Stars in my Sky

Star 9: Always think of the ones you love

August 17. Tonight at nine o’clock, Daniel's plane will be leaving from Barcelona to Rome.

We decided to spend this day together from eight in the morning till eight at night. I woke up at seven that morning to prepare my stuff for the day.

I put on my red swimsuit under my blue shorts and black tank top since we were going to the beach. I made sure to prepare some spare clothes and underwear to take the least possible time to come back here, shower, and change before we go to dinner after the beach.

At 8:00a.m sharp, the doorbell rang.

I grabbed my blue flowery bag and ran downstairs.

I opened the front door and before I could even say ‘hi’, Daniel grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. He then quickly shut the door and pulled me against it and started kissing me like it was the last thing he was doing.

I dropped my bag to the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He still managed to make my heart beat so fast like it would jump out of my chest any second.

“Wow,” I murmured breathlessly as I rested my forehead against his.

His rapid breathing fanned my face, cooling my burning cheeks.

“I love you so much,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” I replied, hugging him tightly. No other words were shared for the next few minutes but we didn’t need words. The silence was enough.

After that little moment, we went to a small diner that had the best pancakes ever. We stayed there till nine, just eating and chatting.

We then decided to go to the park for a bit because it held so much memories like when we got together.

We played on the swings for a bit and throughout all the time I tried not to think of the end of our time together.

After playing on the swings, we sat under one of the huge trees. Daniel sat with his back against the tree and I lay down, resting my head on his lap.

“Is there a chance of you coming here for University next year?” I asked. This year was his senior year so he could study mechanical engineering at a university here in Barcelona instead of Italy. I was going to be a junior this year so I couldn’t leave next year. I’ll still have one school year.

“I don’t know,” he said, playing with my hair. “I have to think of my family that lives in Italy, and my friends there. I mean I’ve lived all my life there. I never thought of leaving.”

“Oh,” I said, playing with my hands and averting my gaze from his eyes to the branches of the tree.

I wanted him to say something sweet like ‘I’ll leave it all behind just to be with you’ but what he said made sense too. I mean this is real life and not a movie.

“Look at me,” he said softly but I didn’t do as he said. I kept looking up at the tree branches, thinking of the future.

He didn’t say anything for the next few seconds. I was about to look at him because it wasn’t like him to stop talking at a moment like this but that was when I felt a drop of water land on my cheek, followed by another one.

My eyes snapped to Daniel’s face and I found him crying silently. I sat up quickly and paused for a second to make my head stop spinning from the sudden movement.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wiping away his tears. I pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he said again, as he hugged me tightly.

“Don’t apologize,” I whispered because if I spoke in a higher tone, my voice would crack and I would start crying too. I didn’t want to cry now.

“I don’t want to be away from you,” he said, burying his head in my hair.

I squeezed him a bit tighter and we stayed like that for a few minutes. Why do sad things like that happen in life? Why do people have to be separated?

I rubbed his back and felt his breathing going back to normal but I kept holding onto him for a minute longer. I needed that hug more than him.

When we pulled away, he smiled slightly. “Let’s go to the beach.”

I nodded after glancing at my watch and seeing that it was already 11:00a.m. Nine hours left…

There were a lot of people on the beach but that wasn’t really surprising because that was how it goes every day during summer in Barcelona.

We put our bags and towels on an empty spot on the sand.

“Want to get something to drink first?” Daniel asked.

“Right now, I just want to get in the water,” I replied and he smiled.

“Okay then,” he replied, taking off his shirt and shorts, staying in his blue trunks.

I eyed his muscled chest, making him smirk arrogantly.

“Faster Alexia,” He said, still smirking. “The water is waiting.”

I rolled my eyes at him and blushed slightly as I took off my shorts and tank top.

“Faster Daniel,” I mimicked him when I saw him staring at me now. “The water is waiting.”

He chuckled. “You just love imitating me, don’t you?”

“Mmhmm,” I replied, taking his hand in mine and pulling him towards the water because the heat was killing me.

I sighed contentedly as the cool water enveloped us.

We swam around for a bit and started splashing each other with water like little kids. I tried drowning Daniel by pushing his shoulders down from behind him but he grabbed my hands and pulled them around his neck as he pulled me closer to him.

I squealed as my body hit his back and my legs automatically wrapped themselves around his waist to avoid falling back in the water.

He started running as fast as he managed to in the water, making me laugh like a little girl. A few minutes later he slowed down a bit and just walked around in the water.

“Let’s go get some cool drinks and maybe lunch,” Daniel suggested.

“Okay,” I replied and unwrapped my legs from his waist but he didn’t let go of me.

“No, no,” he said, forcing my legs back around his waist. “I’ll carry you.”

“No, put me down!” I ordered but he just laughed and walked out of the water, holding onto my legs. I had to wrap my arms tightly around his neck to not fall on the sand.

He ran all the way to where we had our towels and bags, laughing like a little kid.

He stopped there and let go of my legs. I stood on my tiptoes and kept my hands around his neck as I pulled him down a bit and kissed his cheek.

I knew that a lot of people were watching us, the crazy boy carrying his girlfriend and laughing like a kid, but I didn’t care.

He smiled and gave me my light blue towel then grabbed his darker one.

We dried ourselves before walking to the kiosks at the right side. We got two hot dogs and two cold glasses of orange juice. We sat on one of the stools of a wooden beach bar, under a hut, to eat our food.

It was already 2:00p.m! Time really flies when you’re having fun.

I took the second bite out of my hot dog and gasped when a blob of ketchup fell on my right thigh.

Daniel burst out laughing, chocking on his orange juice.

“Give me some tissues!” I ordered him, pointing at the white tissue box next to him.

“I’ll just lick them off,” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Shut up you perv!” I yelled at him, blushing. “And give me the tissues!”

He started laughing but gave me a couple of tissue papers this time. I wiped the ketchup off while Daniel chuckled at me.

“Stop laughing or else I’ll smear ketchup all over your face,” I said warningly.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said confidently.

I raised an eyebrow challengingly and he just stared back at me with a smirk.

I took the ketchup bottle from the table and put some on the palm of my right hand. He was still smirking as if daring me to do it.

He thought I wasn’t going to do it. Ha! Think again.

I mentally counted to three before putting my right hand on his left cheek and spreading the ketchup on it.

His eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open as he pushed my hand away.

“I didn’t think you’ll actually do it!” He said, gaping at me and I burst out laughing at how he looked with ketchup all over his cheek.

He took advantage of my laughing and pulled my face forward, resting his left cheek on mine, covering me with ketchup too.

“Daniel!” I yelled at him, still laughing like a little kid. We started taking ketchup from our cheeks and smearing them on each other’s faces while laughing.

When our laughter finally stopped, Daniel stared at me with a wide grin. Then he moved his face closer to mine and pressed his lips against mine.

“Mm ketchup,” I said when we pulled away and he chuckled.

We then proceeded to wipe ketchup off each other’s faces with the tissues that were left in the white box.

We finished our lunch after that and went to sit under the sun for a bit.

We watched people around the beach and started making up stories about them and their lives.

“See that guy with the hairy belly?” Daniel said and I nodded, taking a sip of my cold lemonade.

“Yeah, I think he was the most popular kid in his school when he was a teenager,” Daniel started, making me chuckle. “He was the football team captain and of course a player but once, just like in all those cliché movies, he fell in love with the one girl that would never love him back. He begged for a chance but she wouldn’t even consider it. Now she’s married to a successful guy like a lawyer or a doctor and fat dude here spends his time scrolling through her Facebook pictures while he lies alone in his bed at night.”

I burst out laughing and he joined me.

“You’re so mean!” I said. “Maybe he’s always been a loser…”

He laughed at that. “Who’s the mean one now?”

I smiled innocently and he pinched my cheeks, making me grimace.

Soon, it was time for us to leave. I told Daniel he could shower at my place before we left for dinner. It was now five-thirty and we had to be at the restaurant at six because we had to leave for the airport at seven.

We went back to my house and I took a shower first then Daniel went in after me because he insisted on taking a shower in my bathroom instead of Adrian’s.

While he was showering, I decided to pick a different outfit from the one I had in mind this morning.

I took out a strapless peach colored short summer dress and put it on with my black ballet flats. I put my wallet and phone in my black purse and combed my hair, letting it dry on its own.

I kept my makeup light and just put on some small black earrings and a black necklace around my neck.

Just as I was done, Daniel came out of the bathroom, dressed in jeans and a green polo. He ran his hand through his wet brown hair then grinned at me.

“You look beautiful as always,” he said, giving me a kiss.

“And you look handsome as always,” I said, making him smile.

“Ready to go?” He asked and I nodded.

We went to the restaurant for dinner and I could feel my mood change as soon as we sat in the comfortable chairs. We didn’t stay quiet during dinner, though, because we were trying to make use of the time we had together as much as possible so we chatted, laughed, and tried to cherish all the moments we had left.

We did a lot lovey-dovey stuff that I never thought I would do with anyone, like feeding each other and gazing into each other’s eyes for long minutes and just smiling.

I always thought that couples who do that were stupid but doing this with Daniel was the nicest thing in the world.

At seven o’clock, Daniel gave me a small smile and I nodded, knowing what he meant. It was time to go. I got up from my chair and took his hand in mine as we left the restaurant.

When we reached the airport we directly found Jenny sitting in one of the chairs with Lucy in her arms and the suitcases next to her.

“Hi sweetie,” she said, giving me a sad smile.

“Hey,” I said.

“I’m going to be in line,” Jenny said, nodding to the people waiting in the line to give their bags and get their plane tickets. Well at least that’s what I thought they were doing. I’ve never traveled before so I didn’t really know how this stuff happened.

Daniel nodded and I gave her an awkward hug to not hurt Lucy. Then I bent down and gave Lucy a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Bye, dear,” Jenny said. “I’ll see you next summer.”

I nodded, giving her a small smile. “Bye.”

She went to stand in line and I turned around to face Daniel. I felt my heart aching at the thought of watching Daniel go and before I knew it, tears were spilling down my face.

“Please don’t cry,” Daniel whispered as he pulled me into a tight hug.

“I-I can’t,” I said, sniffing. “I-I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to have to stop myself of thinking about you all the time. I don’t want to get heartbroken.”

“Hey, hey,” he said, pulling away slightly to look into my eyes. “Don’t stop thinking of me. Always think of the ones you love. That way, they’ll always be in your heart.”

“But I—”

“Forcing yourself not to think about someone you love won’t make you move on,” he said softly.

“So you’ll think of me?” I asked in a quiet voice.

“All the time,” he said, kissing my forehead.

He glanced at the line that had only two people left and then back at me with a sad look in his eyes.

“We’ll talk every day right?” I asked, my voice weird from crying.

“Every single day,” he said.

I nodded, managing a small smile. He kissed me softly then looked into my eyes intently as he spoke his last words to me.

“Whenever I look at Lucy, I’ll think of you. Whenever I go to school, I’ll think of you. Whenever I laugh, I’ll think of you. Whenever I’m happy, I’ll think of you. And of course, whenever I eat ketchup, I’ll think of you.”

I smiled as tears streamed down my face. He kissed away my tears before his lips moved to my lips. He gave me a sweet kiss before pulling away.

“I have to go,” he said reluctantly.

I nodded, wiping my eyes.

I gave him one last hug and whispered in his ear, “Goodbye Daniel.”

“Don’t say that,” he told me, squeezing me tighter before letting me go and looking into my eyes. I looked at his hair then moved down to his forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips, memorizing all the tiny details of his features like the light freckles on his nose and the way his eyes sparkled whenever he looked at me.

“I’ll see you soon,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, I’ll see you soon,” I replied, smiling at him. That sounded so much better than ‘goodbye’. It made it certain that we would meet again soon. It made things a bit easier.

He kissed me one last time then walked to where the line once was. He gave the woman his bag and she gave him some paper.

He turned back to me one last time and looked into my eyes. Even from a distance, I could see the love in his eyes and I was sure that my eyes held the same emotions.

At the exact same time, we lifted our hands and waved at each other. And at that moment, my heart skipped a beat and I was sure that his heart did too.

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Happy Birthday to xoxosummergirlxoxo! Have a wonderful year! <3

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