Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

EURI

I woke up to Ronnie making breakfast again, smiling. Five minute clip in your inbox.

I pulled open my pad, sipped coffee, and watched the first five minutes of Eclipse Chasers with big, round eyes. Gorgeous! It was gorgeous! Ronnie and I had looked through photos of Ryst and Nayth, and he'd watched the wedding footage of them dancing so he could get an idea of how they moved together.

He'd used that footage as a template for Crystal and Nathan, but had given the animated versions a skin tone a few shades lighter than Nayth, brown eyes, and different builds so they wouldn't be easily recognizable.

It's slow going, but I'll get faster, Ronnie promised.

"Ronnie, this is amazing! Your animation is more beautiful than anything in my wildest dreams. Take all the time you need. It's gonna take me awhile to write, anyway."

He nodded, and we both got to work. When I was midway through episode four, I caught a glimpse of Ronnie working. He had three pads open and must've been using the scalp relay in addition to a wand 'cuz he was drawing on one pad, painting on another with his fingers on a touchscreen, and had moving images on the third. All. At. Once.

I stood there in shock trying to follow it, and I could not. It was like trying to watch my dad compose a symphony. I closed my eyes and opened my inner mind to Ronnie. I felt him wryly looking at me, but he let me look over his mental shoulder. I sank into his mind, and I couldn't stay there. It was like trying to look into the sun at midday.

I backed out of his mind, awed and turned my attention to the pasta I had boiling for lunch. Once I had the salad on the table, Portia joined us, but she kept ignoring us and worked on her pad.

Ronnie threw his lunch down, said, Thanks, and got back to work.

And that's how it went for a full week.

When we had two full episodes animated, I did some voiceover work that was passable, but I thought it would be much, much better to hire actors. Ronnie said it was good enough for a draft, so we took the five-minute walk down to Centre to show my dads.

"Pey'o can you believe this? Can you believe we're actually doing this? What do you think Nayth has to say about it?" Muse asked.

"Let's hope he doesn't laugh and bring the house down on us. Unless Borden's kids can stabilize the planet?"

Ronnie shook his head at them, grinning. I beamed too, thrilled at what we'd done for the first two episodes.

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"Yeah, yeah, you're right about the voices, Euri," Muse agreed. "I mean, Dwin and I could probably do some, but well, honey, what do you think? Who're we gonna get to narrate all this?"

Mets shook his head, "I dunno, Ro. Honestly, just seeing this animation is so much more than anything I anticipated for the timeline. I mean, this is basically ready to go once there's actors. This is amazing! Ronnie! Euri! Amazing! I can hardly believe I'm seeing this. Did you know?" Mets cracked up for awhile.

"We were in Centre Stadium at dawn getting ready for their wedding when we started joking about Eclipse Chasers. That was three decades ago! And now, we're sitting here watching it and really gonna produce it— with Nayth and Ryst as the stars!"

He couldn't say anything else because he was in stitches. I felt it then, faintly, like a rumble in my chest, and Ronnie felt it too: Nayth laughed from somewhere far, far away. It was a faint touch, and he was gone.

Ronnie looked at me with an eyebrow quirked then changed the mental subject. Your dads are awesome. Can I move in with them?

Laughing, I told him, They're the Eclipse Chasers Up The Rear couple, so it depends on how much you can handle. And I pushed a memory of the donkey costume and the blow up dolls into Ronnie's mind. He guffawed and looked at me confused. But at that moment, Muse piped up.

"Well, Ronnie, I'm sure you're busy with Euri's scripts, and I know animation takes time, but I've got six episodes of my eight done. So, whenever—"

"Dad, Ronnie is excited about both series. He wants to do it," I said but Ronnie was laughing to himself. He had a private joke about all of this that he really, really found hilarious. I thought it probably had to do with why Portia was sulking, but he was tight-lipped about it, so I was only guessing.

"Good, good. Well, if this is a project you want to do, Ronnie, then we're lucky to have you on board."

Ronnie nodded emphatically and both my dads beamed at him, "You're so talented, Ronnie. Amazing. Truly gifted. Thank you so much for joining the team," Mets concluded then looked around quizzically. "Where's Portia?"

Eye roll from Ronnie.

"She's working on her own projects."

"Okay, okay. Let us know when you have more to review," Mets requested.

"Ready to get back to work, Ronnie?" He nodded, and we went back to the casita to find Portia had laid out dinner on the dining room table and was eating and typing on her keypad. The three of us kept working.

After another week of long days and crashing into bed exhasuted, I woke to someone warm against my back in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark, no moonlight in the skylight. I let my mental cage soften a little.

That's better, Shah whispered softly to my mind. I rolled over and opened my left arm. She cuddled to me, her face on my chest, her arms crossed over her breasts. I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her against me. What was I going to do with her?

Do you want to talk about it? I asked gently.

Do I have to?

That depends on what you want, Shay.

Her head lifted. I pushed it back down to my chest, and she smiled against my skin.

You can call me "Shay."

It's what I always call you in my mind.

Her smile against my skin grew.

I'm not ready to give up all my secrets, Euri.

You don't know all mine, so we're even.

She laughed against my skin. Then her lips puckered, and her tongued flicked out, tasting me. My chest heaved, and my whole body tightened. I clamped my mental box shut. I managed it— barely.

"Please don't shut me out, Euri."

"There's only so far I'm willing to go, Shah."

"Humph," she grumped and turned over. She didn't leave. And I didn't sleep. I stayed exactly where I was until the sun rose in case she wanted to come back over to my side of the bed.

At daylight, I went to the dojo to greet the sun in the way of my people, wishing the whole time that I hadn't been so alone.