Boy From the Stars

The soup wasn't scorched, and she was able to deliver two steaming helpings into bowls. She grabbed the entire bag of rolls and brought them to the table as well. She went through the motions of eating, not really tasting the soup. She wished she had questions still streaming through her head just to make conversation, but her mind was a complete blank. Estian sat silently as though leaving the time open for her to ask anything.

She glanced up at him once or twice and found it oddly reassuring with how calm he was. She was grateful that he was so peaceful compared to her ravaged nerves. It seemed like she had been thrown into a faerie tale. She was grateful for earlier when he saved her, but she tried not to think about it because she was so terrified at the time. She tried not to look at him, but it was difficult to look away. He was something she wanted to stare at and make sense of, and yet she wanted nothing to do with him.

After the long, silent dinner Celest stood and took her bowl to the sink. The rolls were relatively untouched. In a moment he was next to her, willing to do his part of the clean up. She took an obvious step away from him trying to give the hint she didn't like him so close. She didn't want to command him to do anything.

"Am I still scary?" he sort of whispered behind her, nearly reading her mind from earlier thoughts.

"Well- I- you WERE scary- but you're, well I'd say you're normal now but you're obviously not."

"I'm sorry. I won't show that side of myself again... I saw you in trouble and- I snapped." he paused and she glanced over at his hand on the counter as she washed the dish. It balled tightly into a fist. "You’re not hurt are you?"

"Maybe just frost-bitten." she didn't know what to say. Her pride was a little hurt, and she realized that if he hadn't been there things could have gone worse.

"Thank you." she whispered, "I was a little scared." she couldn't help but glance up at him. He was beaming a stunningly white smile. She thought she felt the beam connected to her chest throb slightly but if it did he kept all other excitement under his control.

She finished over-washing the dishes and placed them in the drying rack.

"Well, I can't have you sleeping on the couch. Let me show you to the guest room."

"You're too kind." he expressed, "I doubt any stars get such treatment."

"There are more of you?"

"Plenty of us. I saw another not too long ago, last night I believe."

"You guys just walk around on Earth?"

"We are summoned. I was only lucky that I landed so close to you. It can take quite a long time to find our masters."

Celest shuddered at the word 'master.' he continued to explain as they ascended the stairs.

"We don't exactly know what calls us, but when we get here, or wherever we are needed in space, we have something that guides us towards them. When you were near I felt an incredible feeling. It was like my fire inside was excited. I knew right away that you were the one. Running towards you was exhilarating!"

He talked like a child explaining some grand story. Celest could tell he was more than excited to be on his mission. It was just unfortunate she couldn't share the same feelings.

"Secretly I would have been happy with a tree, or even an animal! But to be paired with a human, well that's just special."

"Stars can get paired with trees? And dogs?"

"We can get paired with anything. I've even heard a star once got paired with a star. Rocks are unfortunate to be paired with. Somehow a wish is made, or some malfunction happens and a star falls for a rock. The rock can't do much of anything, so the star becomes useless."

"A rock? Didn't you say you were alone? How do you know these things?"

"Hmmm... I just know. Information travels in space."

They made it to the guest room and Celest timidly stepped in. The room was quite large compared to the rest of the rooms in the house. The bed was against the wall next to a large window. There was a wardrobe in one corner and a door that led to a bathroom on the other wall. A desk occupied space near the bed and a fireplace was just across the room from the bed with a small setup of chairs around it for a relaxing setting for reading or whatnot.

"I guess you won't need that." Celest motioned towards the fire place.

"What is that?" he asked.

"A fireplace- it is meant to keep you warm- but I guess since you're a star you have the ability to keep planets warm." she mumbled the last bits to herself. She figured if he didn't know what a fireplace was he wouldn't know anything else. She went around explaining the use for a wardrobe as well as the desk. She would let the restroom be his own discovery. With his clothes changing abilities she didn't know if he needed the use of anything in the room. Finally she stopped at the bed. She had good reason to believe he didn't need this either.

"This is your bed. You sleep on it."

Estian walked over to it and drug his hand along the covers. After a moment he sat and seemed almost excited at the bounciness of it.

"This is fantastic!" he exclaimed. Celest almost smiled at his excitement over a bed. He leaned back and glanced out the window. "Look!" he exclaimed and pointed outside. Celest had to crawl a bit on the bed to see what he was pointing at. She didn't see anything except trees.

"What exactly am I supposed to see?" she asked.

"The sky. You can see it."

"Oh." Celest glanced over at him. She thought it would be something different. At the same moment he gazed at her through the corner of his shining carmel eyes. They were almost face to face. Immediately she pushed herself off the bed. He turned over and sat cross-legged while giving off another stunning grin. Celest took another step back from him.

"I’m going to go take a shower and study before bed. I've got some tests and a final project coming up before the break starts. Feel free to wander around the house, but if you must ask me something I’d like it if you'd knock on the door. Also, speaking of school, since I'm going to be there for a while you might want to consider getting yourself a job or something."

"About that-" he looked down and then glanced up at her sweetly through his eyelashes and shining hair. "I enrolled in the school yesterday after you called me."

"You did what?!"

"Well, I wanted to be close to you in case you needed anything, and also because I just wanted to be around you."

"You jumped out of the five story window. There are going to be questions."

"I don't mind answering them." he seemed to misunderstand the jumping issue wasn't so terrible.

"I doubt anyone got a good look at you-but you shouldn't tell anyone you're a star. That would draw too much attention, which I'm sure people will recognize you from the news after you left that crater in the ground."

"I already fixed that." he grinned.

"I hope no one saw you."

"I don't think so."

Celest paced a couple steps around the room. She was trying to think positive. What good could possibly come from this? Maybe he could make some friends. With a face like his capturing the hearts of girls wasn't going to be hard. He could hang out with more people besides her.

"Alright. I guess it is done now. I don't think it would be wise not to use any magic."

"Will you command me not to?" he asked and a grin appeared on his face.

"What?!"

"I may not know what not to use. Your command will keep me from doing it no matter what."

She took a step back from him. She didn't want to constrict his abilities nor did she want to enforce servitude, "I don't think it will be hard to figure out."

With that she turned on her heel and walked from his room. She took a warm shower almost immediately, but no matter how she regulated the water temperature she couldn't get it exactly right like Estian had. She shook her head. Why was she thinking like that? She washed the melted snow from her hair and shut the water off when she was done. She wrapped her hair in a towel and threw her pjs on before going back to her room to study until she fell asleep.

She was surprised that Estian didn't bother her at all. She eventually crawled into bed and wrapped herself in her blankets, refusing to think about the events that transpired earlier in the day.

The next morning Celest stretched and sat up in bed. Going to school with a star was sure to prove problematic. She French braided her hair while sifting through her closet for more warm clothes. She was suddenly struck with a fascination for turtlenecks. She took down a sage green one as well as a dark red, fluffy scarf. She pulled on jeans and a pair of fresh socks. She rebraided her hair after pulling everything on. Finally, she took down a knee length wool coat from her closet and buttoned it down her front. She grabbed a beret from her hat pile and situated it on her head before walking out of the room. There wasn't any sign of Estian around. She wondered if he was awake yet. She shrugged and went down stairs to wait on him. If she was lucky she would be able to get to school without him. She hoped the news reporters had found something else to make a good story. When she got to the kitchen she saw him sitting at the table. He smiled brilliantly and stood when she came in. He bowed with a flourish.

“Good morning, mon belle.”

“French?” She asked as she grabbed two granola bars from the cabinet, ignoring that he had just called her beautiful. She threw one towards him and he caught it while she opened hers and took a bite.

“I suppose it was.” He grinned and opened his package just like she had.

“How is it that you know Earth languages? You haven’t been here before have you?”

“I don’t. My words translate in your mind and you can understand me.”

“Well, why did you just speak in French?”

“Well-“ He smiled widely like a cheeky child, “I wanted to use the most romantic words to you, and they came out French.”

Celest was in the motion of grabbing her purse off the nearest chair and she froze. Her hand went immediately to her heart because it felt oddly warm and was beating as though she was nervous. What was he doing to her this time?

“Could you please keep your emotions under control?” She half whispered half spoke, not enjoying the fact that his feelings came so easily through the beam connecting them.

“Under control?” He asked, “They are- for now.” He sounded a bit confused and glanced down at his beam in his chest.

“Well then why is my heart- oh never mind.” She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She didn’t like the feeling in her chest, mostly because she had only just met him. She made up her mind that it was because he was connected to her somehow that it was harder to control her feelings.

“I’d like to get walking through the snow over with- so I’m going to head to school now. You can come whenever you want.” Celest didn’t like walking in the snow but she figured the sooner she started the sooner it would be over with.

“I’ll come with you.” He smiled and walked to the front door and opened it for her. A blast of icy air wrapped around her and breezed into the house. Snow was falling quite fast from the sky in large fluffy puffs. She could smell the ice and in the air and it made her nose sting. She wrapped her scarf around her nose and shoved her gloved hands into her pockets. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the wind not been blowing so hard.

They started towards the school. The streets were lined with quite a few centimeters of snow and the clouds above made it seem much darker than it was. It wasn’t long before the heat that had accumulated under all her layers of clothes was soaked up and replaced by frigid cold. She began to shiver and she tried to walk a little faster. Out of curiosity she looked over at Estian. He didn’t seem to be affected one bit by the cold. His jacket was unzipped revealing his crème coloured turtleneck and his hands were swinging smoothly by his sides. There wasn’t any pain or discomfort on his face and he almost seemed like he was enjoying the walk through the falling snow. He glanced at her and she quickly looked away.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asked

“No.” he paused, “But you are.” He paused as though waiting for her to respond to that. She didn’t know what to say- it wasn’t like she was trying to be cold, in fact she thought she was doing quite well holding her complaints in. it’s not like she could wish the snow away. When she didn’t respond he spoke again.

“I can help.” He offered and held his hand out to her. She glanced at it and then looked away.

“I’m fine thanks. We’re almost there.” She avoided his gesture even though it was hard to do. His heat had been surreal and comfortable the previous night. It felt unnatural to refuse the heat when she was this cold. Then again, she didn’t want him to get any ideas. They continued walking when she soon felt a weight on her shoulders. The cold was immediately blocked and couldn’t get through the weaves of her clothes. She looked to her shoulder and saw the jacket that Estian had just been wearing. She glanced up at him and he was just in a turtleneck. His cheeks were slightly rosy, but she could tell it wasn’t form the cold.

“Are you crazy?” She asked, “People walking by are going to think you’re an insane person in this cold. Besides, how aren’t you frozen yet?”

“Fire.” He winked, pointing to his chest, and then smirked playfully, “Besides, I don’t care what people think. I care about you.”

She was about to protest but he held up a hand and spoke first, “Please, it is the least I can do. I dislike seeing you so uncomfortable.”

Celest was about to think of a way to say no, but she realized the jacket was acting like an oven and was forcing heat into the rest of her clothes. Involuntarily she wrapped it further over her shoulders and the warmth began to soak through. It wasn’t as satisfying as his touch had been, but at least it kept her warm. The cold didn’t even try to soak into her again. It was as though his jacket’s threads were woven from fire.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Every time she glanced over at him he had a smile on his face as though happy to have been able to help. They walked into the school building and she reluctantly handed the jacket back to him.

“Thank you, Estian.” She said as he took the jacket back from her.

“You said my name.” he blushed and smiled. He made the movement to go hug her but caught himself and placed his arms down at his sides.

“I’ve said your name before-haven’t I?” she asked, mostly to herself. She didn’t think it was that big of a deal. She felt the beam in her chest slightly fluctuate and a burst of warmth erupted in her chest. She backed up and leaned against the wall to support herself. She was beginning to feel light headed. Suddenly the feeling went away.

“Sorry.” He apologized and looked worried, “It just made me really happy.”

Celest sighed and looked down at her chest. The beam was bright but it was no longer overpowering.

“Are you alright?” he asked and took a step towards her.

“I’m fine- just a little stunned.” She took a step away from him while removing her gloves and headed towards the closest coat room. Just then the doors opened and a blast of cold air chilled the corridor.

“Hey Celest! You’re here early again!”

Celest quickly turned to see her three rambunctious friends entering. They rushed towards her but stopped when they saw Estian.

“Wow-“ Bernadette, the blond involuntarily exclaimed.

“Who are you?” The red head asked.

“This is Estian.” She quickly stated, “Estian, these are my friends, Bernadette, Chloe, and Bridget.”

“It’s an honour to meet you all.” He said.

“It’s- quite a pleasure of mine to meet you.” Bridget, the tall, beautiful brown haired girl exclaimed. She was the most attractive of the group. If anyone was going to be absent from group hang-outs it was most likely her because she was always chasing after another boy.

Chloe had rose-red hair that fell in perfect ringlets of curls which framed her angelic face. She was soft spoken and calm unless she was upset. She was a completely different person if she was angry. It was good to just try and keep her calm all the time.

Bernadette was lanky and clumsy and always outspoken. It was impossible for her to not speak her mind in any situation. She was a grade-A tom-boy. She had even been recruited to be on many of the male teams in school. They were all a motley group of girls but they had been best friends since they were very young.

“Where’d you find such a beautiful guy?” Bernadette asked.

“Beautiful? He’s gorgeous!” Bridget exclaimed and took a step towards him. He nervously took a step back and glanced at Celest.

“Bridget, control yourself. C’mon we’re going to study.” Chloe grabbed Bridget’s arm and dragged her down the hall and away from Estian. When they were gone Bernadette walked over to Estian and elbowed him in the ribs playfully.

“Watch out for that girl- she’s just broke up with her old boyfriend and you’re the first boy she’s laid eyes on. Where’d you come from anyway?”

“He’s from out of town.” Celest answered for him. He looked at her curiously but played along handsomely.

“I’m visiting for Christmas, and maybe a little longer.” He gave Celest a look she didn't understand.

“Well, that’s good. You should get to know Celest, she needs a friend around here. We’re all going away on Holiday when school gets out. Her dad won’t be home and her mum died last Christmas-“ Suddenly her hands went up to her mouth and she gasped. “Oh, Celest. I am so sorry. My mouth just runs away sometimes.”

“It’s ok.” Celest quickly turned and stuffed her hands into her pockets. “I’m going to class.” She walked quickly away without looking back. Sometimes it was difficult to have such an outspoken friend. Hearing someone speak so freely about something so tragic made her heart throb. She figured she would let Estian find his own way around, it was his choice to come to school anyway.

She was the first one in her class. She hung her jacket up against the wall and sat in the back row of desks near the windows. Thinking about her mum made her realized the one wish she would wish if she could. But she knew she would never be able to wish it and have it come true. She watched the snow fall lazily down and waited for the bell to ring.