dreary daydreams

prologue

AFTER
January 1, 2016
----

Even combined, the sun, and the moon, and the stars couldn't shine as bright as the boy who lay beside her. He was the brightest supernova the galaxies had seen yet, his explosion so candescent her world was blinded by his light.

But as the night waned his light slowly began to fade, and she watches him with a growing sense of dread.

"Ted?" She exhales, his name a frosty white cloud of anguish beneath a dark Indiana sky.

His familiar arms wrap themselves around her waist, hugging her cold body into every curve of his. She balls his tee shirt in her tiny little fists and looks up at a cloudy sky, trying so hard to restrain the ache that wells up inside her chest.

God, the way she feels in his arms. It was like coming home each and every time she stepped into them.

"Hm?"

"I'm going to miss you."

He sighs at this, his lips nestled among the hairs on the top of her head.

"I don't want to let you go."

"It's for the best," she says, a twisted smile settling on her lips.

He doesn't smile back, but instead drops his gaze from her warm eyes to her cherry red lips, ignoring the sound of his heartbeat against his ears.

His hands crawl up from her waist, up-up-up until they cradle her head in his hands. Her heart began to do that thing again, lub-lub, lub-lub, lub-lub, beating faster and faster with his every touch. She grasps on to the feeling of his love, because she knows it won't be lasting much longer.

He licks his lips- once, twice - before he pulls her face to his, and smashes his lips to hers.

She smiles against him, her entire being melting beneath his touch. The warmth of his palms and the beating of her heart and his sweet lips sent her world spinning out of control. Her mind begins to fog, but the thought of him shines through it all.

He smiles against her lips and leans back a bit, just far enough to become lost in her dark brown eyes. She looks up to him and smiles back, trying to quiet the thick and heavy sound of her labored breaths, though failing miserably.

He laughs at this, pushing himself off the cold bed of his dented truck. He hops onto the wild grasses beneath him, and thrusts his hand out for her.

She wraps her fingers around his and sat upright, noticeably shivering-- even though she was wearing her Dad's old college hoodie. She slips off the truck.

He sighs as he watches her, because oh hell, if she just wasn't the most beautiful thing in this damned world.

They said nothing as they trudged through the mucky soil; both were hurrying to seek shelter from the crisp winds inside the warmth of his truck. She opens the passenger door with a grunt and steps inside, but since the shredded upholstery seats refused to budge, they were left to climb over the front seats to get to the back ones.

"Ladies first." He said from behind, the glint of mischief in his liquid blue eyes brighter than before.

Because of the cold, she sniffled in response. And tugging up her jeans, she steps onto the passenger seat, marking it with a large muddy shoe-print. She swings both legs over the chair and grumbles,

"Since when were you ever a gentleman?"

Clementine situated herself comfortably in the back-seat and bends down to untie her muddy sneakers, listening to the sound of the car door close and a throaty laugh. She tosses her shoes to the other end of the backseat and hugs her legs to her chest.