Author's Note: This is so exciting! REVIEWERS! You guys are awesome! All three of you! (trickhayden- you are my long lost best reviewer, hehe) Anyway, you guys made this worth writing, I hope you enjoy it and I hope it compels you to keep reading. Update hopefully coming soon, please keep reviewing! (By the way, sorry this is a pretty short chapter.)

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**That night**

I sat on the front porch that night and stared up at the stars. Michael was right- they really were beautiful. I had been thinking all day about my conversation with Liz. Did she actually think that Michael could ever like me? It was crazy and I knew it. Guys like Michael just didn't like me. It had always been and always would be like that.

I heard the screen door slam behind me and turned my head to see Michael walk out. He smiled at me and lowered his tall frame onto the steps next to me.

"The stars?" he questioned and I nodded.

"Yeah, the stars."

"At least I finally got you to look at them," he said and laughed quietly looking up into the sky.

"So, your friend seems nice- Liz was it?" He asked.

"Yeah, Liz," I chuckled, "she's a little crazy sometimes but you get used to her, she's really sweet." I said as I glanced over at him.

"She seems like a good friend," he agreed, nodding slightly. "It's always nice to have good friends you can rely on."

I sat for a moment and thought about what he had said. I'd never really thought of it that way, but I did trust Liz as someone I could rely on in a bad situation. "I was always kind of the loner in our high school," I said breaking the silence. Michael looked over at me, waiting for me to continue. "I mean. . . I had friends, but I wasn't close to any of them. I went to such a small school that you were kind of friends with everyone, but I rarely did things outside of school, I wasn't one of the 'popular ones.' I always felt like the outsider."

The two of us sat in silence for awhile, just taking in our surroundings. Finally he spoke, and I never could have expected what he ended up saying. "Now I find that hard to believe. You just don't seem to me like the kind of girl who could disappear into the shadows, Maria DeLuca." And with that, he stood up and walked slowly into the house, leaving me sitting all alone, his words still echoing through my head.

*~A week or so later~*

For the next week, Michael and I didn't talk that much. We didn't have conversations under the stars; we barely had conversations at the dinner table. Even so, I began to trust in him. I always felt his presence. I could feel his eyes on me when I was eating my dinner, his dark eyes searching into my soul. It was like he knew something about me that I didn't, saw something in me that I'd never seen. I couldn't explain how he was making me feel.

We joked around as we had in the past. He would come in while I was watching Emily and Johnny and distract them with a story from his past for awhile, to give me a rest. Michael always seemed to have a story to tell, and I could see that my younger siblings were in awe of him. When he would finish the story, he would rise from the couch, say his goodbyes to Johnny and Emily, and give me a wink as he walked out of the room. I didn't know what to think of Michael.

Late one night, I awoke with a start. My breathing was uneasy, and I knew something must have woken me up. My eyes scanned the room slowly, and stopped abruptly. Michael was standing in the entrance to my room, his strong structure filling the doorway. Without a word, he turned and began walking down the hall silently. Puzzled at his presence, and compelled by something I couldn't understand, I followed him down the stairs and out the back door.

The summer heat wrapped around me as I quietly shut the door behind me and took small cautious steps toward him. He stood staring up at the sky, not saying a word. The only sound came from the crickets.

Michael looked over at me and shook his head, "I never should have done that." He said quietly, his voice barely rising above the noise of the crickets.

"Done what, Michael?" I asked curiously, taking another step toward him. He, in return, took a step away. "What's wrong?"

"I never should have. . ." his sentence trailed off and he shook his head again. "I never should have gone to your room." He stopped, it looked as if he were searching his mind for the right words to say. "Look Maria, I don't know what it is about you but. . . but there's something that just draws me to you. I try and stay so strong, I try to not let people in, but there's something about you. Something that makes me weak, something that makes me want to let you in. I can't though."

My objections rose to my lips. "But Michael I-"

"No," he cut me off with a shake of his head. "I can't Maria, I can't. You're Harold's daughter, my boss's daughter. Even if you weren't, you're too much younger than me. What you feel for me, it's not real. You may think it is, but it isn't." I could see in his eyes that he didn't even believe his own words.

I took a step closer to him and he looked down at me, his eyes staring deep into mine. "I don't believe you Michael, and I can tell you don't even believe yourself. Don't push me away just because you're scared." I took a step closer to him, our bodies were nearly touching now. His gaze never left mine as his hand reached over and touched my cheek slightly.

I could feel my heart beating in my chest, its rhythm falling in tune with the crickets' song as Michael slowly leaned down toward me, his other arm sliding around my waist. Our lips slowly connected, shyly at first, and then more intensely as I felt the tension between us disappear. I could feel Michael's emotions pouring out in the passion of his kiss as both of his arms wrapped around me. And there, under the stars, Michael and I began our story. The stars held our present, and only the stars could see our future.