Wait, what?
It had been a long time since he had been the butt of a joke, but it still stung. Damn, it stung really bad. He sat up abruptly, angry, sad, fucking heartbroken—
Warm small hands were pulling him back down.
I don't want to fall Venus. Fuck, please don't make me fall.
He let her pull him back down. "You don't believe me. That's okay, I'll prove it."
"Mrs. Johnson," she began. "Your neighbor, full name Karen Paulina Johnson, age 53, family; late husband, four kids, ten grandkids, her middle son, Jeremy is serving his eight months before parole, the only people who know this other than Karen and her family, is you and your dad, Jeremy's lawyer."
It was the longest thing he heard her say, her voice, drove him wild. She was still sprouting other things he ignored the words turning instead to watch her mouth move.
Beautiful.
Her words didn't matter. He believed her. He would have believed her if she told him she flew and fought crime. Because it was Venus. She acted like she knew everything like she's as everything, like she could do everything.
Can you fix me? Please put my pieces together because my hands are shaking too much.
"You've stopped listening. Do you believe me?"
I do.
"What am I thinking right now?"
"I don't know."
"Hmm"
"Not because I can't read minds I just can't read yours."
He sat up again, maybe out of surprise or maybe to feel her hands on him as she pulled him back.
"Don't feel so special, it's not just you there are some people with some kinda mental barrier up. Some are stronger than others."
"How strong is mine?"
"I never know what you're thinking."
Good, ditto.
"And the weaker ones?"
"I can probe and it unravels, sometimes things just slip—" she stopped. "I'm confusing you let me start from the beginning. I can read minds; it's more like there are a thousand people talking all at once in a small room. I can hear the current thoughts that run through the mind as well as previous thoughts, memories, dreams, etcetera."
"Dreams?"
She sucked a deep breath before exhaling like she was Atlas holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. Was she? How far could she hear, was there even a range? Could she even turn it off? What was it like to see people's dreams?
He sprouted the questions he thought one after the other.
"There is a range; I can hear a few kilometers away from me. No, I can't turn it off I do things that dim it, however. It's not just dreams, nightmares too. Does that give you an idea?"
Nightmares? He wanted to hold her, he could barely handle his own nightmares and she goes through other people's nightmares? How awful.
Her next intake of breath was shaky and Jules closed the distance between their hands and held her's. His palm was sweaty in the cool weather.
"I'm okay," She whispered after a bit. "I'm okay."
"Good. Good." Why are you whispering though? It's doing weird things to me.
She turned her head to him abruptly and his heart raced. He forced words to come out of his mouth as her eyes ensnared him. "So...you can't hear what I'm thinking right now?"
She shook her head softly, his other hand, the one he wasn't using to hold her, trembled when he lifted it up from the ground. Her eyes never left his once to watch it's descent, until the said hand reached its the destination, her cheeks. She blinked, acting like it was normal. His hand was just returning home.
Can I be your normal? Can you be my home, I really want to come home.
His hand trailed up her cheek and her eyes fluttered. "I have a theory, the reason why I'm here away from my warm bed, the reason you are telling me all this is because it's silent with me. I'm silent." You're using me.
She nodded. "Don't worry it won't be for nothing if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. I'll be your little helper, a living breathing encyclopedia—that helps with homework, projects and the works." Her voice waned. "Please, I'll do anything...just, just let me be with you."
His heart ran, tripped before crashing. Was this real? Was Venus really begging to be with him or was someone going to jump out and scream Punk'd? She placed her hand over his anchoring him unto her.
Don't let me go, it said.
Never, he whispered.
You can use me, Venus. Suck me dry just don't let me go.
She must have seen his resolve because she smiled, albeit nervously he realised. How bad was it for her to be this desperate to come to him? Because if she could really read minds she must have known by now that he was a train wreck, a shipwreck, a scene from a disaster movie, the type you stayed far enough that you were away but you could still gawk.
Venus released a breath he didn't know she had been holding and his heart ached for, she was that desperate. "There is one condition though."
He looked away from her lips to her eyes. "You have to promise you won't fall in love with me." She said it in the least egotistic way possible, she said it like she was just covering her bases.
He wanted to laugh.
Too late.
That ship had sailed and sunk.
"What if it's too late." Woah, dude did you just say that?
Venus sighed like although she expected it to happen she was still surprised by the outcome. She pulled his hand off her face cradling it in her hand instead. "Don't do that, Jules. I'll break your heart."
"It's already broken."
Pushing him down he didn't have enough time to react as she laid her head on his chest directly on his heart. "It seems to be working fine." She looked at him through her lashes, smiling she tapped him lightly over his heart and he groaned.
"Don't do that, Venus."
A shiver passed through her body. "This is the first time I'm hearing you call my name."
He closed his eyes. "Would you like to return the favour?"
"Jules," she began softly, his breath caught and his toes curled. "You shouldn't love me. I know you're bad with goodbyes and I always say goodbye."
"Then anytime you say goodbye I'll say hello."
━━━━━
And my heart beats
Like the empires of the world unite, we are aliv
And the stars make love to the universe
You're my wildfire every single night
We are alive
Venus's voice reached him from behind the cart he was pushing. She didn't have the best singing voice, it was too low, too raspy but he didn't want her to stop
They spent the next few hours talking, talking about books, movies, music and art. She didn't speak too much but led the most intelligent conversations he wanted to stay there longer and listen to her talk about her love for coffee, books and art, but they eventually left to visit the supermarket at Venus's insistence. Even though she was barely dressed with no shoes she moved around the aisles with confidence
When she stretched to pick something above her head her dress rode up exposing even more skin. It looked like something you'd see in an art gallery in black and white, he wanted to draw her, paint her and put in the gallery himself. Which was crazy because the nicest thing he had drawn was a mutilated copy of sponge bob.
"Why are you staring at me like that? You're not gonna change mind, you're not even my type."
Jules took the bottle of olive oil from her hand and placed it in the cart, he held her gaze. "It's okay if I'm not your dream guy. I just want to be the guy you think of years from now, while you're staring at your morning coffee, wishing you hadn't poured so much milk in because now it's too creamy to resemble my dark brown eyes."
Venus was— she was speechless.
It was a good look on her. Her eyes wide, lips parted. He wanted to move, dance, at least wiggle his legs. That's how great he felt.
Jules noticed her gathering her words but it took a moment for her to speak. "Wow, Jules. I didn't expect that. That's beautiful."
He touched the tip of her hair, and shrugged. "I have a tumblr."
She laughed, but fell silent quickly at his look. "It's crazy. I feel close to bursting, I want to pour it all out. But I don't want to share our story with anyone else."
"You don't know me, Jules you can't fall for someone you don't know."
Oh, ye of little of faith.
Jules was tired.He woke up tired and went through all his classes tired. He had called his dad five times last night and then on the fi fth time his dad didn't even bother letting it go to voicemail instead declined the call on the second ring. He was tired to his bones then he looked at Venus. She was sitting opposite him in the cafeteria eating a bag of potato chips with chopsticks while reading some maths textbook.The sight made him feel light because Venus was the type of girl that ate potato chips with chopsticks and read math textbooks in her leisure time. She caught him staring and gave him a funny look. "You want some chips?" She asked waving the bag at him. When he reached over however she snatched the bag away before he could indulge."I-I didn't think you were actually going to accept my offer." She mumbled.Jules raised his eyebrows. "So you offered expecting me to say, no?"She nodded sheepishly and Jul
Jules knocked really hard on the wooden door, and the sound resonated in his heart. His hand fell to his side where they stayed bawled up and stiff. He thought about the reason he was knocking on the door of the Beckett house while he waited for the door to open."Come over to my house tomorrow." Venus had looked at him over the book she was holding. It sounded like a weird mixture between a question and a command. Her eyes never left him even when he looked away, he could still feel her stare.Like waves crashing violently upon the cliff.After an incident as a kid when he nearly drowned, Jules has had an unreasonable fear of water. He hated the sea and everything that had to do with it. Nothing reminded him of the sea more than Venus's eyes so why didn't he feel like running away? He hated it but he wouldn't mind drowning in them."Why? You said you liked hanging out at mine because it
Jules didn'tknow what to think.It had been a week and a few days sinceJules and Venushappened—that's exactly what people were calling it— and while Jules expected for a major change in his life as he knew it.The last thing he expected was the masses to be just as aware of the change in his life as he was."What's Venus thinking? Jules, really? I wonder what that freak must have done to get her attached to his hip."Jules the freak, had just exited his English class and was heading for Calculus when the voices stopped his descent down the stairs. Two girls were in front of the water fountain which just happened to be next to the stairs."I know right, I mean it's bad enough that that weirdo Venus is the shiny new thing that everyone's obsessed with. Now she's hanging with Jules?! Did you know she blew me off forhim."Girl number one replied. "She blew you o
Venus fell ungracefully on top of her bed with a sigh and Jules watched her awkwardly by the door as she stared at the ceiling. She looked like a teenager, an angry angst teen and although it shouldn't, it made him want to smile. She motioned him forward without looking at him, he approached her bed slowly.He had only intended to sit at the edge but immediately he made contact with the bed she pulled him down so he fell unceremoniously beside her.He got a strange sense of déjà vu.Her eyes were still trained to the ceiling, Jules turned his head and stared at the side of her face. "Do you enjoy making me fall for you?"Her only reaction was a blink and Jules sighed looking away from her to the ceiling. It was like every other ceiling, there wasn't much to look at but she was still staring—like there were words written only she could see. It made him notice the tiny plethora of fractures that were
Venus traced Jules's lips with her fingers and although they were cold it left a trail of fire against his skin.He thought of nothing, then everything as he held her. He thought of how clouds of gas and dust collapse into itself to form galaxies, he thought of how she was a star that had a person's name. Vee-nuhs. He thought of Venus.When he closed his eyes he could still see her engraved on the back of his eyelids asking the same question she asked the day they met. Are you alive or just existing?He opened his eyes finally ready to answer. "I'm alive."She smiled like she knew what he was talking about but she probably didn't—since it all happened in his goddamn head, after all—or maybe she did, maybe she was lying when she said she couldn't read his mind.He looked at her. Can you hear me, Venus? If you can I just wann
"What do mean you can't come home?! Now you listen here Johnathan you better get your ass back in this house in the next 24 hours!" Marie screamed over the phone.Jules let his head rest on the door with a thump he wasn't really eavesdropping he could already hear Aunt Marie having a screaming match with his father over the phone from his room upstairs, so he decided to come downstairs to feed the pain growing in his chest. He listened to the one-sided conversation outside his father's study."—Johnathan," Marie gasped. "That boy is your son! Why would you ever say that?""—that's no excuse! I can't believe you left him alone for this long! What would Moria say? Do you think my sister would have wanted this?!""—Don't you dare raise your voice at me, Jace! She was my sister first before your wife.""—shut up! Just shut up!" She sobbed. "That boy did not
Venus took him away from the field and they ended up in an indoor swimming pool. She acted like she didn't see the closed sign as slipped through the window at the side of the building that just happened to be cracked open. She opened the front door for him with a Cheshire cat grin."We are trespassing!" Jules hissed even though he had already stepped into the foyer looking around."Do you really think someone will catch us?" She smirked. "Mind reader, remember?""What if another Jules comes along and you can't read him until he find us?"She laughed then, boy did she laugh like he had uttered the craziest thing. Jules never wanted it to stop because just being there, hearing it—made a part of him light up inside like a fucking bonfire and suddenly, the world was a beautiful place. "You're the only Jules, in the whole fucking universe and don't you forget!"Fuck my life
"It's not fair!" Kenya murmured, lethargically while rubbing her eyelids."Stop, moving." Jules scolded from behind her. He had been given the task of taming her wild fro into cornrows, something he had gotten experience from the countless times he did it for his mother. "And what's not fair?""Why do you have to go to a fair with some girl? When we came all the way here to go with you and have fun."He laughed. "You did not come all the way here to go to the fair with me, don't be ridiculous besides we are still going to have fun together. I'm just going there a bit earlier with Venus."Venus had been smiling before he popped the question. She'd just finished rereading one of her favourite books, Black holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays. "Listen to this, Jules" she'd said eyes closed and cheeks flushed. "Black holes of stellar mass