Chasing Stars

It didn’t take long for Derek to pickup on the photo. I sent him the address so he could come over. I had been unpacking my clothes into the dresser drawer when the doorbell rang. I quickly shoved the drawer closed and ran out of the room. I ran down the stairs, two at a time. I screamed when I rounded the corner and he was there. Throwing my arms around him, I knocked us both to the floor in excitement.

“I missed you so much,” I said in between Derek’s laughter.

“I missed you more,” he whispered in my ear. I saw Gerard shaking his head as Derek stood up, pulling me with him.

“Wanna help me finish unpacking?” I asked after I collected my breath. Derek nodded and we began to walk up the stairs.

“Hey guys,” Gerard shouted after us. We both stopped and turned around to look at him. “Pizza for dinner? I’m assuming Derek will be staying over for dinner.”

“Sounds great,” we both said in unison before laughing and climbing the stairs. It was great seeing Derek again. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until now. Seeing him stand beside me made me remember just what I was missing. My best friend. The only person in the world that knew almost everything about me. The only person in the world that knew me before all these tragic things happened in my life. We entered my room and I shut the door.

“Well this is it,” I said to him as I pulled open another drawer to stuff my clothes into it. He peered around before his eyes landed on me.

“So you’re rich now,” he said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” I said through laughter as I throw my sweatshirt at him. He laughed and throw it back.

“I’m just saying. The average teenager doesn’t have a bathroom in her bedroom.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. I also know you are aware that none of this is mine,” I said standing up with the two bags I had emptied. I walked over to the closet. “Seriously, this was a guest room before I came here today,” I added. I shoved the bags inside and then turned to him. “I missed you a lot.”

“I missed you too,” he said patting the space near him. I joined him on the bed, crossing my legs.

“Should we watch a movie or read ridiculous online gabber,” I asked him. He crossed his legs and faced me. His dark hair had grown out slightly since the last time I had seen him, making his blue eyes pop.

“Whatever you want,” he said. I reached my hand out pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“Your hair is long,” I said not moving towards any electronic devise to do either of the things I had suggested.

“Yeah it’s part of my new ‘I’m rock god bitch’ look,” he said looking kinda cocky. I laughed scooting closer so our knees touched. I used both hands to ruffle his hair. “Come on,” he countered. He tried to tame it back down only to have me mess with it again. He rolled his eyes and rested his hands on my knees.

“I like it messy,” I said still playing with it. “If you have it clean you won’t look like a rock god,” I added.

“Speaking of hair, Matt cut all of his off. I mean all of it,” Derek said.

“Why the hell would he do that?” I asked slightly upset. Matt, our drummer, had long dreads that took him two years to grow. His mom was furious when he first started to do it.

“He said he got sick of them. To be honest, I think we’ve all just been trying to figure this all out. You know, us without you. It hasn’t been easy,” Derek explained. His eyes expressed a deep sadness. Me moving, even though it wasn’t my choice, effected all of them. We all changed the day my mom died, even if we didn’t want to admit it.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” I said sliding onto his lap and wrapping my arms around him. His arms twisted around me, holding me secure as I buried my face into his neck.

“You didn’t. You had no control over any of this. It just happened. I know if you could have changed it, you would have. Hey no crying,” he said softly as he pulled my face away to push the fresh tears away. He kissed my forehead and rubbed my arms. “We are fine.”

“Promise?” I asked him, colliding our foreheads.

“Promise,” He said to me. I climbed off of him just as the bedroom door opened. Gerard appeared behind it, his eyes glancing between myself and Derek, finally landing on me.

“Whatcha doing?” he asked me.

“Ah I think we were just about to watch a movie,” I stated sliding towards the end of the bed and off of it. Gerard watched me momentarily.

“I forgot to ask what you want on the pizza,” he finally said indicating why he intruded to begin with. I stretched, my shirt sliding up a bit too far in the process and looked at Derek.

“I don’t care, do you?” I asked him tugging my shirt back into place.

“No, whatever is fine with me,” he said avoiding looking at my dad. Silence feel in the room. It was a long awkward silence.

“Anything else Dad?” I asked him confused at why he was still lingering in the doorway. He eyed me up and down for a moment before speaking.

“Yeah the TV is in the basement. The movies are in the cupboard,” He said stepping aside for us to exit.

“I think we were just going to use my computer,” I said looking at him confused. I wanted to hangout with Derek and I knew if we started watching a movie in the basement Bandit would come bug us.

“Ah no, use the one in the basement,” Gerard said. I caught a small glimpse of annoyance indicating that this wasn’t a question but instead Gerard demanding it. I gave him a confused look but agreed either way. Derek stood up and followed me out of the bedroom and down the hall. It took us a few minutes to find the basement. We began to rummage through the movie collection near the TV.

“Horror movie?” Derek asked as he began to pull out movie titles.

“Sure,” I said continuing to scan through them. There had to easily be 500 movies. “You know what I don’t understand?” I asked Derek. He shook his head waiting for me to reply. “Why the fuck the movies are here and not in California,” I said causing us both to laugh.

“How about The Shinning?” Derek asked pulling it out. I shrugged. I had never seen the movie so really had no preference. I grabbed it flipping the case over to quickly scan the details on the back. It was probably going to give me nightmares. I popped the disc out of the case and walked over to the DVD player. I slide the disc in and turned the TV on. I began to flip through the settings to try to get the DVD player to appear but nothing was working.

“I can’t figure it out,” I said to Derek who snagged the remote from my hand and began to try to figure it out. “I’ll go see if we have popcorn and soda, I’ll be right back just figure it out,” I muttered walking to the stairs. I wondered into the kitchen to see Lindsey loading some groceries into the cupboards.

“Hey are you hungry?” she asked me.

“No but we are watching a movie by chance did we have popcorn or candy and some soda?” I asked leaning on the counter. The kitchen was smaller than the one in California but was still pretty big.

“Yes the popcorn is in the cupboard on your right and the soda is still in the car,” she answered while folding one of the bags she had just emptied.

“Thanks,” I said turning around to grab the popcorn. Just then the door from the garage opened and Gerard walked in carrying the soda and water. “I don’t see it,” I announced to Lindsey. She let out a sigh. I turned to look at her for an answer. She had a look of concentration as she moved to the next bag.

“Try the one next to it,” she answered pulling out more items. I opened the next cupboard to find the popcorn. I stretched to try and reach them on the top shelf with no luck. I groaned before jumping up on the counter on my knees to try to reach it.

“Hey get down,” Gerard said behind me.

“I can’t reach it,” I grumbled but jumped down as instructed.

“What are you looking for?” he asked walking up behind me.

“The popcorn,” I answered. He gently touched my upper back and he reached for a bag before handing it to me. “Thanks,” I muttered and turned toward the microwave. “Oh hey Dad,” I said while shutting the microwave door.

“Yeah?” he said putting the bags Lindsey was finished with away.

“The DVD player won’t work. Can you fix it since you are now requiring I only watch TV in the basement,” I said raising my eyebrows at him in annoyance.

“We are?” Lindsey asked in the background.

“Apparently,” I answered her quickly. Gerard watched me for a moment while opening the soda box and handing me two of them. I set them on top of the microwave and turned back to him waiting for an answer. Derek and I would already be watching the movie if he wasn’t insisting on us watching it in the basement.

“Yeah I’ll fix it. Do me a favor?” he asked handing me a bowl for the popcorn.

“What?” I asked him.

“Keep your shirt pulled down,” he said pointing of my right side. I looked down to see the corner of my shirt stuck just above my hip. I rolled my eyes at him as he walked past me and towards the basement.

“Really?” I asked irritated. He was upset about my shirt riding up. It was the first time he had ever even commented on my clothing. I sighed irritated as I heard the microwave beep.

“Yes really,” he answered in the distance. I groaned and spun around towards the microwave, opening the door. I pulled the hot bag out slamming the bowl on the counter before pouring the popcorn into it.

“Rylynn,” Lindsey said behind me. I turned towards her with my empty bag. She was finished with the groceries. She was now putting ice into two glasses which I assumed were for Derek and I.

“Yeah,” I said acknowledging her.

“Derek is a boy. Your Dad,” she began but was cut off by me groaning.

“Come on, it’s Derek,” I justified. She nodded before continuing.

“Like I said, Derek is a boy. Dad is probably just concerned because of this. You haven’t hung out with any boys in California except for Jeremy and he’s never seen the two of you interact,” she justified. She was right and that annoyed me. I nodded accepting the explanation, there wasn’t anything else I could do. She smiled and picked up the glasses and the soda cans behind me. “Come on,” she said leaving the kitchen and heading towards the basement. I through the bag away and followed behind her. I was walking down the stairs just as Gerard was walking up.

“For the record, he’s just Derek, stop acting weird,” I whispered to him as we passed. He raised his eyebrows to me momentarily.

“Don’t give me a reason to doubt that,” Gerard said before continuing upstairs. I groaned and continued to walk downstairs. Lindsey was introducing herself to Derek as she set the sodas down.

“Alright have fun and don’t get too scared,” Lindsey said walking past me. I rolled my eyes and sighed at Derek.

“Wanna trade parents?” I asked joining him on the couch. Derek laughed, hitting play on the remote.

“It can always be worse,” he said wrapping his arm around the back of the couch. I leaned into him as the opening credits began.