❝𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜
𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘
𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞. ❞

Walking up to him in slow deliberate steps, as my combat boots crunched the small rocks beneath my feet, I was met with a familiar face. It was Augustus.

"Auggie!" I exclaimed aloud.

His head whipped to his right, where I was standing and just blinked up at me. He didn't say anything but to say the least he looked shocked. His eyes were widened as if a deer was caught in headlights.

When he didn't answer, I crouched down beside him laying a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, are you alright?"

He looked away from me as I settled onto the surface dangling my legs in the open space.

"I'm fine," he replied swinging his legs in an alternate rhythm.

"Why did Madi call you?" I asked not looking at him but at the slowly setting sun.

The sky was filled with tinges of pink, purple and orange. It was a really weird combination to think of but now it looked surreal.

Ethereal,
beautiful,
other-worldly.

I noticed him staring at me intently, his expression was one of curiosity or judging my atrocity. I couldn't tell properly I was just guessing.

Obviously, I can't poke my head into his mind, right?

Did I just make a lame joke in my mind? Wait, that wasn't even a joke to start off with.

"Who's Mad-eye? You don't mean the fictional character, do you?" he asked as if he's asking a child with soothing calm voice that was very unlike him. He tended to have a very jovial, loud strident voice.

"Umm... that's the inside joke, isn't it? And no I'm not talking about Mad-eye Moody."

When he just continued to look at me incredulously I sighed before answering, "The managing director. The first two letters of the two words. Ma-Di"

He just gave a little smile. He was different now for some reason I think there must be a reason why he is so unlike himself.

"Hey, Are you really alright? Look it may be only 20 days since we've known each other but I think I can listen to anything you say. I may not be capable to give a good suggestion but I can sit right here and listen. And I swear that I'll show my confidentiality."

"You know about the incapability part, you are right, you pea-brained human," he said in a humorous tone with a smirk adorning the side of his lips. A dimple had surfaced itself and started deepening as I laughed along with him.

He always says that it's weird that I laugh when someone insults me. I try to tell him I do so only if that someone is a really close friend of mine but in the end, he just believes whatever floats his boat.

As we laughed along, I couldn't but feel happy, that I might've lightened up his mood.

'There's my Augustus.' I thought tilting my head and observing the way his dimples complimented the twinkling, dark irises of his eyes.

Nonetheless, he's the usual dumb arse who'd miss the important part of my little speech and hold onto the most insignificant sentence.

"You know I like to think of myself as a walking human diary," I professed quietly.

As we were dangling our feet in the open air where there was nothing except the deep abyss of the cerulean ocean that seemed to reflect the sky with a few tinges of orange at the far end.

"You do realise that when we go back home tomorrow, there will never come a time again when we can experience this. In our busy lives, our minds are occupied with the most pointless worries that won't matter in ten years of time from now on. We will never experience this, this solitude, comfort, the freedom of watching the sunset, the sound of ocean waves crashing," he said all while looking at the dark sky with numerous stars.

He's right, I've never actually in my whole, seventeen years of living watched a whole sunset. From the very start to the very end till the twinkling stars bloom.

"What made you become so philosophical?"

Why are my questions always unanswered?

"What's your name? Full name," he asked looking at me. He seemed to blend in with the surroundings, the black solid cliff rock beneath us, the twilight sky.

"What is this 21 questions, if it is then we gotta' forget that we are friends, "I said jokingly.

He barked out a laugh saying, "Nah I personally hate it too. It's overrated and I like to know people with my own interest not because we agreed to play a game."

"Zoe Lunette"

"No middle name?" he asked tilting his head with narrowed eyes.

"Zoelle Nyx Lunette"
"What is your middle name again?" His face morphed into one that of confusion. Frown lines appeared on his skin as he stared looking baffled.

"Nyx is the Greek Goddess of Night. My last name is Lunette, right? I think it's supposed to mean 'Moon'. So my parents thought that giving me and my brother a middle name related to night would be nice." I said reciting the story my mom told me when I came home crying after my elementary school teacher made fun of it, saying that I was an 'evil' child.

To say that she was furious would be an understatement. She was beyond livid as she stormed into the principals office yelling her guts out. Nonetheless, Ms.Parkers found herself out of the school faster than she could say elementary.

We talked a while about the most random things ever but it was beautiful.

We talked about stars, the creation of the universe, myths and legends of any sort.

"Look there's the Ursa Major," he said pointing up at the sky.

I scooted closer to look where he was pointing from his perspective, his angle. I heard him take a deep breath, so I moved away unwilling to make him uncomfortable.

"Dumb arse, I can't see it"
He pulled me up with him as he got up. As I was dusting myself, he pointed up at the stars again and said, "You are the dumb arse here. Look there's, the Ursa Major. If you notice the pattern, you can picture a 'cup' and 'long handle'."

"Umm no. I still can't," I said dumbfounded.

"How can you not find it? Even the most novice stargazer is familiar with the 'cup' and 'long handle'.", he said before moving behind me, with my back to his chest. He took ahold of my hand and pointed it up again.

Our close proximity was enough to make things fuzzy in my mind. I never particularly like skin to skin contact as I am a very ticklish person, but with him, it seemed to be more heightened than ever.

He was muttering something about following the motion of my hand and finally after the third time or so, I was able to locate it.

Oh! Holy God of Stars and Stargazers, thank you!

"The handle is actually the head and neck of the 'Great Bear' Ursa Major. The 'cup' is actually part of the bear's chest and his 'front legs' extend from the cup's bottom right corner."

"You mean the box-like thing is the chest of a bear and the
rod-like things are the legs?", I said bewildered thinking about the person, who found a group of scattered stars similar to a bear.

"It looks more like a Stork, doesn't it?" I asked peering up at him.

"You have to be a true stargazer to understand the beauty of stars and the stories they hold and are told"

I turned around to face him still in his arms. I stared at him as he continued to look at the stars with adoration. He averted his twinkling eyes back to me with his hair falling over his forehead.

His Adam's Apple bobbed as I asked him, "Who are you and What have you done to Augustus?"

This might be a kinky thing to say
But I like guys with like a prominent Adam's apple.
Don't judge me y'all.
Anyways, what do you think of the story
So far?
Thanks for reading. ❤️