Ok Guys! Thanks for all the positive reviews. I'm feeling really good about my decision to scrap the original chapter three. I am also unsure of this chapter, so let me know what you think. As per request, I am now in the process of writing how Toby got Happy into bed with him when he had that fever, but I don't know if I'll post it or not. As always thanks for your support,
-Aislin
They were sitting on the roof alone together. She was minding her own business while staring out across the street. They had memories up here, good memories. Afterall, he was her best friend.
"Would it be better if I were nicer?" She asked suddenly.
He looked up at her surprised, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, would people like me better if I was nicer?"
"Probably," he responded honestly.
"Oh," she replied quietly.
"I mean people would probably like you more if you were nice, but it's not like you care about that. You don't need everyone to like you. The people you want to like you already do. We don't want you to be nice," He explained himself.
She moved closer towards him, "But, would I be happier if I was nicer?"
"Probably not you don't like being nice, you like building and destroying," He informed her.
"I want to be happy," she admitted.
"Everyone does," He said. "Happy, you should do whatever you need to do to be happy. There is nothing more important to me than you being happy."
"Why?"
"You know why."
Now it was late, the sky was dark and the moon loomed over her. There was something about the moon that always made her think about herself. Maybe that's because that's how she felt, alone and separated from the earth. She knew how it felt to be unable to get close to the things around you, to see things you want and never once get near them.
"So you like the moon?" He asked.
"I guess." She answered his question.
"So it's not a like then. What do you see in the moon, Happy?" He wondered.
"Shouldn't you know? You are a shrink, I mean." She teased.
"We already clarified that I don't know everything. Now tell me what the moon is to you." He tried again.
"I don't know, it just reminds me of myself." She came clean.
"How so?" He was clearly confused.
"It's at a distance from everything around it, and it never gets close to what it orbits around." She explained herself. He was still giving her a strange look.
"You aren't the moon, Happy. You aren't stuck in place. You can get close to people if you want to. We are all here waiting for you." He comforted.
She took a step toward him, "But what if getting closer, means getting hurt. If the moon got closer to the earth it would throw everything off. The earth could be destroyed."
"Maybe the moon fails to take into account that the earth knows to be careful of the moon."
"Planets don't have the ability to be careful," Happy argued stubbornly.
"But people do." Toby said taking yet another step in her direction.
"The stars," he said after fifteen minutes.
"What?"
"I think people are like the stars," He supplied. "Sometimes it feels like you're alone, but then when you look around you see that all these stars are connected, and together they're beautiful."
"I think my metaphor is better."
"Well, Moon," He said taking a step towards Happy, "If you don't stop it, the earth is going to kiss you in 5 seconds. 5..."
Did she want this? Sure if the Moon crashed into the Earth it would change things, and maybe they would lose things, but they might come out of it better.
"4" He counted
"The Earth doesn't have the ability to move itself closer to moon," She said.
"So you don't want to-" She interrupted him by kissing him. It wasn't urgent like any of their other kisses had been. It was gentle and careful, neither wanted to crash. He placed his arms delicately on her waist and held her tight. She moved her hands to the back of his neck. When it ended, they stood in the same position.
"I'm a person, not the Moon. Do we make a nice constellation?" She said using his words.
"Please, neither of us is particularly nice."