Sunburst

“It’s you, Stella. It doesn’t matter if you’re fresh from practice, or spent hours getting ready. It doesn’t matter how I get you, you are always beautiful to me. You will always be beautiful to me.”

I blushed at his compliment which really meant I started glowing brighter. My skin became feverishly hot and I breathed through my nose to calm down so I wouldn’t burn him.

“And it’s even better when you do this.” He ran a hand up my shimmering forearm.

“You know I love you too,” I whispered, feeling swept away with this moment.

“I know you do.” He bent forward and placed a kiss on my collarbone. I shivered at the contact. “But don’t promise me anything.”

His words cut at my elated mood. I knew what he was saying. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t have any promises to give him. I was too confused.

Tristan looked up at me with his hopeful green eyes and held my gaze. His hand was ru

I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. My mood was restored and my heart soared at his question. This was the first time Tristan had ever asked me to a dance before. We had always been so firmly platonic. And I had thought I was Ok with that- that I was Ok with him taking countless random dates instead of me.

But this moment proved how long I had been waiting for him to ask me. I had been secretly hoping to be his date since junior high. And he hadn’t just asked me to any dance.

He asked me to prom!

Ah!

“Yes,” I beamed at him. “Yes, I’ll go to prom with you.”

He gri

“Good,” I echoed.

And then I squealed when he suddenly bounced me off his lap and onto the couch. I landed on my back with him looming over me. He was standing. Apparently our romantic moment was over.

“What-“

“You should probably go,” Tristan smiled down at me with soft eyes but he was serious.

“I thought we were having a moment!” I complained.

“We were,” he agreed. I slowly sat up and glared at him. “And now I want to ravish you, so it’s time to go. You agreed to go to prom with me and I’m not going to mess that up by acting like a horny twelve year old.”

“But you are a horny twelve year old,” I pointed out while I was secretly excited by his words.

He just gri

“I’ve never seen you this excited about a dance before.”

“Because I’ve never gotten to go to a dance with the girl I wanted before.”

“That’s your own fault,” I grumbled.

“Be that as it may, Stella Day, I am fixing that now.”

I was melting with every one of his sweet sentiments. I stopped suddenly as I was passing him in the doorway and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I caught him off guard, but he recovered when I turned around, and he smacked me on the butt.

“Gosh, you’re such a brat,” I hissed.

“But you still love me.” He was so smug.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

“Oh, but I am. You told me. I heard you.” He was messing around, but he was adorable. And he was right. I did love him.

I said goodbye to Tristan and his family and drove home. We lived only fifteen minutes from each other and with the days getting longer and the nice weather, it was an enjoyably drive home. I was floating after an evening with Tristan’s family and him. I was so worried about where we were going and what was happening to our relationship. And it was made worse because I felt like I couldn’t fight for us- like I didn’t have that right. I was supposed to be with somebody else, and if Tristan was done with me then it was my obligation to him to let him go. But I didn’t want him to. Even with Seth and how crazy our relationship had become, I wasn’t ready to give up Tristan yet.

I skipped my homework, said goodnight to my parents and went upstairs to shower. My bathroom was just outside my room in the hall; it was the only one upstairs apart from my parent’s master bathroom. But the only person I ever had to share my bathroom with was A

It was usually a mess.

I showered off the sweat and grime from practice, and did the obligatory shaving thing. When I was on Earth my body acted just like any other human, and hair growth was a part of that. If I would have lived my life as the Star like the rest of my race, I wouldn’t ever have to shave, or eat or worry about muscle tone.

But that wasn’t my life. That would never be my life.

I brushed out my long blonde hair that seemed so much darker when it was wet. I proceeded to brush my teeth and floss. That was it, my entire bedtime routine.

I decided to braid my hair over my shoulder so it would be pretty-ish tomorrow instead of frizzy from sleeping on it while it was wet. That added an extra minute.

There was no other reason to put off going to bed other than I felt guilty for not doing my homework. I still wasn’t going to do it…. but it made going to bed feel abnormally early. It didn’t help that I had been out the last five nights in a row with Nate and Serena. My sleep schedule was all messed up.

I turned the light off in the bathroom and walked into my bedroom when I nearly came out of my skin. Seth was in my room.

Seth was on my bed.

He was sitting on the edge of it, with his hands on his knees, staring at the messy floor like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. His golden brown hair was disheveled and looked well pulled at. His skin was still ta

He was beautiful, but broken.

He was like the statue of David, perfectly carved and chiseled, but lifeless.

My soul fell apart at the sight of him. Some trampled instinct whispered I should have a weapon nearby, but I ignored it. This was Seth. And he’d only been gone for three weeks.

I closed the door behind me and then leaned back against it. Slowly, and with great reluctance, he finally lifted his eyes to mine.

Our gazes crashed together and all of the air was stolen from my lungs. He was so fierce, purely warrior and raw with intensity.

I knew I should feel fear, that I should be terrified of this version of him. But I couldn’t find that emotion anywhere. All I felt was a love so strong, so severe, so consuming that it seemed to spark all over my body like a living, breathing part of me.

His eyes were the same honey-colored light they always had been, even if they were hard now, hard and distant.

He didn’t say a word, but slipped off his leather dress shoes and then scooted back on my bed. He laid down while I watched him, while he kept me locked in his devouring stare.

He was dressed up again- in brown trousers and another white oxford. And he was wearing dress socks. I loved his dress socks. But I hated that he was wearing this outfit. It was like the Fallen dress code and it wasn’t him.

I stayed by the door, too afraid of what he was asking of me.

His jaw clenched tighter and he patted the spot next to him impatiently. I let out a long sigh, but followed his silent command. I flipped the light switch and climbed into bed.

He was in his nice clothes and I was wearing my pajamas- sleep shorts and a cami- but I blushed from the feeling that we were naked next to each other.

We had slept together before, but every time had seemed i

And I didn’t know if I was strong enough to tell him no, if he pushed me.

Mostly, because I didn’t know if I wanted to tell him no.