December

Evan's POV

I slowly woke up to Avery tossing and turning next to me. She was sweating with the blankets kicked off of her, mumbling something. She began to grow more and more upset as she went on.

"Hey, Ave?" I shook her shoulder gently, trying to wake her up. Avery must have been having nightmares again.

We were two weeks into living together, and she was slowly making progress. Avery barely saw and imagined things while she was awake, and her nightmares weren't happening as often, but she still got them.

"Babe, c'mon." I said, sitting up and dragging her up with me. While I was pulling her up, her reflexes in her sleep kicked in, and she tried pulling away fast. Flinging her body towards the edge of the bed, the force pulled us both down towards the floor, landing with a painful sound and feeling.

"Hm?" Avery's eyes fluttered open, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes finally flew wide open when she saw we were on the floor. Sitting up, still on top of me, she whipped her head around, finally realising the bed was next to us, and we weren't in it.

"You were, uh," I groaned as I sat up to face her, "having a nightmare."

"... Well, fine. But why are we on the floor?" She asked, blushing. I laughed, picking her up as I got back on my feet. I dropped Avery into bed, and she bounced, letting out a squeal.

" You pulled me down after I tried waking you up." I said, rubbing the back of my head. That was a harder fall than I thought. Avery's face flipped into concern, and she felt the back of my head softly.

"I don't feel any bumps.... I think you're alright. Unless it's internal bleeding. Then you're on your own." Avery joked, giggling at me. I rolled my eyes, smiling, as I sighed into her shoulder. She froze up underneath me, and held her breath as I continued resting my head on her shoulder.

Avery's fingers traced circles into my skin on my back, slowly working up to my shoulder and down my arm. It was my turn to lose my breath, and she noticed, letting a small smirk play across her face.

"What w-was your nightmare of?" I asked, waiting for silence. She usually never responded to this question.

Avery took in a sharp breath, then exhaled. "The day you left."

"God, I'm sorry Ave. I never want you to relive that ever again." I said, lifting my head to look at her. She bit her lip, looking down. I wish she would stop doing that, it fucking drove me nuts. I wanted to grab her face and kiss her pale pink lips and-

Wait, what ?

Since when did I look at Avery like that? She's my best friend... that'd be so... odd.

Obviously not, since you tried kissing her after you saw her naked last week.

Times like this I wish my conscience knew how to shut the fu-

"Do you have that painting?" Avery asked, pushing me from my thoughts. Our eyes met and I knew which one she was talking about.

"C'mon." I said, grabbing her hand to pull her from bed. I hurried up the stairs to the attic, dragging Avery with me. We got up the stairs, and flipped the lights on. Nothing but a few dusty boxes were outlined in the dim lights.

"We don't have to find it now, it's totally ok-"

"Ave, look." I whispered, pointing behind her. She turned and I heard her gasp. The painting was hanging on the bare wall behind the staircase opening, along with old photographs of us as kids and young teenagers.

Avery walked to the wall, her hands reaching to the photos. Her fingers traced the edges, until she worked her way to the painting.

"After all this time..."

"I couldn't leave it behind." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her waist. She shivered under my touch, still glancing at the canvas paper. I was right, I couldn't leave it here when I left. It may have been a silly painting to some, but to me, it meant the world.

"You actually took the stars with you." Avery said, her voice shaking.

"Only thing besides things I needed that I brought back with me from LA. They really helped, not having the best night skies out in the city." I whispered, smiling as I leaned my head down to kiss the top of her's.

Avery spun around to hug me tightly. "Everyone uses the stars to lead them back home, someway, somehow." She whispered, crying. I looked down, shocked at first, but smiled when I saw the grin on her face. Slowly but surely, the old Avery Rey was showing again.

And she was right, everyone uses the stars to find their way back home, somehow.