I am made and remade continually.
Different people draw different words from me.
-Virginia Woolf
July 25th:
The world is just a big ball of energy. Everything you touch with your fingertips is energy. When two people interact, they mark the other with this unique yet undivided force. The more lengths in time they go without seeing that said person, the more energy fades. But if they see each other frequently, per se, every day, this mark grows, this imprint on them expands. When that happens, you can get feelings, such as love.
---
Mara's hands are on Elias's shoulders, her fingertips white as she clutches onto him tightly. His hands hook behind her knees, holding up her weight. Her flushed chest presses against his back as he carried her along the grassy path, beaten down by shoes denoting their territory. They walk through a crowd of sweaty limbs as the sun is hot against their skin, the carnival overcrowded with children and teens.
The smell of deep-fried food, and sugar, attacks their senses the more profound they venture into the forest of hot and sweaty bodies. Games such as ring toss and miniature bowling have strobe lights flickering as winners jump up and down, the losers sulking.
The people around them are boisterous, screaming as the roller coaster carts, old with age, dropped 90 degrees towards the unforgiving ground. They clutch the cool metal handlebars in front of them. The old, loose seat belts, doing nothing to keep them from rising off the seat. Their shrill screams of both fear and adrenaline.
"You wanna do that?" Mara asks, her lips brushing against Elias's ear, goosebumps pricking his neck. She can walk herself, but her feet ache, and Elias doesn't mind carrying her. Her arms, more locked around his neck. He chuckles, shaking his head as he hugs her tighter to him, never enjoying touch this much.
It feels like sparks dancing on his skin where her fingertips graze. His body shudders as her lips press against his ears, sending low vibrations through his eardrums. She feels the same like he is igniting flames underneath her skin. He is also the only one who can cool her down.
"No way," he says, "I'd rather stay on the ground, where I know I won't fall to my death." Elias has a fear of un-enclosed heights.
When he was ten, Elias decided to outclimb the older kids, who taunted him. Upscaling towards the highest branch in the tree, he'd made it all the way up. His bony arms, reaching towards the next branch as his foot forcing up on the last. When he glanced down, though, the world was spinning, and he had no way of getting down. Elias did the only plausible thing.
He fainted. His world went black as he went flying towards the solid ground, breaking both of his arms and leaving him with a concussion. The older kids had left him there, snickering. Watching as blood trickled down his temples, and his world went dotted, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
After that moment, he swore he wouldn't go anywhere near heights that weren't enclosed. Even the thought of climbing a tree sent him reeling back, his posture becoming defensive.
"Common Eli, I'll be with you," she attempts to convince, kicking his legs with her heels. He stops in his tracks, shaking his head furiously. A few people throw dirty glances as they nearly crash into him at his sudden halting, sidestepping around the two.
"Why don't we find your friends that disappeared thirty minutes ago?" He challenges, trying to change the topic. He wouldn't admit that he had an irrational fear of heights derived from a freak childhood incident.
He won't because he still had a small ounce of dignity left.
"They're fine," she hesitates, "I think. That's not the point, I want to do something." Mara has a lot of pent-up energy today and the sugar she'd inhaled isn't doing anything to calm her agitation.
It makes it worse as now she desires to do everything in her line of sight. With no regard to money and the red tickets that are running low in Elias' pocket, she wants anything and everything. Elias is more than willing to provide it, but this is where he draws the line. His heartbeat racing in his chest as he watches mortals pummel towards the terrain, disappearing under a tunnel, their screams resounding.
"How about I win you a stuffed animal?" He sets her down on the grass, pointing towards the ring toss station. It is flashy, with bright red colors and lights that catch his attention.
She nods her head enthusiastically, her blonde hair whipping behind her as she moves forwards. Gripping onto his hand tightly in hers, she weaves in and out of people. All of whom are playing amongst themselves, talking in loud conversations that can easily be overheard.
The man behind the ring toss stand has dull grey eyes, and a deep frown etched on his peculiarities. Frown lines formed around his lips, as if he's never smiled. Life has been sucked out of this hollow statue of a person. His bony shoulders are hunched over as this job weighs him down to the point of depletion. He looks to be in his early twenties, his hair greasy like he can't afford to shower. His expression grim, as if he's seen all the bad the world can offer.
"Step right up, five winning tosses, and you can get a prize," his voice is dull, void of any sentiments as he glances towards where Elias and Mara linger. Pushing five small metal rings in their direction, Elias picks them up in his clutch. Each is a different color, the rings, sweaty in his hands as others had used them countless times before him.
"Which one do you want, baby?" Elias asks, glancing over his shoulder at Mara, who points towards the largest bear she can see. The pet name has slipped from his lips, neither make any remarks. They are simply enjoying each other in this moment. Not bothered about anything other than the summer sun radiating on their backs.
"That's all the rings then," the boy answers monotonously. Elias nods, calculating how high and with what amount of force he would have to toss it. He realized the game is rigged, and the bottles were tilted at an angle so he would miss each time.
Elias excels in all school, literature happens to be his most passionate subject. He is equally good at math, though, his eyes seeing numbers in place of figures. He can calculate, easily, how the velocity in which he will toss the ring. At what height he will have to for it to land on the glass milk bottle tilted away from him.
Five small rings descend on the glass effortlessly, shocking the boy behind the counter into the most amount of expression he can muster. His lips rise from a frown into a thin line as he reaches towards the plush bear, handing it to Mara. The flashing light around the game erupts as people stopped to stare at the winners.
"There you two are," Ryn emerges from the core of the crowded bodies, cotton candy in hand. Cairo is right on her trail, his face devouring an ice cream cone. "We've been looking all over, and here you are, playing a child's game."
"Child's game," Elias scoffs, offended, "that's, like, eleventh-grade math right there."
Ryn glances towards him, her smoky eye smudged with the humidity radiating off of people. Her almost black eyes, like the night that sets upon them, casting him a once over.
"I like you, new boy. You're...cute. But I swear, if you break my girl's heart, I will have no hesitation to kill you and everyone you love." The people around them glance towards Ryn, wide eyes, stepping away from her rage. She looks serious, with her face frozen in a glower. But to any of her friends, you will know she is just ridiculing him.
"I think she'll be the one who breaks my heart," Elias snickers, looking over to Mara, who is deep in conversation with Cairo. Her arms are flailing around as her posture is defensive, her eyes chilling.
"Then I'll kill her. You're one of us now, and I like you. You make her the happiest version of Mara I've ever seen," Ryn smiles.
One of us now.
Elias never really had friends, labeled the weird kid by the students in his school. He walked the halls with his head depressed, assessing eyes drilling into his back. He was clouded by rumors of who he was, none of which he agreed to, and none of which he denied. He let them individually decide who they thought of him as a person, creating their own idea of Elias in their minds.
He is everything, and he is nothing. With them, he is someone.
---
They are on her roof, which Elias will admit is daunting. But Mara has been oddly persuasive, and Elias has troubles saying no to her pout. So they sit on her roof, her resting between his legs, his back against the rough surface, holding her.
His fingers tangle into her hair as she exhales heavily into the wind, tilting her neck to allow him admittance. He trails his soft lips over her smooth, porcelain skin, pricking goosebumps. He peppers kisses along her shoulders and neck.
"I've always wanted to touch the stars," she gasps, his lips trailing her jaw. Her chest is heaving, his palms flattening over her stomach, pressing her impossibly close. His fire is dancing on her skin, her cheeks heated as the shadow of night obscures their transgressions.
"Hmm," he hums against her neck, his warm breath fanning hers. His voice is thick and gravely as he moves towards her ear, whispering directly into her ears. His hands tangle harder into her thick hair, tugging lightly as it created a welcomed pain.
"The stars, I like them" she huffs airly, her head falling to his chest. Once again, lost by his simple touch. Craving more of Elias, Mara is entirely addicted to him, his touch, his essence.
"I never understood it," his lips move down repeatedly, marking back his path as he leans over her, his lips near to her racing heart. She shifts, straddling his lap as his hands fall to her hips, branding her skin with his fingertips. Her hands fall, locked on either side of his head. His lips caressing against where her heartbeat races in her chest.
"Never. Understood. What?" She pants, gripping his chin. It is too much for her to handle. In a fit of lust and feelings she is terrified of, she connects their lips. His tongue darts out, trailing the slit between them until she allows him entrance. Their tongues, dancing in their own tango, entranced by each other's rich taste.
"The trust people put into something they can never reach," he whispers against her lips, his fingers holding onto her cheek. His touch is soft as flower petals, but his lips are brandishing, bruising hers as he murmurs.
"I guess I like knowing that however dark it gets, the stars will always be there," Mara murmurs, glancing up towards the night sky. Elias follows her gaze, watching as she marvels in the beauty so out of her reach. A deception that appeared so small but is, in reality, so much larger than her and him. A plasma held together by simple gravity.
The closest star to the earth is the sun, 92.529 million miles away.
"It's beautiful," she murmurs, but his eyes are trained on her and not the starlight. Watching her with so much feeling in his heart that it scares him a little, but he wants more.
"It really is."
---
Authors Note:
Some of this is setting up for future chapters, but its mostly just a fun chapter before...well yeah.
Do you guys believe in fate, stars, all that? I'd personally like to believe in it.
Thoughts?
Like, comment, follow.
- ❤ Nia
Edited 4/5/22