"Stars do not actually twinkle. As the light of a star travels to us, the Earth's atmosphere disrupts the light's path making the star appear as if it is twinkling." Lia commented as we stargazed and examined each scintillate of light.
"Oh, is that so?" I answered while extending my arm to almost 'grab' them.
"Are you trying to touch the stars, Ryu? I don't think that's possible." Lia cheekily laughed at my action.
"I know, but sometimes they feel so close that you can almost touch them." I said as my fingers traced across the blanket we laid to Lia's hand, gently holding it.
"I'm really glad we found time to do this. I really missed it." I heard the sincerity in her voice, that hid some of her sadness.
"Me too, it's been hard recently for the both of us."
Mine and Lia's first meeting dated back to the time we were little toddlers. We had bumped into each other at the park and something just sparked between us. We immediately became best friends since then - though there was a point we grew further apart. Our first realization of us growing apart occurred during the second year of high school, where everything started growing more stressful and it was hard finding time for ourselves, let alone each other. Like always, we acknowledged the distance and laughed it off. However, it slowly started growing to the point it became painful.
As a way to cope with this pain, Lia started dating. She dated this one guy called Mark during our third year in high school, and let's just say it didn't end all that well. Don't get the wrong image; Lia wasn't a 'player' or anything of that sort. She has actually always been very diligent and has always been extremely kind. She has one of the biggest hearts.
The cause of their breakup wasn't actually them, it was actually me. During their dating, I realized the only thing more painful that not being with Lia was seeing Lia with someone else. I suddenly felt like I was inferior to everyone around her and that... honestly just hurt me to the point I wanted to separate myself from everyone.
This was when the lowest part of our friendship started. It was a constant spiral of us avoiding each other, us hesitating to talk to each other and us just accepting that maybe this was our limit.
"But that's the end of that now, Ryu. I won't break my promise this time. I won't leave you like that ever again."
"I know you won't Lia, I've always trusted you more than myself. It's just kind of funny we could have avoided all of this mess if we were just honest."
"I know Ryu, but what can we say? We're both a mess." She chuckled.
"Agreed." I said as I turned to my side to see her side-profile. I propped my head using my hand.
The turning point of all of this mess was when we realized that we were just bottling up the obvious truth that the only feelings we were betraying were our own. I realized that just because Lia dated this one guy, it didn't mean she liked him. Later on, she told me that the only reason she dated him was to test whether her feelings were true... her feelings for me.
Before you say Lia was evil for 'using' Mark like that, I'll just say that Mark was one of the popular guys at school and pretty much had a different girlfriend every few weeks. To him, Lia meant nothing. But to me? Lia is everything. That's when I realized that whatever feelings I thought I had towards Lia were actually real. We both just lied to ourself.
Then came the confession, which, I can now say confidently, went really well.
"I'm so sorry for everything Lia."
"For what Ryu?"
"For letting all of this happen. My fear of losing you only led to us growing us apart so much. I know it's changed now, but knowing we wasted so much time." I felt my cheeks getting wet with all my salty tears.
"Don't say that Ryujin. I did the same, but let's be glad we're here now." Lia said as she moved closer to me.
"Well on that note, do you have another star fact?" I laughed, wiping my tears.
"The brightest stars are almost impossible to see, even in the darkest nights." She said.
"Well, that's not true." I stated.
"What do you mean?"
"It's not true because the brightest, most beautiful star in the universe is right in front of me."
Inspired by Always be your star by LIA
HEY GUYS! Any recommendation for ffs? Just let me know!
