Chapter 5: 03

One Starry Night

-•-•-

She stares at the sky

Pitch black over the city lights

She smiles,

"Somewhere there is a place where it's starry tonight."

"Are you sure you want to see this movie?" My best friend, Saara, turns to me with an eyebrow cocked up.

I grin, "Scared to see fish-man and human girl sex, Poofy?"

"Shut up, okay?" The tiny girl hmmphs as she holds onto the bag of chips and I tighten my fingers around our bottle of water.

"I'm not scared of that! We survived that BDSM one, didn't we?" She continues, this time however her voice is a hushed whisper. I, on the other hand, can't help the snort of laughter that leaves my mouth, "Right! That was such a disappointment."

"Let's just hope this has a happy ending," Saara whispers as the people beside us in the waiting lobby begin to glance at us.

"What the hell are these folks staring at us for? Watch the loud trailer playing on that wall instead man!"

"Sssh, we'll get told off very soon," I chuckle along with her, my bright eyes glancing around the crowd of people casually.

I stop.

My breath hitches in my throat and I grip the bottle of water in my hand tighter.

Across the lobby I see him seated on one of the sofas in the corner.

His eyes are settled on the screen in front, a small smile is spread across his face. For a second I almost get up on my feet and acknowledge him —ask where Isaac is. Then I stop.

If he wanted to, he would have contacted me but he didn't. Maybe he wants to ignore that embarrassing afternoon where his son called an unknown woman 'mummy'.

My decision proves to be correct because only a second later a woman appears from beside him, giggling as she continues talking to him. My eyes snap to the man's face again and I watch his small smile widen up a fraction.

"Gemma?"

"Huh?" I blink, realising I've completely ignored my best friend because of this sudden surprise.

I blink again, turning towards Saara, "Sorry, Poofy. See that man there?" I motion her towards the man and watch as her eyes widen. She speaks before I can continue.

"Wow, he's hot! Is he Asian? What race is he?"

I sigh, "Does that matter? I don't know what he is. But remember I told you about a kid calling me his mum?"

I see her eyes widen into two saucer-like circles, "Let me guess, that's the dad?"

I nod, pursing my lips in nervousness as I wait for her reaction.

"Damn, guess the kid had a mum after all."

"I know right," I smile this time, thinking of how happy Isaac must be when his real mum finally got there, "I can't believe I actually thought she was dead or something. Guess she really was lost. No wonder the man didn't call me when I had offered him to."

"PenPen, you sure you don't have a crush on him?"

I blink again. What the hell?

"Where did that come from? Of course not. He's married."

This time Saara scoffs, and I felt my face heat under her knowing eyes.

"You didn't know that when you met him! And I see that look you get every time it rains. But right, keep on lying to yourself, woman,"

"We are now accepting tickets for the movie 'Shape of Water' screening in cinema 6. Ticket holders are requested to please make your way forward. I repeat we are now accepting tickets for the movie 'Shape of Water' screening in cinema 6. Ticket holders are requested to please make your way forward."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Wow," I breathe, feeling the night breeze hit me smack against my face as I step out of the cinema and into the open night.

Looking up I'm presented with a dark sky. Not a star is in sight with all of the lights of the city flashing around me. Still, I know in my heart that it's probably a very starry night in some other part of the world. Maybe somewhere someone is sleeping under these same stars I can not see, wondering about people like me. People who can't see what they can.

"I know right," Saara sighs beside me, probably just as fuzzy-minded as I am, "Let's just get home, man. I need to sleep on this one."

"You're right," I nod, my mind returning to reality from my own little world. Even I need to sleep on this one. For a few weeks. That was bloody brilliant.

"Excuse me,"

I turn around and my breath hitches.

"Jason,"

The sheepish grin on the boy's face widens at my acknowledgment and he takes another step forward.

"I knew it was you! Despite the difference in clothing that is. Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans, Gem! You look... you look good!" Jason chuckles sheepishly as he scratches the back of his neck. I can only stare at him wide-eyed. I never thought I'd see him with hair down as well. He is always so proper at work. Too proper.

Suddenly something seems to make him nervous and I watch as he barely controls himself from dropping his jaw on the ground.

"Well," Jason suddenly blurts out, scratches his neck as he begins awkwardly shuffling on his feet. His eyes dart behind me and he takes almost tumbles onto me, "I'll — I'll see you at work then!"

"Ah! Oh! Okay! Bye Jason! I'll see you around too!"

Turning around I narrow my eyes at a suspicious-looking Saara, "You showed him your face, didn't you?"

Saara begins whistling as she continues leaning against her Cadillac, looking everywhere but at me, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You totally showed Jason your face!" I looked at her wide-eyed with a bewildered smile on my face.

"Okay! Okay!" She exclaims suddenly, "It was a mistake! I just needed a breath of fresh air so I took off this stupid face mask and he came tumbling about!"

"Poor Jason!" I groan, "Do you know what a big fan of yours he is? He watches all of your videos and buys all of your songs! If only you wouldn't have warned of your fans from not approaching you when you have your face mask on in that stupid Q&A video,"

"Well I can't be a famous YouTube star turned worldwide famous Canadian singer, Saara Malik, all the time, now can I? I need to be a normal girl Saara Malik who went to Primary, Uni and graduated with her best friend and cousin Gemma Windly, once in a while. Can't I?"

She has me now. She knows she does. This always gets to me. So instead I say what I always say to her in these situations.

"I'll tell Isma Khala to watch that video. You just wait," I poke my tongue out at her.

"Watch her call Irma Khala and complain for hours. Then we will have both our mums up our arses,"

"Okay never mind," I shake my head, putting off the idea just as soon as she brings it up, "Involving the two sisters is never a good idea."

Looking smug, Saara nudges me towards the car, "Now get in. I'll drop you home."

I sigh. Mumbling incoherent words about how much I'm bullied by my rich and famous cousin, I get in.

"Hey look! That handsome Asian dude with his wife!" Saara suddenly whispers scandalously and my head snaps towards the direction of her gaze.

We watch silently as the pair continue to walk their way past our car. The wife continues to talk animatedly with the man who is now smiling.

"They make a good pair," I breathe just as the beautiful woman grabs onto the man's jacket and grins up at him, obvious adoration all over her face. The man, however, turns his head towards us, almost like he knows we're watching him. His eyes stop straight on mine and I almost have a heart attack.

"Fuck!" Saara hisses as she puts her mask back on, "Oh wait, he can't see inside nicely because we're parked in front of the light, not behind it."

I on the other hand just stay there, frozen, staring right into the man's eyes as he stands there abruptly trying to see us inside the car.

"What's wrong?" Saara blurts out suddenly and I turn towards her.

"She said that," She explains at once, nudging towards the couple. Dumbly, I turn towards the couple again only to see them walking away.

"They make a nice couple," I mumble again. I don't exactly know what to say at this point. Not that I've ever been someone who is verbally eloquent when it comes to expressing my thoughts and emotions. Saara, on the other hand, has always been quite blunt in nature. Expressing herself verbally comes very easily to her. I guess that's why she's a celebrity slash YouTube star, and I'm an editor at a publishing company.

"Umhum, sure they do," Saara yawns as she pulls her seatbelt on and begins driving out of the cinema's driveway.

"Poofy!" I groan, breaking into a yawn myself. I don't think I'll ever understand the dynamics behind person B yawning right after person A does.

"Oh shut it, I'm tired okay? It was a hard day today. I... I broke up with Dante," Saara mutters, finally admitting the reason why she invited herself into my movie plans without her two bodyguards.

I can't help but stare at the girl. How has she remained so calm after breaking up with her boyfriend of seven years?

"Let's go to your place instead of mine. Have a sleepover, like old times?" I suggest, trying to lighten the mood. I know better than to leave her alone tonight. Saara can be quite unpredictable.

"He's been sleeping around," she finally whispers after minutes of dead silence. I turn towards her when she stops the car at a red light.

"With?"

"My manager," Saara confesses, looking straight ahead into the traffic. I gulp. Her manager... Robert?

"So... Dante is... gay?"

"Guess so,"

"Since when?"

"Probably forever,"

Then why did the boy date you?

"Let's stop by at the convenience store that's in your neighbourhood. I need a lot of junk food to get over this one," I say instead.

"You and I both," Saara shrugs. I glance at her when she suddenly pokes at the radio and a random number begins to play.

"Hey, at least it's not a woman," I try to make her feel better but I know the more I'm opening my mouth the more I'm messing things up. Still, I continue like an idiot, "At least it's a guy. You know how complicated people make that. Plus you're a celebrity. He must have not wanted to trouble you too m—"

"It doesn't matter if it's a girl or guy. It hurts the same. I'm still just as humiliated. It doesn't matter if we'd managed to keep our relationship a secret so long. It still feels like a huge deal. Like the whole world knows I got played by a possibly homosexual fella who kept me as his cover from the society for seven bloody years. I'm so embarrassed, Gemma," Saara spits out bitterly. Just then, the light turns green and she continues driving again.

I don't know what to say so instead I close my eyes and just exhale.

"I'm so firing Rob as soon as I get home," Saara spits out again. This time I can't keep quiet.

"Wait, you haven't fired him yet?"

"I was too shocked too!"

"Oh boy," I breathe out. This is going to be one hell of a night.

I can already smell a very dirty fight in the air.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Waking up in someone else's home is always the most awkward thing, to me. Everything around me just feels wrong. The bed, the colour of the paint in the room, the room. It takes me more than ten minutes to settle myself into the environment again.

Then I get up and get myself into my usual morning routine. Brushing, peeing, sometimes pooping because I'm human and need to excrete what I eat, and always taking a shower.

Waking up in Saara's house, however, feels quite normal. It's something that we do most of the time. So much so that she has a dozen pair of my clothes at hers and I have hers at mine. We usually even sleep in the same bed. Growing up, it's become a habit.

What helps more is that she used my style to get her apartment interior decorated. Her excuse was that she likes the peaceful, calm taste I have when it comes to interior decoration and it helps her calm down after a busy day at work.

"Good morning," Saara's croaky morning voice echoes around the walls of the condo in the quiet morning. I glance over to see her making her way down the stairs in her short shorts and a tank top. Her hair is a mess, her face is tear-stained and her eyes are so puffy I don't think she'll be able to go out in public today without her shades on.

I was right about last night, it was a complete disaster.

"Why, don't you look like a darling," I smile at the princess.

"Shut it. What's for breakfast? I need to pop in some painkillers ASAP," Saara groans as she enters the kitchen and settles herself on the high chair in front of the kitchen island.

"Mashed avocado, toast, and milk tea," I reply, popping in another pair of sliced bread into the toaster before turning towards the girl again.

"Go upstairs and freshen up. Isma Khala called. Dante called her at 2 in the morning, he was drunk. She's coming over by lunch."

"The hell?!" Saara exclaims, looking around the kitchen in panic but clearly not seeing a thing.

"Have you tried checking your phone? Dante called you all night. So did Khala, after 2."

"You have to be shitting me," Saara blurts out before turning around and rushing up the stairs.

Still, in the kitchen, I let out a sigh as the toaster pops out the toasted slices behind me. My mind wanders on the couple I saw yesterday, just for a second, before I quickly turn towards the just made toasts and begin working on preparing breakfast. There are more important matters to attend to rather than thinking about a happy couple I barely know.

Just then the doorbell blares around the apartment and I quickly make my way towards the door. Gritting my teeth when the doorbell rings again, screaming straight into my ears, I swing the door open.

"Hey, Gem. Is she there?"

I blink. Fuck. No way.

"Dante!" I blurt out dumbly.

"Yeah," he smiles at me. The tall man I've known for eight years, stands in front of me, towering over me with his 6 ft 3-inch height. His sweat coated light brown hair is falling over his forehead and I can see that he's just come here from working out or something. Noticing my eyes analysing him, the handsome man smiles and the two pits on his cheeks deepens. My eyes snap from his dimples to his brown pools. The familiarity in those dimples makes me take a shaky step back.

"Is Saara in?" He repeats.

I can see it, he's tired. He's probably not slept all night. Still, he's trying to maintain a positive facade.

Immediately I move out of the apartment and close the door behind me.

"Look, I understand that it must have been hard to be in a situation you were. But for God's sake, you hurt Saara in the process of protecting yourself," I whisper as I stand in front of the door and cross my arms in front of me.

Dante sighs, "I know. I... I was just so insecure because Saara wanted to keep me a secret. She couldn't acknowledge me in public. She couldn't acknowledge us in public. We had to meet in secret like we were illegal or something. Since her career hit off four years ago, Rob was just always there. It just happened."

I feel the fire that I've built since last night — watching my cousin bawl her eyes out — shrivel a little.

"Do you even know how much of an effort and preparation it takes to come to the decision that you're going to cheat on someone you've been with for seven years? I don't, but I'm sure it mustn't have happened in just a second. I know it must have been hard, being with her but not being able to really be with her. But Dan, you still had each other, didn't you? If you were so insecure you could have told her nicely or told her off. Instead, you acted like you were completely okay with everything and then just hurt her like this out of nowhere. Get yourself together man."

"Gem, please."

"No you please," I shake my head, "Go sort out your emotions and priorities. When you find yourself stuck between two people, Dan, pick the one that came second. Because if you really loved the first person~ the second person wouldn't even be a question. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes," Dante grits his teeth together, "You're telling me to fuck off and leave your cousin alone since I let Robert suck my dick a couple of times."

I nod, "Basically."

"Is this what your cousin wants? Don't you think you're making her decision for her?" Dante challenges me and I flinch. He's right. I might be making Saara's decision for her.

My eyes snap to the man towering in front of me, "You're right. Maybe I'm making this decision for her. But there is no way I'm letting you meet her today. So let's do it this way, go sort out your emotions and then come back after two weeks or something. Reallyyy, reallyyyy think about this. You slept with someone else when you were with my cousin. That's a big deal."

"I'm not going to listen to you," Dante snaps back, and I almost smile. I've been waiting for his short temper to show its ugly head ever since I walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind me.

"You better listen to her!" Saara's cold voice yells from the other side of the door and both Dante and I stiffen.

"Oh and tell Robert he's fired!" Saara yells again, this time her voice is louder and I feel myself cringe.

"What she said," I shrug, just standing there and looking at him.

I'm not an idiot, there is no way I'm opening the door when he's standing here. Compared to Saara and I's 5 ft height, he's basically a giant. There is no way I'll be able to stop him if he wants to force his way inside.

"You're not going in?" He cocks an eyebrow up and I smile.

So he really was thinking about pushing his way in.

"Not until you leave, Dan," I smile sadly.

"GemGem, please let me just talk to her. Just once," Dante whispers pleadingly as he takes a step closer, leaning in to be more at my height. Those eyes. The familiarity. I take a step back, pressing myself against the door.

I take a shaky breath before looking up, I stare straight into his eyes.

There is nothing more I can do. There are no more comforting and calm speeches that I can give him. So I just stand there and speak as clearly as I can, hoping it gets through the giant's thick skull.

"No. Go away."