I Hope You Like the Stars I Stole for You

Pruitt’s POV

Vic and I spent the afternoon together, wandering around the park, and eventually, the city. We just walked and talked, not caring where we ended up. Soon it was dark out, and we had no idea where we were. He grabbed my hand and began to run, and I didn’t protest. He pulled me across the street and through traffic. He stopped on a side street, running his hand through his hair, truly distressed now. “My dad’s gonna kill me…” He told me, breathless from the run. I nodded, as if my parents had even noticed I was gone…He still hadn’t let go of my hand, and I took the opportunity to step closer to him. I was kind of scared that we were out in the middle of the night(okay so maybe it was like nine o’clock but still) and we were lost, I mean who knew what kind of psycho would be out on a Saturday night ?! Where had the time even gone ? I mean, we had been together since noon….He looked at me and saw the fear in my eyes. He pulled me closer “Hey, it’s going to be okay. Don’t be scared.” I nuzzled into his chest, taking full advantage of the moment. Vic started walking again, pulling me along behind him. It was 9:15 before we even recognized anything, and at that time we were still ten minutes from both our houses. We started running again, and we came to Vic’s house first. He looked at me, then started walking away from his house. “Vic ? What are you doing ?” My voice held a trace of panic. He nodded toward the corner and said “Walking you home. I’m already late, and I don’t want my best friend walking to her house in the dark.” “Vic…I-I..” I stuttered. “Don’t argue, let’s go !” His voice was stern but still gentle. I followed after him like I had all day, not wanting to leave his side. Vic stopped outside of my house, hugged me, and whispered “Good luck” before he took off into the night. I sighed and pushed open my front door, half-expecting to be hit as soon as I did.
“Hello ?” I pushed the door open further, there were a few lights on, but no sign of either of my parents. I closed the door and locked it, walking into the kitchen. A note on the table greeted me, and I rolled my eyes. It read-

‘Pruitt:

Your father and I have gone out for a date night, expect us back late.’

That was all the note said, written in my mother’s perfect font. I knew that my parents hadn’t even noticed I was gone, why had I expected anything else ? I had kind of hoped maybe they were here, worried about me, mad at me for causing them to freak out over my whereabouts. They were very social people, they definitely had more friends than me, but I mean we had just moved here ! How did they find friends already ? I couldn’t believe that my mom had been gone every day this week as it was, where did they find all of these friends ? And how had I turned out to be such an anti-social freak…

I trudged upstairs to my room to change, and the thoughts settled in- the depressing thoughts, the self-put-downs, the thoughts of…well, of suicide. It seemed stupid that such little things put me on edge, pushed me towards these thoughts, but was there anyone that really, truly would care if I was gone ? I mean, I didn’t even care about myself…

Vic’s POV

I ran through the darkness and rounded the corner to my house. I walked quietly up to the porch and listened through the front door, trying to hear how mad my parents were. I heard muffled voices, but that was it. I opened the door slowly, and cautiously walked in. Every head in the room turned to look at me, and I was greeted with a few ‘hey’s’. That was it; no yelling, no screaming, nothing. I gave them all a weird look and went to my room, slamming the door slightly. They didn’t care about me, any other family would be worried that their son was out all day and into the night without any contact, but not my family. If it was Mike, the police would have been called by now. But not for me, not for poor, unimportant Vic. I checked my phone that I had left on my nightstand all day- not even a single text or call from any of them.

I collapsed on my bed, face-down. The only person who seemed to care the slightest about me was Pruitt. God, I just liked her so much. I had only liked two other people in the past, and even combined they were nothing compared to what I felt for Pruitt now. Today had been an amazing day, almost like a dream. I snatched my phone up from where I had thrown it on the floor and shot her a text. She replied immediately in response, and my heart started thumping loudly in my chest. She had responded with “I miss you.”

Pruitt’s POV

I was moping around my room, feeling sorry for myself when my phone lit up with a text. A smile lit up my face when I saw it was from Vic. He had said “You okay ? Parents not too mad ?” I texted him back “I miss you” without thinking, then replied with “I’m fine. They aren’t even home. What about yours ?” The conversation kept going like this, and soon we had been texting for hours without realizing it. Kind of like earlier when we got to talking and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Vic just made the world disappear for me, he made me feel like I was the only one that meant anything to him. Maybe I was just looking too deep into things, because he was the only one who meant anything to me.

Such strange connections with a boy who had become my best friend in a mere week.