When Stars Burn

Chapter Six: Chasing Stars

A/N: Hi everyone! Happy new year! Hope 2016 is looking to be a good year for all of us. =) Anyhow, here's the newest chapter about Star. Hope you enjoy it. 

P.S. For anyone who wondered why the chapters here are a bit shorter than my usual, it's intentional. I'm trying to keep myself from getting carried away and writing a thousand-page book so I'm being mindful of word count. I'm trying to focus on the scenes that really matter.

Enjoy!

***

After a quiet and lazy Sunday that Julian and I spent at home, tossing a simple salad and watching Blade Runner which he proclaimed was his favorite movie of all time, I started my week in good spirits, the stress of the previous one nothing more but a fleeting memory.

I woke up early and made enough coffee for the both of us before heading out for a quick run just around my new neighborhood. Julian's door was still closed after I came home and had a shower. I was tempted to knock and ask him if he wanted breakfast but I reminded myself that he wasn't a morning person and that I shouldn't intrude too much on his space or his life. I made myself some egg on toast, cleaned up and went to my first class of the day.

I went straight to Uni-Save for my shift after my last class and it was late when I got home. Julian's door was closed so I headed for the kitchen to make myself a small snack. When I opened the fridge, there was a small glass container with a note propped on its lid that said:

Don't skip dinner. Pool boy duties tonight for missing practice.— J

It was actually just Kraft dinner but I nuked it and wolfed it down with a huge grin on my face, loving every gooey bit of cheese and every slice of hotdog I could find. I worked on my paper upstairs in the loft while keeping an ear to the door but I fell asleep before he could get home.

The next day was a similar story. I didn't see him in the morning and he was also out when I came back home after another shift I picked up to cover for the Sunday one I skipped. It was a small serving of chicken salad waiting for me in the fridge this time, along with pretty much the same note he left me the night before. It was a sumptuous feast for a person whose last meal was an apple strudel late in the afternoon but I had to admit that it was the recurring image of Julian Wilde in nothing but those tiny briefs that swimmers wear, cleaning the pool, that really brightened me up. Yeah, I'm not much better than the girls I criticized for their reaction to Julian. I was just as affected, apparently.

So I did a very unusual thing.

I texted Julian.

Me: Are you still pool-cleaning?

Julian: Yup. Probably here for another hour. The last person just left.

I could only think of one place in campus where he might be at. The university had two pools but the one where classes and training usually happened was in the McGarran Sports Atrium.

I didn't reply.

I changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a white tank top and the Prescott maroon and yellow hoodie before heading out. I passed a local coffee shop on my way to the bus stop and bought the largest strawberry-banana smoothie known to man. In about twenty minutes, I was strolling into the Atrium where I could hear a low whistling of some vaguely familiar song.

I was a little disappointed.

Julian was all properly dressed in a pair of gray track pants and a white shirt as he mopped under the row of benches near the pool. His dark hair was all mussed up but he still looked quite delectable. He could be wearing a garbage bag and he'd still look sexy.