their hotel room. it felt like dead weight lifted off of andy's shoulders, because now he knew he didn't have to talk about it until he wanted to—which would most likely be never, considering she was only a hitchhiker and he was only taking her to her destination. that was it. there were no strings attached; nothing of a relationship.

he had no plan on where they were going, just that they would walk and eventually find places to go and things to do. it was a nice night, and it was a nice enough city. he had no clue what city they were actually in, and though he could pull out his phone and look on a map, he didn't even bother with it.

the two young adults walked fairly close, almost shoulder to shoulder, both at ease. alex had a sort of skip in her step, still clad in a shirt and no bottoms. good thing it could (maybe) be pulled off as a t-shirt dress, she thought. otherwise, her cheeks would be flushed an embarrassed red for the rest of the night.

"do you have any idea where we're going?"

andy shrugged. "i might. i might not. do you have anything in mind?"

"i'm guessing you don't," she snickered, watching the scene around her. she searched for places to go, as if there was really anything to do this late at night besides go to bars and clubs.

and they were not going to either of those. she didn't feel like playing babysitter and hauling a drunk, too-tall emo kid who knew how far all the way to their hotel room and try and get him to sleep. she didn't feel like going there, ever, considering she could barely take care of herself most days.

for what seemed like an eternity, she was thrown into memories she didn't want to remember. the life she lived, the love she lost. she wasted so much time on staying in one place for one person, and now she felt like going to so many different places she didn't even know where to start.

start with tonight, she told herself, and, with a renewed skip in her step, she pulled andy towards an empty store parking lot. the adventure was just starting to really begin.

"do you need something from that store?" andy inquired as she tugged him along, not doing much besides holding his wrist and mumbling for him to walk faster.

"no, you dummy," she sighed dramatically, "we're having fun tonight, remember?"

she gestured for him to hold on to the handles of a shopping cart and awkwardly climbed in, wincing when the plastic stabbed her in the hip. once inside, she grinned maniacally and pointed towards the upwards hill that led out of the other side of the parking lot. "take me there."

when they were atop of the hill, andy looked anxiously downwards to the bottom. "i'm not really sure about this. what am i supposed to do again?"

"just push and hang on," she instructed, tipping a broken pair of sunglasses they found on the way over her eyes and held on tightly to the sides of the cart. he shrugged and started running, pushing off when they reached the edge, hopping on to the cart and holding on for dear life as they flew towards the bottom.

he didn't realize he was screaming until he was laughing, letting go of everything and living in the way the air pushed against his skin and alex whooped and hollered in front of him. they were nearly to the bottom when the wheels started to wobble and the cart gave way, sending them both flying away from it.