STAR STRUCK: epilogue continues (book 2)

Chapter 3

I feigned surprise and a shocked face, even going as far as placing a hand over my chest in defense. "How did you know? Did you perhaps read my mind just now? Are you an esper by any chance?" I teased. 

There was a pause, then I realize what I'd said. 

We still haven't dealt much with the magical phenomenon territory that I'm not familiar with. I know it must've struck something in Vincent when I said that. He hasn't voluntarily told me anything. I hadn't asked anything yet as well. 

Frankly, I'm still afraid to know anything. I want to, but that doesn't mean I'm not scared to know why everything happened. That would just make everything real and not like a dream as it seems to be. 

"I was thinking about how useless the car is when you use it with your sense of direction," I said, trying to bring the conversation back to where it started. I forced a laugh as I said, "You'll probably get us lost right about now. Do you even know where you're going?"

But Vincent was no longer in it as I had hoped. He looked serious, not even fazed with the teasing like usual. 

"I'm sure of it," he said without hesitation. And that was the end of joking. 

"How?" I asked. 

He gave me a short glance and a smile, just enough so we wouldn't end up hitting any tree. "I just know."

・•・✧・•・

The opposite side of town felt foreign to me as the usual arch that I knew wasn't there. This was a border that separated the rest of my everything not with a goodbye sign but with the actual sea slamming itself at the rocks of the cliffs below. 

I stared quite enticed by the splashing water as Vincent dialed on his phone for the third time. 

There was evident proof of life as a small cottage I never thought to have existed, standing in between two overgrown trees by the edge of the forest. It looked like a cozy abode. Vines crept along its walls and wildflowers curiously bloomed on its roofs in a pretty frenzy. I would have liked to live in such a place, not until I noticed there wasn't anything that connected it to a source of electricity. Just that means that I wouldn't survive in the place. There probably was no reception in the area as well so I wonder why Vincent is even trying to reach this mystery person.

It was hopeless, I was sure of it. Even if this mystery person lived here, I doubt we would ever catch him tonight. He feels like a wild game we wouldn't be able to lure with just the simple traps. I never learned how to hunt for game in the first place. 

"Let's just go back for today," I said. 

Vince looked up from his phone for a brief moment and only shook his head. "No, I'll keep trying. I'm sure he didn't go that far," he said. 

How can you be so sure?  I wanted to ask out loud but stopped myself. I felt like I wasn't in any position to doubt his words. Whoever this hooded guy was, I'm convinced he and Vincent trusted each other in ways I have no say about. 

I felt a twinge in my chest as I thought about that. It's like a pinch that throbs and squeezes some part that physical hands would not be able to reach. 

I still knew little about this guy that somehow always had the right words to say to calm me down and make everything feel okay even if they weren't. When Rigel disappeared, he was there. He didn't try to fill his gaps, rather he made a spot for his own, duly aware that I wasn't one to make replacements out of the people I cared about. 

A best friend, perhaps that was what Vince was trying to be. I think he's coming close to that. I didn't understand the meaning of having one. People older than me were the only ones who seemed to want to make that connection with me. But they were grown-ups. It was weird to call them friends out on my own terms. 

Rigel was the only other person who became close to that definition. But I don't have him here to confirm anything. 

I still didn't know what Rigel was to me. I still don't know what he was, period.

"You're overthinking about something again."

"Huh?" I asked out. 

"See, you're spaced out again and have no clue what I'm talking about," Vincent said with a slight laugh that I hope doesn't contain any kind of irritation. "Where'd your head run out off to this time?"

I stared at him for a few seconds. Vince must've sensed where this was heading because he took a sharp breath and sighed loudly. It was the worried kind of loud and I didn't like it. I heard enough of it. But I couldn't exactly stop him from feeling like that, can I?

"You're right. Let's go back. That guy must have been frolicking the woods again like he usually does. We'll just catch up on him in the morning," he said more to himself than to me. 

I nod because it was the only thing I could do. 

We sat in silence the whole way home. The road was familiar now and every tree passing by was like a person I already knew. It was faster now than when we were going along the trail the first time too. The rush was gone, replaced by this somber vibe that I didn't want but couldn't dispel either. So I waited there beside the tight-lipped Vincent who still haven't explained a lot of stuff for me, and probably wouldn't for the rest of the ride.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket before ringing loudly, jolting both of us into waking from a sleep we didn't know we were in. A figurative sleep, one that drives you in between the seams of reality and dreams, making you there but not really. 

I immediately reached out to answer the call, my heart beating loudly and thrashing in my ribcage as I tried my best to calm it down. Unfortunately, it couldn't calm down. Not with this call. 

"Hello?" I called out. My voice was lagging and soft, but it still felt deafening as I sensed Vincent sparing a glance my way. I didn't get to read the name of the caller because of the inner panic inside of me. 

Melissa's voice came like a bursting bubble, shaking my insides in a frenzy tremor. It was not at all a fun experience. 

"Help!" was all she said. What is up with people and unhelpful responses? 

The lack of significant details sent me rolling to auto mode and forced Vincent, in a rather rude way, to step on the gas as hard as he could so we could reach home at lightning speed. And there we rode like madmen into the sunset.

~~*~~

A/n: Sorry it took me this long to upload this chapter. Got so busy with finals that I didn't have the time to write the chapters I needed to write before publishing this one. 

Thanks for reading this chapter!
Now, please excuse me, I'm off to fixing the plot holes of this very story TwT.

@ao_hime