Page 122 of Starstruck

She nodded, her starry eyes shining in the daylight. “Okay.”

I let a smirk chart its course as I dropped her arms and grabbed her hand.“Good, because I want to do something.”

I let her take a breath before my feet jolted us into a run, my hand pullingher along as she chased after me.

Her breathy laugh floated past my ears as we dipped aroundcorners and ran through the hallways, past the open tracery and up the steps of the grand hall. “Tristan, what are we doing?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say just yet.” I laughed as we turned a corner,the sound echoing off the line of marble statues we ran past.

“And why not?” Goldie breathed, panting as she followed behind me,our hands still locked.

I threw a glance over my shoulder and shrugged. “Can’t be arsed.”

Her free hand nudged my shoulder blade, and I couldn’t help butbark a laugh as we flew through the halls, our giggles getting lost behind us as we ran to where I wanted us to go. My feet only slowly once we neared the hall that led to the fountain, and just as we turned into the room that housed it, daylight shining through the tracery and the glass walls, Goldie muttered something.

“What’s going on?” She asked, halting her footsteps at the gap inthe walls as I slipped my hand out of hers and planted myself at the top of the fountain.

I turned around to face her, letting her effortless beauty take upthe quiet moments before I blurted out, “I’m breaking up with you.” And before the sadness could so much as glint in her eyes, I shook my head. “Not like that, it’s just that... come ere’.”

She looked between us before tucking a curl behind her ear andmeeting me where I stood.

I smiled down at her as I slid my fingers back through hers, enjoying the way Icould see her trying to guess what was about to leave my mouth. “Fresh starts, right?” My smile widened. “If I’m starting over, with no more secrets and no more pretending that I’d rather be anywhere else than here, then I want us to break up.”

I couldn’t help but lift my hand to the side of her jaw and skate my thumb overher blushed cheeks as I carried on. “And I want to make this real. Us. I want us to be real because I was never, ever pretending to like you, Goldie.” I caught the tear that slipped from her eyes as I felt one leave mine too. “I’ve known it since that very first night that you were going to be important to me, and that you’d leave your mark on me, and IknewI’d be right about it.”

She shook her head, her tears sliding through the valleys of herlips. “I’ve learnt so much from being here. But the one thing that I thought was going to take me the longest to get the hang of is actually the only thing that has felt easy.” The rays of sunlight that cast through the tracery caught in her eyes, making the tears that bordered her lashes glisten. “Or perhaps it was just loving you that was the easy thing.”

I smiled down at her. “And here I was thinking it was because youare naturally good at everything you put your mind to.”

“No,” She giggled, the sound echoing off the empty hallways, fillingthe place with happiness. “You just made it far too easy for me to fall for you.”

“Right back at ya,” I said with a smirk, catching those narrowedeyes. “I’ll make that sound a whole lot prettier when I write this into a song.”

She giggled again, and I was in two minds about whether to ask herto never stop. “Has that line ever worked?”

“You tell me,” I said, cupping her jaw and brushing my thumb overher cheeks catching the last of the tears that were still yet to fall.

Her pink lips popped open with a smile. “If I wasn’t already fallingfor you, then, perhaps.” Those topaz eyes sparkled. “Oh, God, I think I’m falling for you, Tristan.” She threw her head back helplessly, but I skated my hand around just in time to catch it and lock her eyes with mine.

I had to bite back my smile as I whispered, “Then let me catch you, Sunshine.” Her eyes sparkled for a moment before she closed them, lashes fluttering like she needed the darkness, even just for a second. But I couldn’t stop myself—couldn’t stop the words I’d been aching to say again. “Let me fall with you, Marigold Moore.”

Her eyes flew open, and in an instant, she was nodding, a smile breaking through. “Okay.”

Marigolds were a symbol of the light that lives inside a person, did you know that? I hadn’t, until I met this one, and there was no use in trying to disprove it. Because it was there. Right in front of me: all the goodness and light the world could offer that existed so naturally in the girl who’d helped me see the light that existed inside me.

She’s the first drop of daylight that creeps over the horizon in the morning.She’s the first star that you point at when you look at the sky. She’s all the good in the world, and all the chased dreams tied up in a yellow bow. She’s the star girl they write the songs about.

She’s mine, and I’ll forever count my lucky stars that I found one that struckme on the collision course I didn’t know if I’d ever escape.

Her eyes shone as she looked off to the side, before watching me again.“You’re my night sky, Tristan, and I want to spend forever finding the stars that arehidden within you.”

My lips dropped to hers, as gently as I could, before I pulled away and sankinto those eyes that reminded me of home. “When you find them, they’re yours.”

“I’ll treasure them. I promise.”

.

epilogue

---