Nova woke up with Rudy lazily holding her, he was still knocked out. Nova wasn't going to do anything today, she was staying home and pretending like her life wasn't a total mess yesterday.
She looked at a sleeping Rudy and decided that she would go back to sleep, sleeping today was a lot easier than dealing with the day. She also felt comfortable with him next to her, she felt secure and she hated it.
Bailey has told everyone what the plan was for the day, Cline and Chase made sure they got exactly what Rudy asked them to from the store, they wanted today to go as well as possible.
"Rudy's idea is so sweet," Cline said to Chase as they began to check out.
"I know, that guy is the sweetest, he just has to stop giving his kindness to the wrong people," Chase replied.
"You're right. I know it's too soon after their breakup, but this gives them a good shot at a chance with each other," Cline thought about how much she cared about both of them.
"It'll all work out, I know it," Chase assured his girlfriend.
"You're right," Cline nodded, riding on the cart as Chase pushed her, his heart swelling as he heard her carefree laughter. He didn't want to say it, but he knew she was the one.
Back at the apartment, Austin and Sarah were given the task of looking through the photo albums at her house. Sarah grabbed all of them and went into her room, she didn't want Shawn or Nova see what they were doing.
"I wish there was more I could do to help," Austin said, looking at the pictures.
"Trust me, Nova and Shawn will appreciate this," Sarah looked back at him.
"I know they will. I just wish I could magically help their pain, I know it's a lot on them and it's not fair," Austin sighed.
"You're so sweet, I hope you know," Sarah replied.
"I try. Oh man, this is too funny," he grabbed a picture of all three of them, Nova was standing beside her brother who had an entire bowl of spaghetti on his head, their mom look horrified.
"They were some of the funniest people I have ever met," Sarah looked longingly at a picture of their mom.
"You knew their mom?"
"Oh yeah, Nova and I have been friends since first grade. I lived with them for a while," Sarah thought about her time in foster care.
"Really why did you live with them?" Sarah wasn't like Nova, she was a closed, closed book. Austin had no idea that she was through her own absolute hell.
"Uh," she didn't know what to say. Austin caught into her body language and her face fell.
"Hey," he rested his hand on hers. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to, I know things are hard to talk about sometimes."
Sarah gave him a sad smile, he was so kind and understanding, "I was in foster care for a while, I would always run away to The Copper's house. I eventually got adopted by my mom and dad now, I was shocked because I was a little older and I assumed I would never have a home. Charlotte cared for me like her own. When she died, it felt like I lost a mom too, in a way."
Sarah was letting a few silent tears fall, she figured if she liked Austin, he should know. Austin pulled Sarah close to him, he needed to stop being so shy around her. "I'm so sorry, Sarah. I'm always here for you, if you ever want to talk about these things or anything bothering you."
She looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you. It's just a sad day all around, but this plan is going to brighten it. I'm here for you as well, if you ever need me."
Austin looked at her and he felt like if he didn't make a move, she would never know and he would lose a girl he really liked. He tilted her chin up, and gently placed his lips on hers. He didn't want to rush or do anything to scare her. They pulled away a few seconds later and Austin couldn't help but smile at her.
"Well that took ya long enough," Sarah joked.
"Shut up, let's get these pictures before Bailey has our heads," Austin joked.
Everything was coming into place, Rudy followed what Charlotte had written down for the recipes to a tee, and he wouldn't lie, they were coming along pretty well, even the angle food cake was perfect.
"Look at you, Gordon Ramsey," Chase joked.
"Hey, shut up, it's turning out great, I've only made pasta one other time like this," Rudy commented.
"No, it smells amazing, I'm proud of you," Chase leaned on the counter.
"Thanks, I'm hoping it's right, but if not, I'm ordering pizza as a backup."
"Shut up. So Mads and Jordyn took them to get coffee, want to put those stars on the ceiling?" Chase suggested.
"Oh shit, yeah, let's do that," Rudy said, they ran to her room as they googled what the different Southern Hemisphere constellations looked like.
The boys quickly stuck the stars to the ceiling, they did the best that they could, it did resemble the constellations well and headed back down. Bailey and JD were back, they began setting up for the slideshow.
"Morgan just texted me that they are pulling up," Chase said and everyone casually stood in the kitchen.
As the group walked in, Shawn and Nova immediately looked at each other, "It smells like mom's Cacio e pepe," Shawn smiled.
"It does and is that Supplì?" Nova rushed into the kitchen, she saw Rudy preparing the food, she realized he was making their favorite foods that their mom used to make.
"What is this?" Nova smiled, the smell alone was spot on. Her eyes were stinging, but for the first time today, it wasn't from sadness.
"We wanted to do something special for you guys, we know today is a hard day for you," Bailey answered.
"So Rudy made like, everything momma Copper would and we made a little slideshow for you guys," Sarah smiled at her friends.
Nova and Shawn looked at each other, this day was had for them every year, this year was no exception, but it felt like they finally had a family that loved them and cared about them. Nova grabbed Shawn's hand quickly and squeezed it.
"Everyone make a plate and go sit in the living room," Rudy instructed.
"I hope you like it," Rudy said to Nova as they walked to the living room.
"It's amazing, you didn't have to do all of this," Nova smiled at him.
"Yes we did," Rudy nodded.
They sat beside each other, and Bailey started the slideshow. There were some videos Nova forgot about from when they were really little. She laughed and cried the entire time. Shawn even let a few tears slip out, he didn't usually cry, but seeing their mom always did him in.
Rudy grabbed Nova's hand as she cried, she rested her head on his shoulder as the slideshow kept rolling. She really did look like her mom, and they had the same laugh.
"She was beautiful," Cline said quietly, she was also crying.
"She was, she was also so funny, I'm sure the video I'm talking about will be in here," Shawn crossed his arms, staring ahead.
The slideshow ended with a picture of the three at the zoo, it was the earliest picture that Sarah and Austin could find. There wasn't a dry eye in the living room. "Jesus guys, my eyes are leaking," Drew joked.
"Honestly, who's cutting onions?" JD gave a slight laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
"How are you feeling?" Rudy asked.
She nodded, "I'm fine."
"Well, I heard that your mom's favorite games were Mystery Date and Scrabble," Bailey started, she rummage around and pulled both games out. "So guess what we are spending our night doing?"
"We will for sure need teams," Nova laughed, the gestures they did made her heart swell.
"Team?" Rudy turned to her.
Nova shook her head, "I'm so bad at Scrabble, you might want a new partner."
"I'll carry the team," Rudy nudged her.
"Good," Nova laughed, sitting beside Rudy.
They spent the majority of the night playing games and laughing at each other. When it became pitch black, Cline asked if they should go look at the stars, in honor of Charlotte.
"All three of us are going to geek out," Shawn pointed out.
"Who cares? Tell us all of the stories," JD shrugged, they all ran outside, the night was clear, the sky was speckled with the tiny lights across the sky. Nova looked up and smiled, this was the best anniversary that she has ever had.
"Girl, I have never been so glad of a decision in my life Sarah leaned over and whispered to Nova.
"I keep thinking about the fact that I looked up and saw Lupus in the sky the night I decided to go, the stars always guide me and I'm so thankful I decided to come," Nova smiled genuinely.
"Tell us a story about the sky," Jordyn looked at Shawn.
"Oh yeah? One in the sky or my favorite?" Shawn asked.
"Whatever you want," JD replied.
"I'll do one in the sky right now, I'd explain where it's at, but that's always a little difficult to do," Shawn started.
"I'm a Taurus, which is in this general area, but it's a happy story. This Zodiac myth is one of unrequited love where Zeus fell in love with Europa while she was playing by the seashore. Not wanting to approach her directly, he transformed himself into a beautiful white bull. Europa who was fascinated by the bull was eventually swept away on its back into the sea. Zeus took Europa as his lover and placed the bull in the heavens as a sign of love, strength, and beauty." Shawn was always so animated when he spoke and told stories, he smiled, that was also his favorite story.
"I wish I could do that, shit I'd transform into a sloth," Rudy joked. "But my patronus is is definitely a dolphin."
"Mine was a Zebra," Nova laughed. "What house are you in? I'm a Ravenclaw." They had never had a discussion about Harry Potter, she didn't realize he was a fan.
"Ravenclaw to the core!" He hi-fived Nova.
"What about you, Nova? Tell us a story that you like," Bailey looked to Nova.
"It won't be as good as his story telling, but here it goes," Nova started, thinking of a story she would like to tell. "I'm a Libra so I'm just telling that one. Long long ago, gods and human beings lived together on the earth. Since the gods would never die while the human beings would die one day or so, the lonely gods had to create human beings constantly. At the end of the Golden Age, the world was in chaos and the human beings were aggressive, thus the world was full of evil behaviors; the gods were disappointed with human and they returned to the heaven. Only Astraea was unwilling to go back to the heaven and she stayed on the earth to run around and teach human beings to be good; she took the scales to judge the good and the evil. However, the human beings continued to fall and the world was in endless wars. Finally, Astraea gave up on them, left disappointedly and returned to the heaven, thus the Libra symbolizing justice in the sky."
"Wait, Rudy, what's your star sign?" Shawn looked at the blonde who was staring off into space.
"Leo," he replied casually.
"You know what they say about Leo's and Libra's," Shawn looked at his sister with a knowing look.
"Shut up, mom and dad had that compatibility, look at them," Nova said bitterly.
"That's the exception, this is the rule," Shawn argued.
"How about you guys tell us what's so special about the pairing," Bailey suggested. She needed more Rova content in her life.
"Alright so here is why the pairing is unmatched, Leo and Libra. Leo and Libra is a powerful match, you each bring out the best in each other and share a very similar outlook while being constantly fascinated by each others personality. This leads to this being one of the most common zodiac matches, and often has soulmate potential."
"Oh shit, y'all getting married," Drew joked.
"We both just got out of relationships yesterday, let's take a chill pill," Rudy gave a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, what he said," Nova pointed.
They shared a few more stories under the stars and then went back inside, Rudy was nervous and excited for Nova to see the room. "Come to my room with me, I don't want to cry alone."
Rudy smirked, "Okay, we can cry together."
"I don't want to cry at all!" Nova laughed, as she opened her bedroom door, she saw her room covered in plastic stars. Upon a second look, she saw it was all of the Southern Hemisphere constellations. "I said I wasn't going to cry again, but here I am, Rudy you did this for me?" She turned to him, a huge smile on her face.
"I figured I can't take you to Australia yet, I can barely take you down the road, but I figured this would still work," he explained.
"Rudy, I don't know what to say," she looked around. "There's Phoenix, Hydrus."
"I just wanted you to have a good day on what's normally a garbage day," Rudy shrugged.
"I had an amazing day, you did so much for me," she walked over to him, standing right in front of him. "Besides the people I have here with me, nobody has ever done something so nice for me."
He held his hand up, "Mr. Perfect right here."
She rolled her eyes and kept hitting his hand in a playful way, until he grabbed her hand, "Hit me again, Copper."
"Whatcha gonna do, Pankow?"
He grabbed her hand and spun her around, she gave a shrill laugh as he spun her around. "So breakfast at four in the morning?"
"As long as you take me to that place you showed me that one time," she laughed.
"Oh yeah that one place. I'm just messing with you, Village, we are going."
She smiled up at him, "I can't wait."
He yawned, it had been a long day, but he was determined for her to not fall asleep. She knew what he was doing, however, "Want to watch Shameless?"
"Hell yeah," he agreed.
Nova was sitting up and Rudy put his head in her lap, she played with his hair until she heard his steady breathing. She looked out of the window and smiled, her mom would be so happy to see that Nova and Shawn enjoyed this day and didn't mourn until they fell asleep.