"Tell me Ishika, who were you?"
"Huh?"
Everything was awash with the reddish, orange hue from the sunset and Lia couldn't help herself from asking such a silly question.
"Who were you, before they broke your heart?"
Ishika had her eyes closed and had a small smile on her lips as the colors in the sky dimmed to a pale violet. Lia took her camera, adjusted the shutter and snap! Ishika's laugh echoed out into the night wind, wrapping them.
"I was... I was..."
"Hmmmm?"
"I don't know who I was Lia. When you're young and innocent and happy... it's hard to know who you really are. Not after everyone has left their mark on you, that you'll realize how... how beautiful you were and how much more beautiful you can be." Ishika's voice broke and she looked at her, eyes filled with unshed tears. "You were taking pictures of me again... I always look ugly in them."
Lia doesn't answer instead she brings the camera closer and takes another shot.
"Never."
"Stop lying."
"I'm not, you look best when it's ... when you're unguarded."
"Unguarded?"
Ishika took a deep breath and looked up into the sky, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
"What makes you think I'm guarded?"
Lia does the same and tries to count the number of stars in the sky, leaving them both in comfortable silence. After the seventeenth star, she gives up and laughs.
"You tell everyone you're fine when you're not..."
"I do?"
"Yes."
"How would you know this then?"
"Because... I do the exact same thing. Smile and tell them I'm fine when I'm dying inside. When you do, your eyes don't smile."
Lia looks back at her and continues the count.
Eighteen
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
Beautiful.
"Ishika?"
"Hmmmm?"
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you were?"
Ishika chuckles and pushes Lia away, nudging her with her own shoulder.
"Always."
"And in all the times I've told you, how many of those did you believe in?"
Ishika shakes her head, and Lia thinks she sees stardust... stardust everywhere.
"It's funny because ... I believe in every single one of them."
Lia smiles at this and picks at the lens, anything to keep herself from leaning in and doing something she might regret. There's a fine line between everything and she's fine enough knowing the line's still there.
"You do?" She didn't want to sound too excited and hopeful
"Of course, have you ever lied to me?"
"I might've"
She gives Ishika a mischievous grin and chuckles as Ishika punches her lightly on the shoulder.
Never.
