❝ Aries: earth below me, sky
above me, and fire within me ❞
"I CAN'T BELIEVE that Kingston convinced us to spend our Sunday morning on something as boring as student council." I had been braiding and unbraiding tiny strands of my hair to keep from dying of boredom.
"We were conned," Noah added.
"Oh, quit complaining, you get a free meal out of helping me," Kingston rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, that's pretty much the only reason why we're here." I could barely keep my eyes open and the job Kingston assigned us wasn't making it better. We were basically told to sit still and wait for people to pitch their ideas for prom. So far, there had only been cliché themes like "Starry Night" and "Enchanted Fairytale".
At first, Noah liked listening but then got bored listening to the same ideas over and over again, "How many more are there? We're meeting Sky in thirty minutes."
"Not a lot. Just, like, fifteen more."
"If there's another 'Starry Night' I'm going to leave." I told him angrily.
Kingston shrugged, "Hey, don't blame me, I'm not the one coming up with these themes."
"I bet I could come up with one. Like, how hard is it? Just do 'Neon Lights' or 'Disco Rave' or something fun like that." I proposed quickly and they looked at me thoughtfully.
"Yeah, we could call it 'Ready to Glow' or 'Get Up and Glow'." Noah said and Kingston clapped his hands loudly, suddenly very energetic for the morning.
"Ooh, I like that! We can have huge speakers and strobe lights and glow in the dark food. . ."
As we were talking, Bennett and the other student council members came back from the bathroom and sat down at the table.
"Let's be real, all of these themes are kind of bland, I say we just come up with one. Char and Noah actually came up with one—" Kingston was cut off by Bennett's stern voice.
"No, we have a perfectly good theme and it's going to be 'Starry Night'. I found some decorations in the storage closet so we're already halfway done—"
"No way." Kingston argued. "First of all, that's the cheesiest theme that has ever existed and second, we're not using leftover decorations from another prom."
Danielle and Patricia, the other two student council members, exchanged an irritated look with each other but neither Kingston nor Bennett noticed. I didn't blame them, I wouldn't want to get in the middle of this either.
"If we reuse some decorations, we can reduce the cost by hundreds of dollars—"
"But at what expense? Half-assed decorations and a lame theme we do every other year? Do you really think that's what our class wants for their prom—"
Bennett gave him an icy stare, "Instead of wasting our whole budget on new decorations, we can pool the money into other resources like better food or a better DJ."
"This is why a Capricorn should never be in charge of anything. They never want to do anything fun." Kingston scoffed.
"We should put it to a vote," Danielle cut in and they turned their heads to look at her, as if they'd just realized we were still here.
"All in favor of 'Starry Night'," Bennett raised his hand. Patricia and one of Bennett's followers backed him up.
"All in favor of another theme," Kingston announced and Noah and I raised our hands. We all looked at Danielle, who hadn't raised her hand.
"I kind of want to hear what the other theme would be."
"It would be called 'Ready to Glow' and we'd have a disco ball, strobe lights, glow sticks, and basically glow in the dark everything," Kingston explained, "It'll be something fun and different, something that everyone will be talking about."
"Do you know how much that would cost? Our budget is less than a hundred thousand, you know," Bennett sneered.
"It wouldn't cost a hundred thousand."
"My answer is still no."
"It's not up to you now is it?"
They continued to stare each other down until Danielle spoke up again, "I think we should spend a day to think about it."
"Take all the time you need, I already made my decision," Bennett replied unhelpfully, "Now, onto the second item on our list."
»» ─────── ─────── ««
Sky was at the counter making a strawberry açai refresher and chai latte when we arrived at Bean There, Done That. There were a lot of teenagers getting coffee for a Sunday morning.
"How was it?" She asked as the three of us sat down at the counter.
"Interesting." Noah said.
"Boring," I stuck out my tongue and turned to Kingston, "I thought you and Bennett were going to kill each other."
"Now do you see what I have to deal with?" He gave Sky a twenty dollar bill, which would cover our lunch.
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Prom except we couldn't even agree on a theme." If this was what politics was like why would anyone want to do it?
"Wait a second—" Sky turned to her recently hired coworker, "Ry, you don't put steamed milk in a macchiato." He stopped pouring and pulled out a new cup.
"Oh, sorry," he was obviously having a lot of trouble keeping up with the orders but luckily she had enough patience to put up with him.
"It's okay, just ask for help if you need it,"
"Got it."
Kingston yawned and closed his eyes for a second.
"Wow, I thought Kingston brought you two along so you could actually make up your own for once." Sky was almost done making our sandwiches, she just had to toast them.
"Yeah, it didn't work out so well. We're just gonna think about it and see if anyone changes their mind." Noah explained. I could tell he liked the planning type of stuff while I just wanted to party.
"Maybe you should let the whole class vote."
"He still wouldn't change his mind. He's that annoying." Kingston muttered into the table. The theme was probably the least important thing honestly, I'd want to sort out the finances and catering first.
"Food's ready." Sky announced as she took our sandwiches from the mini oven.
Kingston's eyes snapped open and grabbed the food out of Sky's hands eagerly. I inhaled my roasted turkey sandwich in minutes.
Staring at the empty plate, I said, "I don't think I even tasted that." I looked over at Noah, who hadn't even made a significant dent.
"You're not getting any of this."
"I didn't want it, I was just admiring it." I lied. I totally wanted his BLT, it looked so freaking delicious.
"Isn't that Cade over there?" Sky pointed out behind me and I quickly turned around. She was right, he was sitting at a square table by the window with no one across from him. It was kind of sad that he was eating all alone.
He stirred his coffee and looked out the window towards the woods, his eyes wandering.
"I'm gonna go talk to him about, you know, um. . . chem stuff. Be right back." I rushed out of my seat to avoid any sort of an explanation. My friends were probably really confused but they'd get over it.
Cade saw me as I made my way to his table. When he met my eyes, he looked down and took a sip of his coffee.
"Hey, Cade," I greeted and he acknowledged me with a curt nod. His hazel eyes were cold and so unlike the warmth I had been used to. "How are you?"
"Good." His voice sounded strained. I guess he wasn't over me. Not awkward at all.
Instead of making eye contact, I looked at the cup of coffee near his left hand, "I'm sorry if I sounded harsh the other day. I hope we can still be friends."
"Let's just forget about it," he said nonchalantly.
Well, uh, it was pretty hard to forget the fact that he confessed illegal feelings for me but I'd try my best.
"Sure, of course."
"Excuse me," a feminine voice said behind me.
This girl was rail thin with an intricate snake tattoo crawling up her right arm. The combination of her rich black hair and ice blue eyes projected a deadly kind of aesthetic that I only wished I could pull off.
"Oh, sorry," I moved out of the way but she still stood there, and it was then that I realized she was waiting for me to move so she could sit.
When I moved out of the way, she sat down gracefully and looked at Cade.
"This is Charlize, she's in some of my classes at school," he introduced.
"I see," she said curtly while pursing her lips.
"Char, this is Angelina," he paused for a moment before saying, "We were matched a few days ago."
At first, I didn't think I heard him right.
But the way she straightened her back in a proud way and looked at him longingly suggested that it was true.
"Congrats," I forced myself to give a stupidly wide smile, "That's awesome." Awesome was the best adjective you could come up with, I scolded myself.
"My parents are a Pisces and Scorpio match like us so I'm not worried at all." Angelina smiled toothlessly. I couldn't help but envy her smooth skin and perfect face.
"Me neither," Cade echoed.
Awkwardly, I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot. "Well, I'll leave you two alone. It was nice meeting you, Angeline," I got her name wrong just to piss her off because she seemed so cold.
I headed back to my table but my friends were talking rapidly about the rest of the day.
"I have so much homework to do and I have to study for two tests," Noah was saying.
"I'm gonna take a nap," Kingston laid his head on the counter, "And probably eat after that."
"You just ate," Sky rolled her eyes, "What are you plans for the rest of the day, Char?"
"I'm gonna call Mars and see if he's free." If I remembered correctly, his coach gave his team a rest day because he was leaving the sector for the weekend.
Sky pouted, "Really? I was gonna ask if you wanted to go dress shopping with me after my shift."
"We can go next week. Besides, prom's in six months, we have so much time. Don't be one of those girls who already has their dress a year in advance." She was obsessed with finding the perfect dress while I just wanted something simple.
"I know but I just wanna see what they have," she said then winked at me, "But I'll let you spend some time with your man."
Hopefully he was free, it always seemed like we never had any alone time. Or maybe he had the time but just didn't want to spend it with me.
Absentmindedly, I started to play with the salt and pepper shakers.
"So what did you and Cade talk about?" Sky was the only one who was curious, the others looked kind of bored.
We didn't actually get a chance to talk because his new girlfriend shoved herself into our conversation, was what I wanted to say but I gritted my teeth and said,
"School stuff."
"Oh, cool."
So Cade finally found himself someone to love. That's a good thing. Good for him. Awesome, even. After all, he should be happy, he deserved it.
Yup. . . just awesome.
»» ─────── ─────── ««
As soon as I got home, I sat cross-legged on the middle of my bed and called Sky. She picked up immediately.
"Hey, Char,"
"Hey, Sky, I have a quick question." I cut right to the chase, partly because I was anxious and partly because I wanted to get it all out before I lost my nerve.
"Yeah, what?"
"Okay, so," I paused to think about how I would word this, "Let's say, hypothetically, that you liked this guy who wasn't Noah. Like, you really liked him. Except he was, let's say, an incompatible sign, like a Capricorn. Hypothetically."
"Okay. . ." Her voice sounded faraway.
I cleared my throat, "And let's say you were forced to choose between them, which one would you choose?"
I played with the loose threads on my blanket as I waited for her to reply.
"I have a terrible feeling that this somehow relates to you."
"Uh, maybe."
"Gods, Char,"
"Just answer the question."
She took a second to answer.
"I don't know, I'd choose Noah."
"Why?"
"Why?" She repeated, "Because I'd never fall for a Capricorn and most importantly, because it's illegal."
"But what if you really loved him? Would you still—"
"Please tell me you didn't fall for a Virgo," she interrupted me and I laughed nervously.
"I didn't." Which was the truth. "I fell for a Pisces."
"A Pisces? What the fuck—"
"It's not as bad you think, okay? He's actually really nice and sweet."
"You have Mars, did you forget that?" Why did everyone have to remind me?
"No, I didn't but he's just not. . ." I trailed off, not sure how to end that sentence. "He doesn't. . ."
"Doesn't what?"
"He doesn't get me. It's hard to explain." Sometimes you just knew and I knew that he wasn't the one. Like today, we'd spent the whole afternoon watching movies at my house except we'd barely said five words to each other. Was this what it would be like when we were older? Because if it was, my life would be pretty disappointing.
"Char, you just met like two months ago. Give it time."
"But how much time? Will I have to wait five years or ten years or when we're middle-aged?" When will it start to feel like he actually loved me? It seemed like everyone else was matched up perfectly while Mars and I only tolerated each other.
Sky was lucky, she got someone who she loved and could love her back.
I pressed the phone closer to my ear in case she was going to say something.
"Okay,"
"Okay?"
"I'm not gonna lie and say I support this but I'm just gonna go with it. Hopefully it's just one of your phases."
"Thank you," I said gratefully.
"So who's the Pisces?"
"It's Cade."
I heard something crash in the background. It sounded like glass.
"Cade? Why him?"
"It probably doesn't seem like it but we just really get along and what did I just hear break in the background?"
"Nothing. Are you sure you like him or the fact that he saved you from drowning?"
"I like him." I insisted, getting a little mad she'd even say that.
"Have you told anyone else?"
"No, I almost didn't tell you." My parents would disown me, my siblings wouldn't understand, and Mars would be absolutely furious. So really there was no one else to tell.
"Good." I heard her let out a loud breath through her mouth.
"But there's another problem." And her name was Angelina.
"Besides the fact that you like Cade the Pisces?"
"He's matched to someone else and she's really pretty. And kind of intimidating." If I were Cade, I'd pick her too.
Maybe it was too late; after all, we were both legally bound to other people and the risk of being together could destroy everything.
"You know I kind of had a feeling it was Cade." She spoke honestly and I wondered what had tipped her off.
"You did? How could you tell?"
"Just your body language today. The way you smiled at him and the way you leaned in—like what he was saying was the most important thing in the world."
"You were watching?" I smiled. She could tell just by that? My best friend knows me.
"Of course. You probably thought I was blind, didn't you?" She scoffed. "You don't even do those things now."
"Touché," I laughed. "So, you'll help me?"
"Of course."
"Promise?"
"Promise." If this thing with Cade reached a dead end, then at least we could laugh about it when we were older. But if it turned out to be something more serious, then at least my best friend would have my back.
➷
Do you think Char and Cade are endgame or do you think Char and Mars will end up together? Comment your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!