Hazel pulled up to Augustus's house, unbuckled and turned her heard toward him. She was about to say something, when he turned to her and put his hand on top of hers.
"Have you ever heard that saying about stars?" His eyes were wide with anticipation of her answer.
She paused, a bit stunned. "Well I have it on pretty good authority that they, "twinkle twinkle"."
He laughed. It looked like it hurt a little. "No, I mean, someone, I can't think of who," He looked out through the front of the car's window, gazing at the sky. "Anyway, someone once said that we would appreciate the stars more if they didn't come out every night."
Hazel looked out in the same direction as Gus. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She shrugged. "But I mean, it's like, their job. Just to show up."
"Well, you say that having cancer is your job, and one day, you won't show up." He replied flatly.
"Morbid!" Hazel yelled.
"My point is, that maybe we're kind of like stars." He unbuckled and shifted in his seat a little to get a better view of the sky. "People think it's great that we're alive and all, but they don't feel the need to make a big to-do about admiring us; that is, until there comes the possibility that we won't "show up" anymore. Then a few people begin to pay more attention to us, pray for our safety, all that stuff. These are sort of, the astronomers, the people who actually know the stars personally or are least acquaintances with them. But still," He pushed his hair back. "not until we're gone, 'till our light burns out, do the masses talk about just how wonderful we were. How brightly we shined, how much happiness we brought to them, blah blah blah." He turned to Hazel, waiting for her reply.
She paused again, this time digesting what he had just said."I mean, that's true. But… it's really cheesy." She smiled and teased. "I think those encouragements are going to your head."
He grinned and shrugged. "It had to happen eventually."
Hazel turned her body towards Augustus. "Augustus Waters, I did something even more cheesy."
"Did you, Hazel Grace?"
She nodded. "Incredibly."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Mhmm." He sat back in his chair.
"Well… do you want to know what it is?"
"Sure."
Hazel grabbed her purse from in front of Gus's feet, her cannula tugging her back a bit. She rustled through the bag, and finally pulled out An Imperial Affliction.
"Hazel, you can't give me your copy of your favorite book..."
"Woah, slow your roll there, kid!"
"Oooh… too soon." He said scrunching his eyes and shaking his head at his wheelchair tucked behind his seat.
"Alright." She pulled a dark blue cd out from between the pages. "Now, this mix cd only has one song on it. I've never actually had to make a mix cd before, so I wasn't really sure what to do with it."
"One song is enough."
"Well, I just kinda put it on 12 times. Just so it wasn't a complete fail at being an actual CD."
"Well then I hope it is a good song."
"It's just… it's what you do to me." She rolled her eyes as Augustus tried to conceal an amused reaction. "See? Cheesy."
He finally smiled that famous Augustus Waters smile. "Well put it in then. I'm dying to know."
"Too soon!" Hazel wheezed, and slipped the cd in the player on her dash. Then, trying to avoid the gear shift from sticking into her hip, she put her head on Augustus's shoulder as gingerly as possible. She was mostly holding up her head, but she wanted the idea to be there.
The song began: "Watching every motion in my foolish lover's game… Never hesitating to become the fated ones."
Augustus looked down at Hazel questioningly. "Who is this?"
"Berlin." She answered.
"Turning and returning to some secret place in tiiiiiiime."
"Seriously? What is this?"
"Just listen!"
"Watching in slow motion as you turn around say…"
He sighed, waiting.
"Take my breath away."
He looked at Hazel again, forcing his mouth shut tightly, trying to stop it...
"Take my breath awaaaay."
Augustus burst into a giggling fit, along with Hazel. They looked like little kids who had just heard their first dirty joke.
The song played on, and between laughs, he finally spat out "Hazel Grace, you have a WICKED sense of humor!"
She continued to giggle with him, and as the next chorus came up she flung out her arms, and with every last bit of lung space she could amass, belted along with Augustus, "Take my breath awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" She felt a bit lightheaded afterwards. But it was worth it.
And sure, they didn't know the rest of the words. And sure it was cheesy, but it was a moment. And when you don't have much time left for moments, you'll even take the cheesy ones. A moment underneath the stars, a moment listening to a terrible song that is somehow relevant to your life, and a moment sitting next to the person who you think you might just love. Because one day they'll stop showing up, and then it's the moments that you had together, that you have left to construct into the person. The more moments, the easier it is to put them back together in your mind; because if you remember a star well enough, brightly enough, it never really goes out.
...
Yes, there's a clearly obvious reference to Esther Earl's foundation, you're not crazy. :) But ya, I just thought I should at least address that. It wasn't so much an intentional reference as an inspired one.