by Geri Watson
Arthur's voice. "Why couldn't Da Vinci just make her smile?!"
Star giggled. "That's pretty bad."
"I know." He glanced over at her. "I'm ashamed."
"So you think that you can interpret these pretty well?" she challenged him.
"Um…Well..." Tristan laughed a little nervously. "To be honest, I like to make up things about what the artist was thinking in my head." He was quiet for a minute and then she guessed he thought that statement wasn't enough because he turned toward her quickly. "Don't get me wrong though! I think they're gorgeous and I like taking a closer look at things like brushstrokes and hearing what the inspiration behind certain pieces are."
"I see." Star smiled to herself. Tristan was cute when he got all flustered.
"Now you think I'm a simpleton, don't you?" He let out a breath and looked up. "That's what I get for trying too hard."
"Tristan. I don't know why you're trying anyway. I don't care if you like art or not." She kissed his cheek. "But it's adorable you felt like you had to try so hard."
He rubbed the back of his neck, and she could see his cheeks redden a bit. "Yeah. You seem really into all of it, you know?"
"I know. Something about art calms me; it always has, I can't explain it," Star admitted.
"Hm. That's one thing I didn't know about you." Tristan's face broke into a huge grin. "I like that."
They caught up to Zack who was leaning against a nearby wall looking bored. Star figured he'd had enough for one day. Seeing as Tristan wasn't that into art either she guessed they could head out somewhere else. She suggested that they walk over to the memorials and see what they could before it got too dark out. Zack just about ran out of the gallery to the sidewalk in front of the building. Star shook her head and smiled as she watched him run.
"Next time show me how you really feel!" she shouted down at him.
Zack responded by yelping loudly and hopping up and down, happy to be able to make noise again.
The three of them headed over to the Washington Monument which wasn't too far. They figured it was too much of a walk for today to get to the other monuments, so another day was definitely in order for sightseeing if Tristan wanted to. Much to their surprise, they were the only three to load into the elevator that would take them to the top of the monument once they reached it. As they rode up, they were silent.
"This view is amazing," Tristan stated in awe when they neared the top.
Star's mind wandered back to the images from earlier that morning before she'd startled herself awake now that she had time to think. She shivered, and Tristan rubbed her arms believing it was the cold that was causing her discomfort. He died, right there in my arms. I couldn't do anything but hold him and cry. The feeling of total helplessness ran through her system again, and she felt a tear slide down her cheek and wiped it away quickly.
She was glad they were all facing opposite directions so the boys wouldn't see her escaping tears. How could we have been together twice in the 1900s? Why didn't he have any flashbacks of us during that time? It didn't add up. Now Star knew how Tristan had felt when he'd seen her die in his flashbacks. No wonder he hadn't wanted to tell her anything about them. It was easily the worst feeling she'd ever experienced.
The elevator stopped, and the trio made their way back to the path ahead. She sniffed, and Tristan turned toward her.
"Hey. Are you crying?" he asked, his forehead furrowing. He got ahead of her and braced his hands on Star's shoulders to make her stop.
"What happened?" Zack asked, sounding worried.
"I don't know; she started crying," Tristan answered.
"Star? What's wrong?"
When she looked up, both he and Zack looked stricken by her emotional breakdown.
"When you had your first blackout...it was in the library right?" she asked.
Tristan looked taken aback by the question but answered anyway. "Yes."
"Who was it of?" She looked into his eyes.
His eyes left hers as he tried to remember for a minute. Once he had it, he turned them back to hers. "Marie and Richie. I thought it was some strange dream about the Great Depression. Why?"
"Did your flashbacks go in order?" Star grabbed his forearms lightly; his hands were still on her shoulders.
"W-what? I-I don't know.... I think they went backward now that I think about it," he stammered. "Why? What are you getting at?"
"Did you have more flashbacks than you as Richie, Elijah, and Charles?" her voice went up an octave.
"Does this have to do with what you saw this morning?" Tristan asked.
"Answer me!" Star begged.
"Answer me first," he retorted.
"Tristan!"
"No! Nobody but Charles, Elijah, and Richie," he shouted. "Now answer me!"
"Don't yell at her! You're gonna make her more upset than she is already!" Zack cut in.
"Fine." Tristan let go of her shoulders and walked off back the way they'd come.
Zack hugged Star as she watched Tristan storm off. She knew she'd pushed him too hard, but she'd needed to know. Now that she had her answer she felt worse. What she had been worried about was now a reality. His flashbacks had gone backward. He'd only seen them until the 1930's. Her flashbacks had gone forward. And now she knew that her reasoning from last night had been dead wrong. They didn't keep getting sent back to find one another to try again.
Tristan had already saved her. Johnny Hartley had died in Susan Covington's arms saving her from getting hit by a car when she was crossing the street in 1957. So why are we back again?
CHAPTER 28
Now, why do you let yourself get so overly emotional about these things? So she won't tell you what she saw. Big deal. You didn't mention what you saw when it upset you. But no, you had to go and walk off in a huff like an idiot and yell at her in front of Zack. Zack. God, is he an overprotective guard dog or what? If we're a family, he's the pet...where are you going anyway?
Tristan stopped walking and looked around. It had gotten dark, and he wasn't aware of his surroundings. He'd let his emotions get the best of him and had started walking in the opposite direction. When he'd begun, he thought he was headed back the way they had come, but now he wasn't so sure. There weren't any buildings that he remembered around. Seeing a memorial ahead that was lit up, Tristan headed in that direction. Once he got closer and saw the large basin beside him, he realized he had most definitely gone the wrong way. He'd reached the Jefferson Memorial.
Swell, now you're lost in D.C. Smooth move, Einstein.
After climbing the steps and absorbing the writings etched within the walls, Tristan stopped at the statue of Jefferson and looked up. Out of all of the presidents, Thomas Jefferson was his favorite. In fact, Tristan had a book of quotes that he usually carried around with him that contained quite a few statements from Jefferson. One stuck out in particular as he stared into the face of the bronze statue. "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." How much that quote hit home right now made him swallow. His cell phone rang and echoed off the walls. He figured it was Star or Zack wondering where he'd gone.
"You're not gonna believe where I am..."he absently blurted, answering the phone blindly.
"Tristan?" a voice that was most certainly not Star's answered.
"Emily?"
"Yeah," she laughed. "Who did you think I was?"
"Star," he admitted, walking back out and sitting on one of the top steps.
"Oh," her voice lowered. "So how did everything go?"
Tristan squinted, not wanting to explain everything and rubbed his eyebrow before answering. "Great, Em. It went great."
"Really? Because you didn't sound like you were still with her when you answered." Emily sounded doubtful.
"Uh. We got separated. I'm in Washington D.C. on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial."
"Well that sounds fun," she stated distantly.
"Actually, it's cold. It's been snowing here." He paused and let out
a deep breath. "In all honesty Em, I think I may be in over my head here."
"With Star? Why?"
"It's hard to explain. Which reminds me, you never said you knew her," Tristan added suspiciously.
"It's not like she and I are friends, Tristan." He could hear the venom in her voice and had to smile a little at her jealousy showing through.
"But you did know who she was the entire time I was talking about her," he deadpanned.
"So?" she sounded irritated.
"Just thought it was strange you never mentioned that she rushed for the sorority the same night you and Alyssa did." He tried to make the statement sound flippant.
"You never asked," Emily snapped back and then sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I never mentioned it. When are you coming home?"
"After New Years. I'm going to see this through," he decided resolutely. "She means too much for me not to." He closed his eyes at the weight of his words and rested his head in his hand.
"Remember what Jefferson said: ‘Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude’."
"Emily, I told you that quote," Tristan laughed.
"But I reminded you of it when it mattered, didn't I?" he could hear the smile in her voice.
"Yes. Thank you." His lips turned up a little.
"You're welcome. See you when you get home?" Emily asked.
"You bet." He heard her hang up and rested his face in his hands after shoving the phone into his jacket pocket.
Tristan needed to think. Continually living his life by doing before thinking was always getting him in trouble and it was about time that he stopped. For someone who was supposed to be as intelligent as his test scores told him that he was, he sure felt stupid often.
Maybe that was normal. He had made the right decision to come after Star, hadn't he? When he told her that he was in love with her, it had probably been the most honest thing he'd ever said to anyone. All of those flashbacks seemed to fuel his passion for Star. Each time Tristan saw the way they had been in another life it made him love her more when he awoke from the memory. They were meant to be together. She was the person that made him whole. Why was he questioning that?
He had been in a lot of pain when they'd been apart from one another. Each time he blacked out and had a flashback he awoke with dried tear-stains on his cheeks and depressed that she was gone. He'd felt like she'd thrown him away. It had been unbearable.
Then when he'd been airport hopping to get to Virginia, all he kept thinking about was seeing her warm hazel eyes on his. Tristan had purchased the star for her weeks beforehand. In a way, he had done it for himself as much as he'd done it for her. Even if she didn't want him, at least they'd have a place together in the heavens. It was embarrassingly sappy, but that was the kind of guy he was.
His phone call to Zack had been quick and to the point. He'd told Zack that the box without a sender had been from him and asked to make sure Star opened it precisely at midnight. Zack had been skeptical but then told him that Star had been thinking about him a lot and apologized for the outburst in the HUB. Tristan had been stunned, but accepted the apology and fessed up to Zack that he was in town and was attempting to find a hotel. Zack had told him to try the hotel down the road and if they didn't have room to head over to the house.
When Tristan had been walking down the road and seen the door to Star's parents’ house open he'd grabbed his bag and ran toward the side of the house where the driveway was located. Around the corner, he'd watched as Star unfolded the map and found their star. Then he'd smiled as he saw her close her eyes and make the wish like he'd requested she do. Being so close and not hearing her voice was too much, so he'd called her cellphone.
It amused him to no end when she'd looked around for him and the way her face fell when he wasn't in sight. Then she'd gotten upset and told him that she was sorry and that was all he needed to hear. He went to her. Holding her in his arms again was the best Christmas gift Tristan could have gotten and the next day seemed to make it better. Then it had faded when she woke up like she had this morning.
I died. When did I die?
His phone rang again, and this time Tristan looked down and saw the number was Zack's.
"'Ello?" he answered.
"A rather good disappearing act you've accomplished buddy…where exactly are you? Star is freaking out."
"I am not!" he heard in the background followed by Zack replying "Yes, she is."
"I'm at the Jefferson Memorial," Tristan answered.
Zack let out a low whistle. "Man when you get lost, you get lost."
Tristan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Well stay put, and we'll come get you," he heard Zack repeat where he was to Star and she responded with a "He's where?! Give me the phone." a second later Tristan heard her more clearly.
"How in the world did you end up over there? That's like almost a mile in the wrong direction!"
"Well I wasn't paying attention; my mind was elsewhere," Tristan admitted.
He heard her sigh into the receiver. "We're walking over to you now. You didn't have to storm off, you know."
"You frustrated me," he defended himself.
"What did I tell you about being uptight?" Star countered.
"To knock it off," he rolled his eyes.
"Mhm, and how is that working out for you?" she said in a clipped tone.
"Not too well, obviously." he sighed.
"Sit tight. We're halfway there," she assured him.
"Alright."
Tristan hung up and looked at the darkened sky, upset that he couldn't make out the stars because of the cloud cover. The water in the basin was reflecting the monument back to him, glistening and half frozen in certain spots leftover from the snowfall the night before. It would probably be best to drop the whole thing. She'll tell you when she's ready to, he assured himself.
Only a few more days and they would be back in Seattle; he could handle that. All this time struggling and they were going to get some answers. That was something he could look forward to. Looking over toward the walkway, he saw Star come running up the steps with Zack not far behind. Not paying attention, she slipped on some ice on one of the steps and Tristan bolted up and over to her.
"Are you okay?" he held his hand out for her to pull herself back up.
"Nothing hurt but my pride," she grumbled, grasping his hand and brushing off her knees.
Tristan shook his head, and Star shot him a squinted look as she saw him smile. "What?"
His hand tightened on hers, and he pulled her closer. "You should watch where you're walking."
"I'm glad you're not fighting anymore, but please spare me from the mushy stuff when I'm standing behind you," Zack spoke up, seeing where they were going with their actions.
Tristan laughed, and Star smiled, which made him feel better. She could light up the world with that smile. He was somewhat surprised when, ignoring Zack's request, Star threw her arms around his neck and ran her cold nose over his then chastely kissed his lips. In response, he smiled widely.
"Don't run off again," she scolded him lightly.
"I won't," Tristan promised her solemnly.
They both heard Zack huff loudly behind them, making them look over. "Let's go you two, it's getting late, and I'm cold."
The trip back was quiet as the three of them got lost in their thoughts. They had already switched trains and were headed back to the GMU stop. Star's father would be there waiting to pick them up and take them back to the house.
Tristan ran his fingers along the inside of Star's palm as he held it and smoothed his thumb over the back of her hand. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, not seeming to be bothered by the metro noise. Wrapping his free arm around her, Tristan held Star closer to keep her warm. Zack sat with his chin resting in the palm of his hand, his elbows on his knees. When he was sure Star was asleep, he finally opened his mouth to
break the silence.
"Did she tell you anything about her dream last night?"
Zack furrowed his eyebrows together. "Nope. Why? Is that what the argument was about this morning and before you unceremoniously walked off tonight?"
Tristan shifted in his seat. "Yes."
"Hm. If she doesn't tell you, it must be pretty bad," Zack pondered.
"I know. That's why I wish she would be honest with me about it. All she would let out was that I died in her flashback." Tristan tightened his hold on her unconsciously.
"Does she always die in your flashbacks?" Zack asked, pain clear in his eyes at the thought of it.
