The light from the flickering candles reflected in his deep amber eyes like a thousand twinkling stars in the night sky; glimmering, shining. She gulped, wringing her hands around on her lap. It was a cool autumn night and they were sat on a plush red blanket set out on her sprawling apartment balcony. He had on the large red hoodie that she loved so much, the one that he let her borrow countless times, laughing at how it almost swallowed her up.
“So, what time do you leave tomorrow?” she asked quietly, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.
The gentle fall breeze whisked through his midnight black hair, ruffling it around. She reached up and brushed a few stray strands off his eyes and he relaxed at her touch, almost purring.
“At 10. You’ll come by my place to see me off, right? I can’t leave without seeing you,” he said, his full lips pouting as he looked down at her, ruffling her dyed red hair.
She scowled at him, fixing the strands he had messed up. He laughed, throwing his head back as his eyes crinkled around in the corners. Her heart thundered around in her chest with both pain and bliss and she gripped onto the railings hard to stop herself from stroking his soft cheeks. She looked at the view in front of them for a moment, calming her fraying nerves. The distant city lights glinted like far away galaxies under the dark blue backdrop of the dawning sky. In other circumstances, she would have urged him to paint the little city that sat on the foothills of the towering mountains with her.
“Of course, I will. I just hate that you’re leaving me alone for two whole years. I don’t know how to function without you. I’ve never been away from you before, it doesn’t feel right,” she murmured, pulling his green sweater above her palms.
His eyes dilated as he looked at her, shifting through a storm of unreadable emotions. He had always been able to read her like an open book, but never the other way around. The previously twinkling eyes looking at her had lost their sheen.
“Will you visit, at least?” she asked, even quieter under his nebulous gaze.
He sighed, pulling her onto his chest and wrapped his arms around, almost cocooning her. She looked up at his face, the moonlight shining down almost making him glow. Tears clouded up her vision, dampening the material under her. He stiffened up hearing her sniffle, his grip on her tightening.
“Will you?” she repeated thickly.
He just gripped onto her harder, his unsaid words amalgamating into the cool night air.
