"Ready?"

"Whenever you are Captain."

"Module Pilot Gray? Is everything set?"

"Just doing last minute adjustments..." He taps the last computer button with such emphasis. "Okay! We're ready Captain!"

The man in his jet black hair smiles as he finishes buckling himself in the front seat. "Let's go home boys."


Soon enough their spacecraft started blasting from their headquarters in space and started their long journey towards their home—Earth.

For Captain Christian Finn Valencia, space was no foreign place for him and he even calls it his second home. After being in the stage of going back and forth from Earth to space, seeing billions of stars up close was nothing out of the ordinary. But between choosing billions of stars to billions of people, Christian would choose the brunette in a heartbeat.


"Ohh, someone's excited to go home..." Julian Gray—his co-pilot in the spacecraft coos. "Eager to see someone do you?"

"Jul, stop disturbing Chris. You know he's not excited—he's ecstatic."

Christian rolls his eyes at his teammates. "Hardy har har you guys."

"Cap, tell me once again why did you want to become a space person?"

"No."

"No fair! Ash and I entertained you with our stories as we flew out from Earth! We deserve to know at least something!"

"Yeah Chris, you're being too secretive." Asher shakes his head.

"Shut up Asher Jones, we've been buddies since college and I'm already getting tired of your annoying ass."

"But this kid wants to know a little bit about you..." He teases. "Come on, entertain him for a while. It'll be a good time for a story ain't that right kid?

"Please Cap, tell me a little bit about your life." Julian whines.

Christian sighs, knowing that Julian can get a little persuasive when he wants to. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

The youngest beams at him. "When was the first time you guys met?"




"Stupid, stupid! Argh, why did you have to choose him as my lifter you dumbass!"

"Because he was the only one able to lift your fat ass!"

Christian glared.

"Damn, take a joke will you?"

"What am I going to do now?!"

"Attend the therapy session duh?"

"But I don't need these stupid sessions! I am perfectly fine!"

"You obviously have a fractured leg Chris, you're far from perfectly fine."

"But I need to compete Ash! You know my scholarship fully depends on—"

"I'll talk to dad and he'll figure something out. For now, I want you to be treated, get yourself back in shape and hopefully, you can still make it before our competition because as much as I hate to admit it, you really need to compete bro. We'll be at lost without you."


After a few more talks and updates, Asher ends the call with his best friend Christian Finn Valencia, a senior, studying Physical Science in hope that it would help him to become a full-pledge astronaut someday... but with him having a fractured leg and being under the cheerleading scholarship program which would require him to be physically okay to compete made him worry.

Worry that without him competing would take him off the program which he couldn't afford right now, especially when the program is his only hope in helping him to reach his dream especially when his family doesn't approve of his choice to become an astronaut, let alone fly miles away from home to come to a foreign land and make something out of it.

He sighs to himself, trying to figure something out but when his phone flashes and his father's name was showed on the screen, his heart starts to panic and his eyes went wide seeing the notification from his phone. Out of panic, he throws it on the ground, causing for the phone to be completely broken.

"God! Why isn't everything going my way today?!"

"Wow, you sure can throw huh." Christian looks up and sees a brunette around his age as well in her hospital gown looking at him. "Things happen and not every day goes your way."

"Who are you?" He asks out of interest. "Why are you here? Are you eavesdropping on me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... slow down with questions." She chuckles and Christian thought that it was adorable. "I'd like to say I've come here to kill you but as you can see, I'm a prisoner like you."

"Answer my question." He says a little more stern this time. "Why are you here?"

Instead of answering the latter smiles at him. "Do have somewhere else to be?"

"What?"

"I said, do you have somewhere else to be?"

"Do I look like I have somewhere else to be?"

"You have a good sense of sarcasm, I like that." The brunette says as she nods her head. "Come watch the stars with me?"

"Huh?"

The girl smiles at him. "Come and watch the stars with me."




"You guys met like that?"

"Yeah, weird isn't it?"

"Totally. If I was in your position, I wouldn't come with her. Who knows right? Maybe she's really a serial killer or something else dangerous."

"She's a killer alright." Asher comments. "Because she took away Christian's heart."

"Shut up you ass."

"Cap, can you continue with your story?" He asks. "What happened after you guys watched the stars together?"

"After we watched the stars together..." He trails off as he looked at the distand space ahead of them. "Nothing was ever the same."


He told the youngest member how their friendship started from that very night. Since then, Christian would always find himself hanging out with the brunette who was named Lucy. She was a good company and made the hospital halls a little less like a hospital. She was fun to be with too, all of her playfulness and lame attempts in making him laugh were making every day spent in rooms with white walls tolerable. Lucy was a good listener and good talker too, Christian loved that about her.

She had been a great support system especially when Christian is doing his therapy and she was a good aid too, when the cheerleader was doing post-exercise routines and if Christian was being honest, he knew that he wouldn't be able to do this without Lucy by his side.

But their was one problem though and it was Lucy not telling Christian her reason for staying at the hospital. He might've asked the nursing staffs or some patients whom he has met because they were friends with the brunette but all of them pledged loyalty towards the latter and didn't say a word.

Christian originally didn't want to pry all because he knew that his time spent in the facility was only temporary but the more he hung out with the latter, the more he was eager to know about her current situation. In hopes that he would be able to do something about it or even lend out a helping hand when he's out.


"And so? How did you know about her situation? Did you met her parents?"

"I did, but they too were asked by Lucy to not tell me anything."

"So when did you found out about her condition?"

"When I had to leave."




"Oh, you're early today." Lucy greets him as soon as he enters the latter's room. "Hold on a second, I'm just going to grab a blacket for the two of us. I heard from Nurse Eve it's freezing outside."

"I'm getting discharged today." Christian says making Lucy stop. "I just wanted to drop by to let you know."

It took a moment for the latter to turn around. "Great! That's great news Finn." She tries to make her smile believable. "I'm so happy to hear that."

"Lucy." He interrupts her congratulatory greeting. "You know this doesn't change anything right?"

The smile on her face was still there. "You know what, we should get something to eat. Why don't we head out to the snack bar and see what they have? Let's go! My treat!"

"Stop avoiding the topic."

"What topic?"

"Come on Lucy, don't act like you don't have a clue what's up. Tell me what kind of sickness you have."

"Why?"

"Because I am your friend!"

"I am not your friend Christian Finn." She says, surprising Christian completely. "Let's be honest here for a second, we both know that you only found comfort in me because you were in a foreign place and you had no one. I, happen to be on that garden that night and you only agreed to spend time with me because you've got nothing else to do."

"That's not true! I enjoy your company!"

"Well my company is no longer available so I guess this is a goodbye."

"Stop!" Christian hold Lucy's wrist firmly.

"Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong with you!"

"Fine!" She releases herself from Christian's firm grip. "You want to know what's wrong with me? I'm dying Finn. That is what's wrong with me..."

"W-w-what... Ho-how are you—"

"Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy." She hangs her head low. "I don't know how long I can keep up though."




"Whoa..." Julian trails off. "That some majoy bomb drop right there... I'm sure it must've hurt you." He comforts. "But what does her sickness actually mean?"

"More than I could imagine really." Christian suddenly remembers the heaviness in his heart when he found out about the news. "I remember crying out of nowhere... it's a disease where her heart suddenly stops beating and she'll—she'll die."

"Just like that?" Christian nods. "Isn't there any treatment available?"

"Not to cure her permanently."

"What happened after she told you the truth?"

Now he has a timid smile on his face. "I told her, I"ll stay."




"And?"

Lucy looks at him weirdly. "Finn, did you not hear me?"

"I heard you perfectly. You're..." He swallows the lump on his throat. "You're dying right?"

"Yes."

"Okay... so?" He challenges. "So what?"

"You don't understand." Lucy tells him as she shakes her head.

"I think I do." He answers. "You're pushing me away because you don't want another person to be hurt when the day comes. You don't want to see me cry when you can no longer touch me. You're pushing me away now—hoping that it will help me move on from you. That everything happened between us for the past weeks were nothing but temporary and replaceable. Well, guess what Lucy, everything is permanent."

"The laughs, the petty fights, the crazy ideas and the night spent underneath the skies were permanent. The sneaking out, the promises and the plans we've made were permanent too and me—" He walks a step closer to the dying girl. "I'm permanent Lucy."

The latter shakes her head. "I'm going to hurt you one day."

"Then hurt me." He says as he intertwines their hands together. "Until then, make me the happiest and I'll make sure that you will feel the same."

"Finn..." She trails off now with tears in her eyes.

"You can try and push me in every way you can think of, but I'll stay." Christian leans in and rest his forehead against Lucy's. "I'll stay Lucy."




"See? They were still friends that time and you can already see who is more whipped between the two." Asher interrupts their talk and that earned a sidekick from his best friend. "What? I was just telling the truth!"

"Stop destroying the mood for storytelling Ash!" Julian gives him a rough side kick as well.

"Nice kick kid." He smirks as they did another high-five.

"How did you found out that you love her, Cap?

Christian feels hot as he remembers the memory perfectly. "It happened on our first date."

"What did you guys do?"

The Captain smiles. "What we usually do." He looks at the latter. "We watch the stars."




"What is that?"

"That's Aquila."

"And what's the story behind it."

"It's an eagle and he's the one carrying Zeus's thunderbolt."

"Hmm... how about that one?"

"Cassiopeia." Christian answers. "She boasted her beauty was greater than a sea nymph which was offensive, so she was banned to the heavenly realms."

"There must be a lot of constellations out there huh."

"88 to be exact. But I believe there's a lot more out there, waiting to be discovered."

"Is there a constellations about lovers?"

"There is one I know..." Christian tries to recall. "It's about Perseus and Adromeda, Cassiopeia's daughter."

"Tell me about them."

"Perseus saved Andromeda when he was flying home with Pegasus. She was chained by the Gods to feed to a sea whale named Cetus as a form of punishment for Cassiopeia for being so boastful. He then made an agreement with her parents that if he saves her, he would have the right to marry the girl."

"Did they get married?"

"Not the easy way though." He answers. "When Andromeda was successfully saved, she was already promised to another man and so Perseus challenged the guy into a duel and then, later on, he realizes that he was outnumbered... So he pulls out Medusa's head from his magical bag, the same trick he used to kill Cetus and won the right to marry Andromeda."

"Wow."

"They get to live happily ever after and die of ripe old age. The Gods placed them under the sky, together with the Pegasus, Cetus and Adromeda's parents. To teach the latter generations a lesson." He points up at the sky and drew lines. "That's Cassiopeia, right? Down below is Andromeda and right beside her is Pegasus."

Lucy smiles as Christian finished his story. "It must be nice..."

"Nice being what?"

"Falling in love." Lucy says as he waits for her to continue. "Only a few are chosen to experience it at its finest... Not everyone gets their happily ever after right?" He nods in agreement and the Lucy sighs. "I wonder what falling in love would feel like."

"I think it would feel like standing on the edge of a cliff." Christian answers. "You don't know if there's something or someone down there to catch you when you fall but you find yourself jumping anyways."

"Why?"

"Because that's what love is sometimes. To not know its meaning but still go for it."

"Like a dog chasing cars." Lucy says out of nowhere. "You know how stray dogs like to chase cars in the streets?"

"Yeah."

"I think falling in love is similar to that." She looks up and continues to admire the stars up above. "We chase people thinking that they're the one or we go around chasing kinds of stuff in hope it'll help us understand what love really is. But when we're already presented with the facts or the realities of what falling in love may actually mean—we don't know what to do with it... some run away, some stay still and some just go for it." She turns her head to the side, meeting Christian's beautiful orbs. "They don't know what falling in love means but they still go for it anyways."

"What will do if you find out what falling in love may mean?"

That made the girl chuckle. "I doubt I'll ever find out with the time I have left."

"Theoretically speaking, if you were born without aneurysm..." He trails off as he focused on Lucy's eyes. "What would you do?"

"Honestly?" She sighs. "I'd be like the dog... I don't know if I will still continue to chase after it, to find for another car to chase or to stop chasing anyone at all."

Suddenly, Christian was back at his feet. "Stand up." Lucy looks at her weirdly. "Come on, just get up."

The brunette complies and Christian types something in his phone and soon enough a piece of familiar music fills their atmosphere. "Finn, what are we doing?"

"We're going to dance." He pulls Lucy close and slow dance with brunette. "You told me, you've never been to a prom. So, I'm thinking of just allowing you to experience it."

"All of a sudden?"

He casually shrugs. "We only live once anyway."

Lucy chuckles and enjoys the moment. "What would you do Finn?"

"What would I do?"

The brunette nods her head. "What would you do if you were presented with the realities of falling in love?"

"I also don't know to be honest." He says. "But that's just because maybe it happens you know?"

"Meaning?"

"When you fall in love you'll just know... whether it's laughing from their jokes, looking through their eyes or-"

"Or just laying down watching the stars?" Lucy cuts his explanation off.

Christian smiles. "That—and slow dancing underneath them."

Lucy chuckles and Christian was surprised to treat it as some kind of music for him. "I think you're right."

"About what?"

"About falling in love." Both of them looked at one another. "When you fall in love, you just know."




"That's so romantic!!!" Julian gushes. "Awe, it's so sweet Captain!"

"Back then I thought it was romantic too."

"You guys are cute together!" He compliments.

"I'm curious about one thing bro." Asher turns to them as soon as he finished typing in the data in his computer. "How do you guys fight?"

"Ohh! Interesting question." The youngest claps his hand. "How do you guys fight?"

"We seldom fight."

"Is it because you don't want to spend days on petty arguments?"

"Or the fact that we just communicate so well." He shrugs. "I think I can count with my fingers the number of times we've fought."

"Can you share us one fight? Not the petty ones. I want shots fired."

"Well... I can think of one though but this one happened when we weren't even together. I think that fight lead us to being together in the first place."

"I haven't heard that story yet."

"You did! You were too drunk to remember."

Asher shrugs. "Jul, press autopilot for a while, this is going to be a long one."

"Okay! Auto-Pilot it is."




"What kind of Disney would you like to watch?"

"Anything but Frozen. I think I've memorized it too much, I need to forget the lyrics for a while."

"Moana?"

"Nah, it's just makes me miss the beach back home." Lucy says and Christian knows she was referring to her home back in LA. "What about Tangled?"

"We watched it last week."

"I know but I still haven't memorized her songs yet."

Christian shrugs. "Okay, let me—hold on, its Ashley. Get the movie running will you?"

--------------------

"How's school?" Lucy says some part in the movie. "Are you sure you're not busy?"

"I'm done with the homework and already did the advanced class."

"Awesome." Christian doesn't respond and returns his focus to the movie. "You and Ashley seem to be hanging out a lot."

"Yup. Since Asher is being a jerk and continuously ditching me for his girlfriend. Ashley has been accompanying me a lot these days."

"She seems nice."

"Pretty nice if you'll ask me."

"You guys would look great together."

"What?"

"I said, you guys would make a cute couple."

That made Christian pause the movie and turn to her. "Where did this come from?"

"Nothing I just thought of it recently."

"Lucy, I don't like Ashley that way."

"But you said it yourself, she's pretty nice." She looks at Christian and forces a smile out. "And base from the pictures and stories you've been telling me, I can tell that she likes you so I think you should—"

"You're doing it again."

"I'm not—"

"Yes. You are." He says in stern manner, scaring Lucy already. "You're pushing me away again."

"Look Finn, I am just looking out for you. Instead of spending time here with me, you should go out and hang with people. People who can actually be there for you for a very long time."

"I don't want them, Lucy, how many times do I have to tell you that being with you is better than being somewhere else."

"But you deserve a life out of these walls Finn."

"And you deserve one too, which is why you're going to get better. Once you get better, we'll get a life out of these walls together." He says as he hold her hand. "I'm not going any—"

"Stop hurting yourself more Finn, go to Ashley okay? She can—"

"Why are you pushing me again Lucy? Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not, it's just that—when the time comes, you're going to be left with no one and I wouldn't want that to happen so while you can, go out and hang-"

"I ALREADY SAID NO DAMMIT LUCY!" His sudden outburst completely shocked the brunette. "Why can't you see that I will still prefer you over everyone else at any day and at any give time?!"

"But why? Why invest so much when we both know I'm dying!" Lucy raises her voice too.

"Because I love you!"






(this is suppose to be a one shot story)
but leave a comment if you want me to continue...

© vynism