"So, you still in construction?" Her dad asked as he passed the bowl of pasta to Elijah.
His eyes narrowed at him, holding the pasta mid-air. "I'm sorry, but how the hell did you know I did construction?"
Her dad leaned back in his chair, looked around the table, then back at Elijah. "I kept in contact with your aunt, just like you did. She was kind enough to keep me in the loop, so I'd know you were doing okay in life. All I asked about were the basics."
"All she knew about were the basics anyhow," Elijah told him, "but I get you worried, and if that helped you worry less, it's fine. So yes, I'm still in construction. I was part of a big crew for a few years, then my buddy wanted to start his own construction business, so I joined him. Higher hours and less pay, but he let's me stay at his house for free and feeds me, so it was a fair trade off."
Her mom handed Madeline the chicken. "And do you know how long you're in town for? A while, I hope."
Elijah's eyes shot over to her, his gaze filled with something she couldn't pinpoint. "I'll have to get back to you on that."
"Do you like the city you're living in?"
He finally tore his eyes away from Madeline, allowing her to finally take in a breath. "A little too crowded for my taste. A lot of noise, sirens at all hours. It's fine, but I think I've always been a small town guy at heart."
Her mom let out a light laugh. "Maddie's the same way. Her first year of college, she sounded miserable. Teacher's never knew her name, there were too many people to meet. Apparently, she was getting catcalled all the time. The smog is what she hates the most, though. Can barely see the stars at night."
"But better grocery stores, and restaurants deliver," Madeline pointed out as she handed the platter of chicken over to Elijah, hoping she changed the subject with ease.
She hated anyone else talking about her stars... their star. It may have cloaked the world, but it was sacred to her.
"So, I assume you don't see yourself living there forever then? Maybe you want to trade the city in for small town life again."
And it was then she realized what her mom was getting at, as the woman's subtly was beginning to wear off.
Again, Elijah looked over at her, seeming to search for some sort of hint she didn't have it in her to give. So his eyes remained on hers when he answered. "I don't really know what my future plans are, but I'll keep you updated."
"That's fair," her mom relented, "but just so you know, I know about another house where you could also stay for free and feed you, and its doors will always be open to you."
His eyes left her to look at her mother, giving her a warm, albeit somewhat forced, smile. "Thanks, Mary. I appreciate it."
"I should probably stop asking questions so you can eat," her mom told him in a laugh. "I'm just so happy my boy's home. I don't mean to smother you, sweetheart."
"You aren't," Elijah assured her. "It's nice having someone care so much."
Madeline had only just gotten her pajama shirt on before Elijah opened her bedroom door, and walked right in. Had he showed up only three seconds prior, he would have gotten a whole lot more than he bargained for. But the man seemed clearly on a mission, not even seeming to care that she'd already unzipped her jeans.
"That was the most awkward shit I've ever had to sit through, so you are going to hand me that goddamn letter before my fucking head explodes." His tone had an edge, one she hadn't heard for a very long time, but it wasn't angry so much as frustrated. Exhausted. Defeated. Everything she wished he wasn't.
Madeline nodded, but didn't head straight for the dresser. "I want you to read it in the guest bedroom."
"You're banishing me?" He asked. "Seriously, Maddie."
She bit her lip as her eyes wandered around the room, focusing on anything but him. "Not banished. There's just a good chance you'll want some space to process everything, space from me. If by some miracle you don't, my door is open. Figuratively, I mean. Realistically, it'll be closed."
Elijah let out a long sigh. "Give me the letter, Maddie. Please."
Despite barely eating a thing at dinner, her stomach still turned as she walked over to the desk drawer, pulled out the letter, and walked it back to him. Madeline had to close her eyes before she could extend her hand out, and flinched when she felt him take it from her grasp. By the time her eyes opened, she heard the bedroom door close downstairs.
Although she told him her door would be open for him, Madeline couldn't wait there to see the outcome of the letter. Instead, she snuck quietly down the steps, through the living room and kitchen, and out the back door.
The night belonged to her, and to him. The night was where she was given the North Star, and by extension, hope. It was the most painful thing in the world, knowing there was a chance that, come tomorrow night, he'd no longer be there. So she laid her body down on the grass.
A light wind cut through the humidity of the night, rustling through the leaves and causing thin branches to cast shadows through the moonlight. It felt so silent as she laid there, the grass damp and soaking though her clothing.
There was no point in making her wish tonight. It seemed like every wish she hadn't dared make aloud came true. Every secret wanting she'd buried deep in the hidden corners of her soul. And she couldn't talk to the man in the star when he was in the house behind her.
'The difficultly lies in how to make what you wish for a reality.'
The quote had become an echo in her mind in the most unexpected ways. As it turned out, the difficulty wasn't in making her wish a reality, but reality itself. The boy next door who she'd seen smile and cry. Laugh and scream. Above all, suffer. Elijah had tried her best to shelter her from the truth of his life, but he'd never been able to hide himself from her. There was no hiding the bruised face, or cracked ribs.
Now he was back.
What should have been a relationship starting from scratch turned out be a rekindling. Time had come and gone through both their lives. He'd gone from a boy of eighteen to a thirty-year-old man. She'd gone from a small child to a woman with only one year of college remaining. There was a vast gap in time where they'd gone without one another's guidance or support, without one another's shoulder's to weep against when life felt unbearable.
So why was it so easy to still love him with her heart wide open after he'd broken it to pieces twelve years earlier? Why did his shoulder still feel so inviting, his smile feel so infectious, his pain feel so unbearable? Why, after so many years of his absence, did she still need him, when he should have felt only a step above a stranger to her?
Elijah had been in town less than twenty-four hours, but in the instant he turned around to face her in his father's house, she'd felt the connection they'd always had. Madeline's heart never stopped belonging to him, only now, everything had shifted. In twenty-one hours he'd been back, only half an hour of it was spent apart. And in each minute of that time, Madeline had fallen for him just a little more.
"I think I figured out what the bedroom thing was about."
At the sound of Elijah's voice, Madeline jumped. Normally, she was able to feel him. This time, she'd been too lost in her own thoughts.
When she didn't respond, Elijah came over and sat next to her. "You still didn't ask me, you know."
"I know." Maddie's voice came out hoarse, and barely above a whisper. "Wasn't sure if I still should or not. Besides, it's your decision if you want to stay or not. You don't need my permission."
"I'm not asking for your permission, M&M, I want you to be able to ask what I've never given you the chance to before. If you don't want me to stay, I won't. I know you said you were fucked either way, but you also said you weren't sure which option would suck more. It's been two hours since you wrote this thing," he said as he held the letter up between his fingers. "That means you've had two hours to think about that. I'm not running away from you, Maddie, but you have to decide whether it'll be easier for you if I stay, or if I leave."
Since he didn't seem to be completely mortified by the letter, Madeline knew that the hurt she'd feel by remaining his friend would be insignificant compared to the excruciating pain she'd feel if he disappeared from her life again. "I want you to stay."
Elijah bumped her knee with his own. "A little eye contact would be nice, maybe use a volume that's actually audible."
Madeline laughed, ran her fingers through her hair, getting caught in it immediately, and turned to look at him. "I want-"
Elijah cut off her words with a kiss.
The moment his lips touched hers, Madeline swore she heard a crackling in her brain; fizzling out and into its demise. So soft, so perfect. So undeniably made to kiss her until the end of time. When his hand moved to her hair, he pulled her closer, and Madeline didn't dare protest. He was kissing her beneath their North Star, and all its magic. And all the things he was doing to her insides could only be described as magic.
And although the kiss ended, the magic didn't. There were still reminisce of it from the heat of his breath against her skin, the way his hand moved against her hair, and the way nose brushed against hers.
His hand now on her cheek, the words came out a whisper against her lips. "Something tells me this isn't just our minds playing tricks on us," he told her, not waiting for any sort of response before kissing her again.