As Carmen stepped out into the street, a cold hard breeze hit her. She untangled her fingers from Shane’s grip and hugged both her hands to herself. Shane turned around and glanced at Carmen, not daring to meet her eyes, but she realized that Carmen wasn’t looking at her. Carmen was wearing a stoic look on her face and she was staring at the opposite side of the street, into the darkness.

Shane became bold and stared at Carmen, taking in her every feature. Her deep set eyes squinting, her sharp nose flaring at the nostrils, how her eyebrows creased up in the middle when she was deep in thought. She was so afraid that Carmen would disappear that she couldn’t help but try to lock Carmen’s image into her head. Wanting so much to tell her everything, but not knowing how to start.

Without looking up, Carmen sensed Shane staring at her. Discomfort started building as her insecurities started setting in. What had Shane decided? Carmen braced herself for the worst scenario. She took a few steps forward and looked up into the sky, looking for her only solitude, the lonely star shining so bright.

“There it is.” Shane pointed in front of Carmen. Carmen looked up to where Shane pointed and sure enough, there was the star. Shane could tell that Carmen was looking for the star, but she couldn’t tell what else Carmen was thinking, and that scared her. The playful mood in the club had all but dissolved. Insecurities and discomfort hanged thick in the air, creating a barrier between the two of them.

Shane badly wanted to keep contact with Carmen, she felt safe when their fingers were intertwined together. But Shane was afraid. Afraid of touching her, afraid of Carmen’s reaction to her. So she kept her hands firmly in her pocket, staring at the star, waiting for a reaction from Carmen.

And Carmen was doing the same. She stared hard at the same star and waited, anticipated the words coming from Shane. To tell her that everything should go back to how it was in the beginning. That they should stay being friends.

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