𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 & 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦, 𝐦. 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

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"i love the stars," hope said in a breathless tone as she lifted her head to stare at the constellations above her.

her actions resulted in the others raising their heads too. for some strange reason, it was 3am and they had all decided to sit outside and have a picnic in the early hours of the morning. their snacks were sprawled out across a black fluffy blanket and there were pillows scattered all over the place.

"i forget they exist sometimes," chris replied, still staring at the sight above him as though he was seeing stars for the first time in his life.

his words caused some laughter to bubble up around the group and he found himself laughing a little too at the hilarity of his own words.

it amazed hope how anyone could forget about something so mesmerising. hope loved the stars; even when she was younger, she would often find herself clambering out of her window and sitting on the roof while looking at the stars. it was a little activity that eased her mind and never failed to make her feel better. her parents had found her many times and warned her about how dangerous it was to do such a thing, but she couldn't stop. the way they shined and some even shot past made her feel fuzzy around the edges. it was like this beautiful community of something natural that she had no choice but to be drawn to entirely.

with merely a little light being provided from the moon and the stars, matt struggled to make out hope's expression. he didn't really have to look though; he was more than positive she had that away look in her eyes and a huge smile plastered on her face. she was most likely twisting some jewellery or the other and sitting with her legs crossed.

the thing was though, he wasn't sure if she still did those things all the time. he knew her like the back of his hand but time had passed between his knowledge and he wasn't entirely sure he knew her the way he really should or once did. some things never changed though; she still wore that clasp her mum had given her for her birthday many years back and she still spoke so passionately about the things she loved. he wanted to know everything about her, whether it was small or big, whether she contemplated if it mattered enough or not. he wanted to know it all.

"i'm going to the toilet," nick yawned after a few minutes of eyes meeting the stars.

"don't die," matt laughed when nick flipped him off.

"now that you say that, i need to go too!" chris groaned in frustration.

"you are such a child christopher," hope shook her head with a chuckle.

"shut up you, hope- hope," he stuttered.

"my name is hope chris, thank you for that fantastic observation," hope laughed when he couldn't counter her words correctly.

matt turned to look at her slowly. how was it that even her laugh was one of the most beautiful he had ever encountered? after a few seconds, he shifted his focus to watch chris kick hope jokingly and then walk away, trailing after nick.

there weren't many moments like this, where they were alone and with each other. sure, they'd split off into conversation of their own multiple times but it was always different when it was just the two of them.

hope shifted closer to matt who inhaled a little too intensely before he managed to relax.

"do you like the stars?" she asked him as her eyes travelled to the sky yet again.

"i love them, they're beautiful," he mumbled back but his gaze was solely on her.

the stars were beautiful but not even an entire galaxy could compare to how utterly stunning the girl beside him was. there was nothing he thought was above her and even months later, the simple sight of her made his breath hitch and his heart flutter in all types of variants.