two stars of the same constellation

18

After Ryan left, I decided to cook myself a good dinner. In the past two hours, I had called my parents, had a long wholesome chat, and more important, asked for mom's help with the dinner. As I followed her instruction over the video call, I listened to her unload the whole month's worth of gossip. As I said before, I was a wonderful and patient listener.

I wrap my keema and parathas into two fat rolls and head over to my balcony. I send a picture of my hard work to mom and she responds with the classic 'thumps up emoji'. Such less reward for so much effort. I open my laptop and stream all the live updates I can find about the gala. I clap enthusiastically when I recognize an artist I've met walk down the red carpet and pose for the picture. "Thank God I didn't have to go. I would've sweated nervously through it all" I say out loud stuffing the roll in my mouth munching my way to glory.

Many people come and go and the band is yet to perform. Finally, they arrive one after the other with their respective dates and take a group picture of just the boys, later on heading for their solo shots. All the boys look amazing and even though Leo shines in his mint green semi-formal outfit, I must say it, Cole, he steals the show in a 'Grease' inspired look. I smile when I realize I wasn't jealous of Leo's gorgeous date as they posed for the paparazzi on the red carpet. She looked stunning and they made an attractive pair. I could get used to this positivity.

It's around 11 pm when the band finally comes on stage and although up till now I had to fight hard to keep my eyes from shutting, I was fully awake when I see their glowing faces. They perform with all their might and the crowd goes wild. Even though the Gala was a sit-down everyone's on their feet now. I can feel the energy in the room even through my laptop screen and I finally go to sleep after texting them all a big congratulation!

I hear light banging in the background. At first, I think it's from Ryan's house again so I roll over and try to ignore it. Slowly it grows louder and I realize it was someone knocking at my door. I look hurriedly for my glasses and unlock my phone to check the time. It was past 2 am. Who could it be at this late hour? Police? No, why would I even think that?!

I think of calling Ryan and with my phone in one hand and a pan in another, head over to the door. I squint through the peephole and find someone dressed in a black hoodie with their face hardly visible. I try to wait till he leaves but when he keeps knocking, I swing the door open with my hand and almost attack him when he falls back surprised and the hoodie falls off.

Leo looks at me mortified and confused and I drag him inside worried if I hit him. I hadn't, thankfully. "Are you out of your mind? I come here bearing gifts and you attack me with all your kitchen utensils?" I snatch the box that he thrusts towards me and keep it on the kitchen counter. "You are the one dressed as a stalker or a serial killer, obviously I was scared. Couldn't you have called or texted me before when I wasn't answering the door?" I try to reason with him defending my almost insane reaction.

"My phone's battery died, dummy and I can't walk around the city as freely without the paps chasing me so I had to cover up. Or do you want me to lead them to your house so they can cook up some new gossips?"

Okay, that makes sense. I get my charger and hand it to him as a peace offering, "Okay enough, now tell me everything!" I clap my hands.

We sit for about more than an hour on the balcony as I ask him questions about the celebs like a crazy teenager but the best part is that he passes no judgment spares no details. "The boys really missed you, the show was a hit." he looks at me and I know what he's going to ask me next.

"Want some coffee?" I get up and head over to the kitchen. He follows me in and asks the exact thing I was trying to avoid. "Why didn't you come, Adira? I looked for you everywhere. I would've called you but it was a no phones allowed event; they only wanted the sponsors to stream any sort of performance. But anyway, why didn't you come?"

I try to give a smile or divert the topic somehow because how do I tell him that although I was feeling way better now, I was still a little heartbroken back then.

"I waited for you. I even searched the crowd while performing. But you didn't show up, did you?"

"I wanted to support you, all of you. But Leo think about it, what would I do without you guys? Show up alone to a place where I didn't belong? I would've been a total misfit. Trust me I would've had a horrible time and I wasn't going to rain on your parade, obviously. I know you would've been worried about me over there and I wasn't going to jeopardize your focus, the boys deserved you all to themselves tonight. You have nothing to worry about I had way more fun watching it from home. And see you are here now telling me all the stories I missed. I already feel like I was there."

"Yes, I'm here now and that reminds me..." he reaches over to grab the box he brought and passes it to me. "Open it!" I look at him with a suspicious smile and unwrap the gift. I know what it is as soon as I read the label with Fabian's name on it. "When I couldn't find you, I looked for Fabian. He was there at the gala too." I close my eyes and wince. I did not think of the fact that Fabian was probably going to the gala too. "He told me you never took the dress."

"No, are you kidding me? No. I can't take this, no. No no, it's too much I saw the price of this thing. It would've been one thing if I wore it to the gala but I can't accept this now. No way!" now whose vocabulary seems to have just one word, no?

Once he calms me down, I still don't know what to say, "You know you didn't have to do this right?"

"Gala or no gala I promised you a great dress." He leans over and kisses me on the forehead, "I'm sorry I ditched you."

I run my hand over the cream fabric, "How did you know this is the one I liked more? I definitely thought you liked the green one better."

"I saw how you saw yourself in it like you could win the world. Its simplicity resonated so well with yours, you two were meant for each other. Trust me Addy your face was literally glowing. So radiant. It was hard to take my eyes off you. The other dress, yes well you looked great in that too but this was more you. And now it's yours. And do I even have to tell you how hot you looked?" he smirks and all I want to do is kiss that damn smile. Stop!

"So do you want some coffee before leaving?" I ask him as I fold the dress back into the box and keep it in my cupboard safely. It's one of the costliest things I own and I must guard it with all my strength.

"No, I'm good I'll just leave now I guess." He unplugs his phone from the charger and his eyes follow me as I carry the coffee mugs from when Ryan came over, over to the sink. "Someone came over?" he asks.

"Yeah, just Ryan. You saw him the other day when you came over, remember?"

"Oh, the hot and caring neighbor. Are you with him?"

I look at him surprised, "What, no. We never really got the time to hang out so I invited him over for coffee today."

"You invited a guy over for coffee? At night? And you were wearing that? Don't you think you must have given him a wrong idea?" he points at my tanks top and tight old shorts that were a size too small for me now but I wore anyway.

With my hands on my hips, I give him a sarcastic stare, "I invited you too and you didn't seem to get any wrong ideas. Or did you? Or are you too afraid to act on those ideas?" I lean over to him with our faces close to each other, the kitchen counter being the only thing keeping us at a distance.

"Oh Addy, you're walking on thin ice here babe. Do you really want to do this?" He winks at me and I totally lose my cool. Unsure of what to say to him because I hadn't really thought this conversation through, I back up and clear my throat feeling embarrassed by my awkward flirting attempts.