Page 19 of Written in the Stars

ZANDER

Okay, so I didn’t catch her name, nor was I brave enough to stop back into the store to find out who she is. But then it dawned on me.

As I stood there talking to her, my eyes caught a glimpse of the picture on the wall behind her, and it all came back. All the moments leading up to it years ago come crashing to the front of my mind. Fuck. I do know her, or at least know of her. I’ve seen her before. And now, I know from exactly where I know her.

Dammit. It didn’t hit me sooner, and maybe if it had, I would have picked a different store to take the old man to so he could be safe and away from the fire like the others, but I just had to see her again.

Since the night of Valerie’s birthday party and her engagement to Matt, more and more thoughts of the mysterious beauty crept into my mind. Now it was even fucking with my sleep every single night. I’d lie in bed, tossing and turning, not able to fall asleep. I knew something had to give.

I needed to know who she was. And now, I do.

I plop down onto my couch after Matt walks in behind me and then shuts and locks the front door; we’ve just made it back from the cemetery. Usually, Matt doesn’t come with me when I go visit Maddie on her birthday, but we’ve got plans for later. Since it’s just three days after Christmas, his folks invited me over to celebrate the holidays at their place. This is not something we typically do around the holidays, but for some reason, they want it to happen this year. Maybe Matt’s told them how alone and pathetic I am. Who the hell knows? All I do know is that I had to go visit Maddie this morning, and he came by just in time.

Matt pulls his cell phone out from his pocket. “It’s my mom,” he says, reading a text message.

I nod.

“She wants us to be there by six sharp, and she said to come hungry.” He texts back a reply.

I chuckle. Matt’s mother is known for cooking feasts all the time. I can bet on anything that tonight is going to be no different. In fact, I won’t be surprised if she goes as hard as she does on Thanksgiving. “I’m already hungry,” I say, rubbing my stomach. I haven’t eaten anything all day. Typically, I don’t eat much of anything on this day.

He places his phone on the seat next to him. “I have to pick up Val from work in about an hour. You going to come with me or meet me at my place around five thirty and then drive to my parents’ house together?”

I shake my head. “Nah, I’ll come with you if it’s cool.” It’s not like I have anything else to do. And besides, if I sit here alone today until it’s time to get ready to go, I might think and think and think… and that can be dangerous. Especially on days like today.

“Okay,” he says. He picks up the television remote from the coffee table in front of him and turns it on.

And before I can stop myself, the words, “I met a girl,” come out of my mouth. Granted, I haven’t really met her, or so I thought. But do I get into that now? Maybe I’ll hold off telling him that part for now.

At these four little words of mine, he snaps his head around to look at me with a serious expression and hits the button on the remote to turn off the TV simultaneously. “Come again?”

I shake my head, instantly regretting my decision to tell him about the beauty in the shop, but at the same time, I’m relieved to tell somebody, anybody, and if not Matt, then who?

“I’m going to hurl?” I say in an inquisitive tone, hoping he doesn’t realize.

“Nope, nope, nope,” Matt says, waving his pointer finger back and forth. Of course, he realized I tried to change my words. “That’s not what you said before.”

I should have known better than to try and trick him.

I shrug. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t.”

He sits forward in his seat, smirking. The bastard. He’s probably enjoying this way more than he should be. “You said you met a girl. Care to elaborate?” He pauses for a moment and then says, “No, never mind. Scratch that. It’s not a question. It’s a demand. Now, elaborate.”

I chuckle to myself, shaking my head. “You know the accessory store across the store from the retirement home?”

His eyes light up as I tell him about the mystery chick who’s been in and out of my mind since the moment I laid my eyes on her. “Yeah?”

“Do you remember the day I volunteered to grab drinks and stuff for us? The day you thought I was taking too long?”

He gasps. “Oh my God, you dog! You purposely took long to talk to her! I knew it!” He tosses a throw pillow in my direction.

I shake my head. “No, no, wait a second. That’s not it.”

“Yeah, okay, bro. Sure it’s not.”

“No, I’m serious.” I hold out my hands and compose myself before continuing. “I saw a girl, a beautiful girl, on my way there. I didn’t stop in or talk to her or anything like that. I just noticed her as I was passing by. I mean, there was no way not to notice her… she was so beautiful.” My words hang in the air as I look down, thinking about the gorgeous mystery girl. Damn, I’d love to see her again now, even knowing what I do. “I just took the long way back to see if I would see her again, but she wasn’t there.”

“Is that so?” Matt says with a smirk.

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