I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

It was around eleven p.m., we were in the market and I had already lost Natalie three times.

She kept wandering off, I have no idea what had her so curious. I found her twice in the candy section and once in the winery, I felt like a parent trying to find her. I was sure she was starting to do it on purpose.

Natalie was extra playful today, but she was moving slower than usual. That was because a certain someone had her dick inside her only twenty four hours ago, I really didn't hold back at all and probably fucking her twice in the same day wasn't exactly a good idea.

She could barely walk without wincing, she looked funny when she moved and I did my best not to laugh only because she scolded me if I did.

We had a small argument before coming here because I wanted to make us a proper dinner. Since she didn't want to eat, her excuse was that she was too tired and going out was dangerous... well, I guess she was enjoying her time in the supermarket more than she was willing to admit.

We were in a small store that was open 24/7 and had all the necessary things. The place was empty given the time and the cashiers kept giving us weird looks, probably because of the amount of time I spent searching for Natalie.

I wasn't a great cook, I had been living on frozen leftovers for the past two years of my life and the only thing I actually knew how to cook was lasagna. Natalie said she'd never tried it before, which was why I saw this as the perfect opportunity.

Plus, I'd get to spend more time with Natalie, like a mini date. Not that I hadn't been spending time with her already, in fact, we had been the closest ever. But, in other circumstances, I would've wanted to ask her out for dinner.

I had been overthinking the idea of leaving the house, I didn't want to risk our lives now that we knew Niall was targeting us, but I knew Natalie was armed and so was I.

Speaking of which, Jackson called me to let me know Niall was missing. He first asked me how I was handling my father's death and I nearly dropped dead right there, I had forgotten about that small detail.

I had to play it off, I told him I was 'emotionally destroyed' and all that shit, and I guess he bought it. There was an awkward silence before he launched the bomb, mostly to ask me if I knew what had happened to him.

Of course I couldn't tell him Niall was the boss of a creepy-ass organization of killers that was currently trying to steal a million-dollar-worth diamond, and that he had been tricking us all along by getting into the FBI as an asset, so I decided to act dumb and get Jackson off my dick as soon as possible.

I'm sure he noticed how weird I was acting though, I really didn't even try to be nice, but my brain was fried with an overload of emotions and I just needed some time to rest my mind.

Niall was my friend. Not my friend, but something akin. He betrayed me so fucking harshly that I wanted to kill him as soon as we crossed paths again, and I knew perfectly Natalie was feeling something similar.

I had been thinking about Natalie a lot too, which was really no news at all. But she seemed to have occupied every available surface in my brain now and I just couldn't shrug it off like I used to. She was there 24/7.

I loved the way we worked together. We trusted each other and that feeling of euphoria that I felt when I was around her was something I tried to dream with every night.

There was a song playing quietly in the market, filling the silence. Natalie was annoying me, poking my cheek every now and then just because. She was so restless today, I knew she hadn't slept much last night but god fucking help me, her stamina was impressive.

"Are we done already?" She huffed.

"No. Chill, we're still missing some stuff," I said, placing two onions in the bag.

"Can I at least buy vodka?" She rolled her eyes, sounding like a little kid.

"If you get me drunk tonight, I'm gonna kill you," I folded my lips, watching as she smiled and sprinted towards the drink section.

I felt like a grandma, carrying around my floral-print bag to buy the ingredients for a lasagna. I really hoped tonight went well.

I wasn't exactly thinking about the sex, I didn't even care if we ended up fucking or not, I just wanted to have some alone time with my girlfriend. We had been spending our last few days like king and queen and I really didn't want that to be ruined.

For some reason, Alex and Alissa were making sure to stay out of our way. They wouldn't come down as much and they kept the door always closed. Now that I think about it, they were probably just fucking.

If I it hadn't been for the breakdown I had mid-sex yesterday and the fact there were a bunch of killers after us, I'd say things were running smoothly. Natalie and I were having the time of our lives and barely anything could annoy us.

I was too deeply immersed in my head by the time Natalie came back, carrying two bottles of Absolut. She caught my attention by poking my dimple and I would've swatted her hand away if she hadn't looked so cute.

"Hey, Nat, I've been thinking," I called out, keeping my eyes over the different brands of tomato sauce.

"Good to know you do," Natalie deadpanned, peeking over my shoulder.

"Very funny, but I'm serious," I turned around, placing my hands on each of her hips and pulling her closer to me.

"Okay, now I'm scared, tell me." She grimaced.

Someone was talkative today.

"What, uh, happened with your parents? They were really worried about you and now there's no ongoing case... shouldn't you, you know, ring them or something?" I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly.

I wasn't trying to be intrusive, but Natalie's parents had occupied my mind the past few days too. I couldn't imagine how they were feeling, the FBI wasn't giving them any news about their missing daughter and, if they had, then they already knew Natalie Perkins was a killer.

Her body tensed under my hands and I suddenly regretted asking. I never asked this type of questions before because I was too scared for her reaction, I knew this was a sensitive topic for her which was why I avoided calling it out.

Until now.

"Uh, they're just... chilling," She stuttered, looking away. "I'd call them, but I think it's better if they think I'm dead."

Her comment pained me in the chest. I had no clue who was more affected by the situation, her or her parents, but it was complicated either way. Doing this to them was cruel, but I knew she cared about them. Which was why I was bringing this up.

"They're not gonna give up, sunshine," I pushed my lips to the side, spreading my legs to level her eyes. "Parents don't give up on their children, they'll look for you till they find out who you truly are."

Her body leaned a bit backwards, as though I had slapped her across the face. I guess she just hadn't thought about the possibility of her parents digging deeper, but they were adults and they weren't naive, they'd know something was up.

"I know this is none of my business, but I think it's worse if your parents find out about who you are. It'll wreck them," I said truthfully.

I knew maybe this was only fueling her overthinking and insecurities, but she couldn't expect all of her plans to turn out good. This time, she hadn't thought about all of the possibilities and there was a small chance this was backfiring.

"What should I do?" She shrugged, looking down at my chest.

It surprised me how quick she gave up, she was a very stubborn person. But I guess she knew I was right, she couldn't hurt her parents when all they had done was love and care for her.

"Call them," I suggested immediately. "You don't have to tell them who or where you are, just call. Tell them you're fine, that you'll be out of town for some time but you'll visit as soon as possible."

The look behind Natalie's eyes added to the blush on her cheeks told me she was about to say something not exactly good. I had a feeling I had kinda ruined her happy mood and I felt terrible for it, but we couldn't just sugarcoat our situation because it was pointless, trouble would come eventually and I had the feeling it was starting to show up.

"But I don't know if I'll ever see them again," She whispered.

I felt a pang on my chest as soon as the words were out of her mouth, mostly because I had no idea what she meant. Maybe she didn't want to see them or she just couldn't, but the last option that popped in my mind was the worst thing I could've ever thought about:

Maybe she thought she wasn't going to make it out alive.

It physically hurt me to think about something remotely bad happening to her, I had already lost my shit when she had the concussion and I'd probably kill myself if she died. I couldn't bear living without her.

"Don't say that." I frowned, shaking my head and smoothing my hands up and down her shoulders.

Her honesty had me frozen in my tracks. I really had no idea what to answer, my feelings couldn't be put into words. The mere thought of losing her made me sick to the stomach, it just hurt.

I cleared my throat, standing straight, "Look, you'll be just fine. We'll go back home, you'll call them and tell them you'll see them soon because you will, yeah?"

I could see she was biting the inside of her cheek, but I didn't want to hear what she had to say. She was going to be just fine, we both would be just fine and we'd go back home soon. Hopefully.

"Now c'mon, we have some lasagna to cook," I broke out a smile, winking at her before I started crying in the middle of a public supermarket.

Natalie stayed still for a second as I turned once more, grabbing a small package of tomato sauce and tossing it into the bag. She was quick to catch up with me, eyeing the contents of the bag suspiciously.

"You know, they're not my real parents." She shrugged.

I froze in my tracks, so caught off guard that I nearly dropped everything, "What?"

"Yeah. I'm adopted." Natalie folded her lips into her mouth, nodding her head.

She didn't look phased at all about it, she just threw the fact at me. To be honest, I don't know why I was so surprised, but it just didn't fit. I would've never expected the Natalie Perkins to be an orphan or whatever the fuck.

"Care to elaborate?" I cleared my throat as Natalie and I continued to stroll down the corridors.

"Uh, well... I was born with two shit-eating idiots in the place of my parents and they decided to drop me off at a foster house when I was like five. Mom and dad adopted me then." She summarized.

"Do you have any siblings?" I said, grabbing some garlic.

"Funny story, actually. I had a twin brother, but he died at birth. Guess I'm a lucky motherfucker about that," Natalie pinched her bottom lip in between her thumb and index finger. "And my adoptive parents... I think they had three miscarriages before they adopted me."

I nearly choked on my own saliva when I heard her talking, she sounded so nonchalant about it. I knew how horrible miscarriages were, my mom had suffered one when I was ten and she didn't stop crying for a week or so.

So basically, she lost all of her siblings without even getting to know them... fuck, that was awful. I thanked god that Mr. and Mrs. Perkins had adopted her, I couldn't imagine what a foster house must be like.

"Are you being serious?" I frowned, looking her deeply in the eyes.

"Would never joke about stuff like this," She raised her eyebrows, giving me a warning look.

"Shit." I blurted out, looking down for a second because this was all too much to process. "And, uh, what... music do you like to listen to?"

The way she spoke about her dead brothers and sisters proved to me she didn't really care enough about it, but it was starting to make me sad so I decided to change the subject even though I knew I sounded really stupid.

"Hmm, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles, Louis Armstrong..." She shrugged her shoulders. "I really like jazz and classical music."

"Really? You give off Metallica vibes." I snorted, smirking a bit.

"Metallica is the most annoying thing I've heard in my entire fucking life," Natalie giggled, rolling her eyes again.

"Agreed." I nodded. "Have you ever heard of Fleetwood Mac?"

"Yeah. I'm a big fan actually." She tilted the corners of her lips down as we made our way to pay our things.

"Really? Favourite song?" I motioned with my head, testing a bit.

"Probably... Sisters Of The Moon. I haven't listened to them in a while though. To any music in general actually."

Interesting choice.

The cashier was a young girl, around her twenties, I supposed. Her hair was red and draped down to her lower back. She had child-like features, puffy cheeks and thin lips. Her eyes were on me as I started taking the things out of the bag to charge them, but she surprised me when she spoke up.

"Hey." She smiled widely, and I raised my head only to notice she was talking to me.

Her voice was really fucking high-pitched, I was seriously starting to doubt her age. I was about to answer back when Natalie cut me off, going straight for it.

"Fuck off." She glared at her.

I bursted into a fit of laughter before I could stop myself, Natalie was so blunt when she wanted to. Her jealousy was so cute, the poor girl didn't even have time to erase her smile before she was full-blown attacked.

"C'mere," I rolled my eyes at Natalie, grasping her hips to pull her in for a quick peck.

I had no idea she could get jealous this quickly, she didn't even hesitate in cutting the poor girl off from the stem and I didn't know whether to call it cute or hot. Maybe both would work.

The girl behind the counter looked scared, so she scanned our stuff as quick as she could and we paid the bill. There was a security guard looking at us suspiciously as we made our way back to the car.

The sky was really fucking starry and I looked down at Natalie only to catch her staring above in awe. I could see the tiny white dots reflected on her pupils and she looked so cute it was messing with me.

"You look like the cute sparkly emoji right now and I don't know how to feel about it." I commented, watching as her head snapped in my direction with a mischievous smirk.

"Cute and sparky? Doesn't seem to fit me." Natalie formed her lips into a line, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh, trust me, it fits you very well." I smiled wider and she rolled her eyes at me, swatting my arm and opening the passenger seat of our car to jump right in.

There was a huge-ass universe right through the front glass of the car, I could see every single star and I knew Natalie was as mesmerized as I was. I knew that if I focused enough, I'd see shooting stars.

It was funny how, somehow, we always ended up where everything began: under a sky full of stars, with the moon big and wide watching down on us and the intense feeling of love threatening to slip my tongue.

I hopped into the driver's seat together with Natalie. The interior of the car was chilly, I turned on the engine and the radio started playing loudly.

"Wait, don't turn it off!" Natalie yelped, scaring the shit out of me. "It's my song!"

The speakers were blasting Chasing Cars, this song gave me such a fucking nostalgia. I used to listen to this song with my sister when it first came out, back when I was around twelve or thirteen. We loved it.

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

Natalie sang rather playfully, swaying her hands and her body to the beat of the guitar. She wasn't a bad singer, not professional but definitely cute.

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

I just looked at her, examining her moves and the way she was claiming to be tough and hard while she was singing and dancing to a very romantic song like the big softie she actually was.

It wasn't long till I joined in, swaying dramatically to the beat of the song. It was quite a romantic scene actually, dancing and singing together in a car at midnight with a whole-ass galaxy in front of us.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

The lyrics really reminded me of Natalie in a way. I always imagined us just laying together and forgetting everything, not giving three flying fucks about who was waiting for us on the other side of the door. We needed nobody, just each other.

The next part of the song was beautiful to me. The lyrics literally put my feelings into words and I had no idea how someone had managed to write something like this, something so simple yet so full of sensations.

I looked at her side profile, watching the big smile on her face. I hoped she'd be able to read me, I wanted her to know that I loved her and when was a better moment than right now?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

She sang them right back, but I was sure she didn't understand what I really meant. So I let go of all ties and decided to enjoy this moment while it lasted, pretending as if my love for her was eternal.

Something about the whole scenario was making my heart flutter, she was just singing nonchalantly to the song and I had never seen her so unconcerned, so free. The stars and the moon were nothing next to her, but she shone brighter than all of them together.

"A shooting star." She smiled, looking through the glass.

I was quick to glance my head in the direction she was pointing at, catching the faint glimpse of a trail of stardust that a shooting star had left behind. I wished for things to stay like this forever and I hoped someone out there heard me.

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

"You're my little shooting star," Natalie whispered suddenly, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on my temple. "I wish for you."

Say it, you dumbass, tell her you love her.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know how deeply in love I was, but I couldn't. I was starting to get annoyed at myself for not letting me just say it, I was afraid that afterwards would be too late.

I had to wait for the right time, but this felt like it. I was listening to the song that felt like an entrance into my mind with a galaxy in front of me and the only galaxy I'd ever need right next to me... what was better than this?

And the words were there, in the tip of my tongue... I love you. I knew she wouldn't wait for eternity, say it, fucking say it!

But instead, I brushed my knuckles against her cheekbone and whispered, "Let's go home, my little shooting star."