Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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EURI

Fifty-three minutes.

Got it, I replied to Ronnie's mental hail and headed to my porter, loading a blanket and picnic basket into the back. Then I was at Coal Station, holding my arms open to Shah and Ronnie, and they were both against my body.

But not against my being. My telepathy Faraday cage wouldn't allow that. Honestly, I didn't like it. It felt wrong to not feel them. Shah pinched the skin on my rib cage and twisted it.

"Hey!" I gasped, and she giggled. She didn't let go, though, and neither did I. Neither did Ronnie. We were just having a cuddle right there in the station, onlookers be damned.

"What's with the metal shield, Euri? You afraid I'm gonna see how much you missed my tongue lathing your ear?" Shah teased. Apparently she was going to pretend like everything between us was a joke.

"No, I'm cautious about the two liars who I'm about to take on a picnic. A picnic with bowls and spoons and nary a finger food to be found. You monsters ready?" They pulled back, and I let them go.

What're we doing? Ronnie asked. He could because I had my mental shield open to him, but not to Shah. Yes! I was doing it! Go Euri!

"Let's find out. Come on," I loaded their bags and programmed our destination into the porter: Centre Stadium. Once there, we laid down a blanket and unpacked our dinner: pasta salad: one bowl, three spoons. Fruit salad: one bowl, three spoons. Chocolate mousse: one bowl, three spoons.

Portia licked chocolate off her spoon and moaned. I closed my eyes and licked my spoon like it was the best woman I'd ever tasted, savoring it, chest heaving.

Ronnie groaned and rolled his eyes and made a pukey face mentally. I just gave him a smug feeling back because Portia couldn't get through my metal box.

"Mmm. Thanks, Euri. Great dinner," Shah said, handing me her spoon.

Then the crowd quieted as actors entered the stadium below us. They put on a lovely play as evening turned to night, and Shah, Ronnie and I huddled together under a blanket as the chill of the desert night rinsed away the heat of the day. By the time the show ended, we were in a line, me in the middle, with my arms wide behind me and them pressed leg-to-leg, hip-to-hip, ribcage-to-ribcage against me, exactly as it was supposed to be.

We played Bone Crushers Ten until 1:00AM, then I went to bed. I didn't sleep, of course. At 3:30, I got up and went out onto the sofa in my living room. Shah was already there, scrolling through her pad. She turned it off and motioned me over. I laid down on the sofa with my head in her lap, and she ran her fingers over my right earlobe while I smiled at her with my eyes closed.

That's better, she whispered into my mind and put her left hand over my heart and leaned her head back against the sofa, closing her eyes. I put both my hands over hers and drifted.

When I woke up to sunlight trickling in through the skylight, Ronnie had my legs in his lap and Shah had both arms around me. I pretended to sleep for another hour. So did they.

Buzz.

"Daddy?" Shah said into the video. Her voice was scratchy. I got up and fetched some juices from the cooler, handing her one.

"Hi, honey. Oh, you look busy. I'm sorry to interrupt. Ah, Ronnie. You're there. Should I let you go or can I ask you quickly about the building that looked like ice?"

"Go on, Dad."

"Could you try a few variations, Ronnie? Something taller to accommodate more people? At least fifty stories and add more to it so I can see what a whole cityscape would look like in that style?"

So, Ronnie and Shah did know that Borden was working with our VR art for his Five Sphere development. They hadn't mentioned anything at all about it. They were so damn tight lipped!

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Ronnie nodded at his dad.

"Thanks. It really helps. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad," Portia ended the video.

I looked at the two of them with raised eyebrows. Portia just raised her eyebrows back in an "I'm stubborn. End of discussion" face.

I sighed.

Are we going to talk about it? Ronnie asked. Thank you, Ronnie. Someone has some sense. Finally.

Talk about what? Shah asked. In my mind. Because I still hadn't put my metal box back up this morning.

Pick a topic, Ronnie insisted and showed a mental picture of the VR city and a mental picture of the three of us cuddling on the sofa.

Friends talk, Ronnie said.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. The whole situation was ridiculous.

I guess we're not friends then, I jibed. Because, obviously, we didn't talk.

Shah gave back a feeling of lashing out through me and her brother. I put up my hands and walked away, putting up my Faraday cage again.

"Don't, Euri," Shah chided aloud.

"You can't have it both ways, Portia. At some point, you have to decide if you're going to be in my life or not. Being in my life means having a conversation with me. We can do that mentally; we can do that out loud. But ignoring me isn't a long-term strategy."

She took a long breath. "You're right, Euri. I know that you're right, but I don't know anything beyond that. There, is that better? That I at least said those words?"

I smiled at her and held out my arms. "It's a start," I said as she hugged me and Ronnie sent me a feeling of relief.

Finally, he felt.

We showered and had breakfast at the dining room table even though it was lunchtime: oatmeal with chopped apples, cinnamon, and honey. "So, are we going to talk about the VR art you're doing for your dad?" I asked.

"Ronnie sent pictures to Dad. Dad wanted more. He wants to build cities for homeless weird people on those frozen spheres. What's there to say?" Portia did not sound happy about any of the facts she spouted.

"Did you send your dad pics, Shah?"

She furrowed her brows at me, "When my dad asks for help, I help him. Yes, I sent him some images."

Ronnie felt determined and unbudging, and things started clicking together in my mind.

"So, this not-talking thing. It isn't just me, eh? You two don't talk to each other either. Aren't we a dysfunctional little family sitting here all cozy at the breakfast table?"

Shah narrowed her eyebrows even further into a glare. I wasn't scared.

"What is it, Shah? What's the feels about the VR? Why is this problematic?"

Portia looked at her oatmeal, eyes darting back and forth and seeing nothing. It would've been so much easier if I'd just dropped my mental cage, but I realized right then and there that the true reason I'd practiced so much at my telepathic boundaries was not to keep Portia out of my happy shower scenes, but to make her talk about what was going on in her head.

And she was having a very, very difficult time doing that.

"I— I." She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her middle, then looked at Ronnie.

You can do it, Shah. Talk to us. Tell us, Ronnie encouraged her.

I stayed quiet.

"What happened?" Shah asked in a barely audible whisper. "How did we make a VR world of a real sphere seven years before we knew it existed? Who did it?"

I think it was mostly me, Ronnie said. But I think it happened because of both of you with me.

All three of our shoulders relaxed. I wanted to put my forehead on the table and fall asleep it was such a relief to finally hear someone tell the truth.

"What about the three of us, Ronnie? Do you know? I can roll with it because I'm used to having people around me who see snatches of the future or write songs that come true or meet people special to them in their dreams years before they meet them in real life," I said while Portia looked at me with shock on her face.

"But this is the first time it's been me involved in something so obvious and direct. There was no denying what we saw when we stepped off the starliner and onto that frozen tundra. It was like we stepped out of the computer and into a real-world version of something we all knew by heart."

Ronnie shook his head, I can't explain it. I don't fully know. I just know that I'm another one of your people who does odd things, Euri. If you know people whose dreams come true, well, maybe my version of that is that sometimes my art comes true? Maybe? I'm not gonna stop, though. Even if it makes Shah uncomfortable. I'm not gonna stop drawing and painting.

I nodded to him. "You shouldn't have to. It's who you are, and you should be free to be who you are, Ronnie."

"I'm sorry," Portia whispered. "I don't really want to know any of this. I just want to go back to the Good Time and forget about it all."

We've been running a long time, Shah. If you wanna keep running, go ahead. I'll come sometimes. But I don't want to go right now, her brother replied.

Portia's head flew around to her brother.

What?! You think I'm going to leave you here and take off for spheres unknown?

Ronnie smiled in triumph. They were scary. Scary was what they were. Once again, I felt out of my depths.

What's so bad about our VR world turning out to be real, Shah? Why do you want to forget it all?

"Because there's already too much to juggle! I can't handle anything new. Everything's already out of control, Ronnie! Whatever that was, whatever it is, it's just one more risk, and I want nothing to do with it."

"Then let's work on that first," I suggested. "What feels like it's out of control?"

She pushed back her chair and stood up. With her hands on her head, she paced in a circle repeating under her breath, "This is crazy. Completely crazy."

Suddenly, I knew what Portia Sloan needed. Not me. Not her brother. Someone like her who was older, wiser, more experienced. She needed my Aunt Ryst.

"Portia, stop!" I commanded. She stilled. "Let's drop this conversation for now. I have a task for you. You're going to read my aunt's journals."

Her face screwed up, "Your aunt's journals?"

I nodded, "Yes, the first telepath I ever met was Ryst Nova-Carmidee, my adopted aunt, and you're standing in her home right now. You're going to read her notebooks, and then we'll talk about it. Sound like a better plan?"

I could see the relief on her face, and Ronnie inwardly celebrated. He wanted to read the notebooks too so I grabbed my pad and pushed the digital files to them.

"There's the electronic versions. I have the paper versions too if you'd prefer," but they were both already on their way downstairs to the media room.