( ACT THREE; CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR )

" counting stars "

THAT NIGHT, GEORGE'S EYES REFUSED TO SHUT. His nerves will still heightened, and there was not an ounce of exhaustion in him. If anything, he felt like he could go run a marathon without even trying. Aimlessly, he kept dragging his thumb on his lips, playing with the place she had kissed him only a few hours earlier.

With a turn of the neck, he looked at his clock. Four in the morning. A sigh left him, and finally realizing he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, he reached for his phone and called a friend.

Sapnap picked up after four rings, voice a few octaves lower since it was nighttime for him as well.

"Everything good? You didn't answer me and Dream earlier. How'd the meet up go?" the Texan asked.

"It went...much better than I could've hoped."

"Oh?"

George took a deep inhale, then released it while he started talking. "I told her I wanted her in my life like you told me to. I was straight up. And uh...well, she's only here for another week, but she basically said we could spend it together. Then we kissed."

"Then you WHAT?!" Sapnap screeched, voice becoming squeaky like it was in his middle school years.

"My hopes is that maybe somehow she'll realize she wants to move to Brighton and then all the sudden we ride happily off into the sunset," George said sarcastically, resting his wrist on his forehead. "I guess I'll just have to see what happens."

"Lower your standards, man. I don't want what happened last December to repeat itself."

Sapnap's words stung George a bit, his face visibly wincing. However, he knew his American friend was right. If George wasn't careful she'd slip from his fingers again; he needed to handle this with caution.

"Add Dream to the call," George ordered after a minute or so of no talking.

Sapnap hummed, and pressed a few buttons on his device. In seconds, Dream had joined them.

"George! What happened with Cami?"

"Can I say it?" Sapnap blurted before George could speak.

"I—you know what, sure."

"Yay!" Sapnap cheered, giggling before he began speaking. "So basically George did what we told him and was all like 'I love you so much please stay in my life shawty bae' and then she was like 'bet,' and then they smooched! And she's only in Brighton for a week but she's gonna hang out with him! Basically they're gonna get married. Right, George?"

From the mockery of George's accent to the inclusion of "shawty bae," Dream was laughing like an idiot.

"More or less, yeah, that's what happened. Great job." George's tone was sarcastic, but he had to admit, it was a bit funny.

"I mean, that's great! Well, hold on. Are you guys hanging out for like—one last hoorah, or like—let's restart?"

"I hope it's a restart type of thing. Either way it's gonna feel nice to be with her again. That sounds pathetic, I know, but..."

"It's not pathetic, George. Don't forget, we were the ones who witnessed how sad you were without her. We know how important she is to you," Sapnap replied, scoffing.

"Yeah, seriously. I'm all for this. If you need to stop streaming for awhile if it means getting to see her, then that's that. Just do what you want," Dream agreed.

George grinned, rubbing his eyes. He truly was lucky to have such close friends. They really did understand how much Camille meant to him.

"I wish I could just convince her to move here," the British man muttered.

Dream answered, "I mean, you can't convince her to move. But you can give her a damn good reason to."

"Oh, shit, he's right. George you gotta make this date, like, top notch. Best of the best, academy award winning, perfection—"

George cut Sapnap off. "I have an idea, but I don't know if it would go well."

"Well tell us. Me and Dream are like, the lady experts. We'll be able to help."

And so, George planned out the day he was to spend with Cami, adjusting some of it so it would be more "romantic," according to Dream. At the thought of such events, George grew excited, eventually wearing himself out to slumber.

Once he hung up with his friends, he laid still for a moment, fading to sleep with none other than her voice replaying in his head. He was depicting every detail of the moments they shared earlier.

The seconds his body actually fell asleep, a smile mushroomed on his face when he realized something—she still said his name the same way.

• • •

ARRIVING HOME AFTER THAT NIGHT ON THE ROCKY SHORE, CAMI COLLAPSED ON THE PLUSH SOFA, EXHAUSTED. The day had been a ferris wheel of emotions, and now her mind was given a chance to rest.

She recognized a song playing from the speaker in the kitchen, Angie painting her nails at the tiny kitchen table. Cami sighed, using extra strength to get up and go visit her friend. "Cherry" played softly in the background, putting both of their hearts at ease for the night.

"How've you been, love?" Cami questioned, voice so euphonious it could put someone to sleep. She put a hand on Angie's shoulder, rubbing it soothingly.

Angie looked up at the French girl. "I've had better days. I'm just glad you're here. My dad lived here all alone and now that he's gone, it's scary taking care of our childhood home all by myself. My siblings all have families, so I've been the designated one."

Cami nodded, going over to the cabinets and beginning to prepare some tea for the two of them. Angie always found it amazing how generously and naturally Cami cared for others, like it was a second instinct of hers.

"How'd it go with George?"

At the moment, the question was the elephant in the room. Cami watched as the water heated up in the pot on the stove, temporarily forgetting to answer the question. She shook her head, turning and speaking up.

"Better than I expected. Much better. I agreed I'd spend some time with him this week and that's that."

Angie, who had finished painting both of her nails, turned and looked at Cami. She was going to speak up, to congratulate the visitor on her interaction. But something was off.

Cami, who was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed, seemed pained. Her eyes were locked on the ground in front of her, her mind clearly out in space. By the furrow of her eyebrows, Angie could detect something was wrong. She waited a few minutes before responding.

"Really? Because by the look on your face, you seem like he just told you he got a new girlfriend or something."

Cami peered up, blinking a few times. Then she answered, "I'm just a bit scared, that's it. After all, I'm only here for a week."

"So...I'm guessing you're scared you're gonna want to stay longer?" Angie interrogated wittily.

Cami shrugged, and turned to face the pot of water that was beginning to boil.

"I'm just gonna do what my heart tells me to do. In the end, it's not up to me. My destiny is already set."

"Stop being so damn poetic. You're in love with him and you know it," Angie teased, trying to brighten the mood with a laugh.

Cami snickered, running a hand through her messy head of hair. "You know, Ang, maybe you're onto something."

( AUTHOR'S NOTE! )

I HAVE LITERALLY BEEN GOING
FERAL WITH THESE UPDATES!!
kinda fun tbh 🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️

anyway hope y'all have been well!!
make sure you're well rested and
maybe try to do something that's
been stressing you out 💃🕺💃🕺

I LOVE YOU N IM PROUD OF YOU!!

-cal