Page 26 of Starstruck

Guilt floated along with the flutters in my stomach, the ones thatwere getting harder and harder not to blame on her.

“It’s fine.” A whisper of a smile graced her face, before she beganto turn back around to face the view. After a moment, I brushed up beside her, waiting to see which one of us would strike first.

Although, as the night breeze blew against us, strands of her goldenhair swaying to the left and the skyline getting hazy, I wished for a few more moments like this, wondering if I’d ever felt this peaceful before in my life.

I put my thoughts on hold as I saw her lips pry open out of thecorner of my eye. “And not to sound so cheesy but it’s not you, it’s me.”

I tilt my head to the side, watching her as her eyes bore ahead,getting lost in the fiery haze of the sunset. “Yeah?”

She nods, more for herself. “Yeah. Today was supposed to be thebiggest day of my life, and, well, it didn’t pan out the way I hoped it would.” She glances at me for a second, before retreating her gaze. “Running into you, as much as I enjoyed having coffee dripping off me, didn’t help either.”

I couldn’t help but huff a small laugh. “I’m sorry about that.”

She shrugged, her smirk crowning in my peripheral. “I was just asdistracted, and plus, I gained a free t-shirt. Granted, it is black, which just isn’t my style, but you’ve got to find the positives somewhere.”

I got the feeling that’s who she was—someone who saw the good ineven in the shittiest of situations.

A sigh rolled out of her. “It’s all just been a little overwhelming, isall.”

I nod straight ahead, tracing the skyline. “I get it; I think I am too,if that makes you feel any better. I bet everyone here is.” I knock my head to the side, the motion making me knock her shoulder so she can see what I mean. “Past those smiles is just people who are probably scared of being on their own for the first time and—”

“Oh, no, trust me, that’s not why I’m overwhelmed.” Goldieinterrupts, and I can’t help but gaze at her as her pearly whites shine through her smile. “Being away from home is what I wanted. What I needed.”

What a coincidence, Sunshine. Me too.

I sigh the words in my head as the dial that’s up there spikes onceagain, my fascination for this girl makes my skin buzz.

I have to lick away a smile as I bend down slightly, just as the wordsI’m about to say to her ripple in my mind. And as her head angles back towards the view, I ask her. “So, why are you, Marigold Moore, here at Liberty Grove?”

I realise, as she whips her head around, that bending down to herwas a mistake, because our faces are the closest they’ve been. Too close, considering we’d only known each other a day. So I pull back, and doing so lets me see the effect my words had on her.

Her mouth gapes, but no sound comes out. But she doesn’t even haveto ask me anything; I know that she’s wondering how I know who she is.

I didn’t, apart from the memories from the concert, until she askeda question in class this morning. When Professor Whatshisname asked if her name was Marigold Moore, I knew it sounded familiar. And one swift internet search had me saying, ‘That’s where I know her from’ in my head, just as the class began.

Although I had a feeling she preferred Goldie.

I playfully roll my eyes at her, doing nothing to hide my smirk. “Oh,please, your face is all over those streaming services.”

Her brows raise as she stares at me, before her shoulders pushback, turning to face me as she does. Determination written across her face in the neatest way possible. “Okay then, answer me this, Tristan Harper,” I side eye her. “What is a guy who has two songs in the top ten charts doing at Liberty Grove?”

The smug look her face takes on forces my eyes to the floor, purelyso I could hide the smile that would not leave my face.

Unlike how I thought I’d feel, I don’t feel weird about the fact thatshe knows who I am. She’s made it very clear that she isn’t the type of person to scream out other people’s secrets. The fact that her friends had no idea about our run-in this morning was sign number one. And take in the fact that this girl knows what it’s like to have the eyes of the world on you?

She saw me, more than the rest.

I sink my bottom lip between my teeth as I meet her stare again,sipping the last of the sickly sweet punch in my glass. “It’s complicated.”

Not a lie, but certainly nothing close to the truth.

She nods her head at me, as though she can see the reason in thecolours of my eyes. “Let me guess, something to do with your parents?”

That was the story I’d told Finn before, and if I wanted to makelife easier for myself, sticking to that story—the tragic one that was too sensitive to talk about, the questions would stop there.

So I nodded at her, not thinking about what that meant to her. Notuntil she slowly shakes her head, letting her gaze dip to her toes for a second, before it springs back up and her eyes are back on me.

“They’re just swell, ain’t they?” She asked, the slight shake in her voice and the way her stare held mine, telling me better than words could that my cover-up was her reality.

---