Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

SHAH

"This is pretty," I said, holding up a pale yellow sundress.

"I think this blue would look better with your light skin and eyes," said the seamstress, picking out a soft dress in cornflower blue. I took it from her and held it up. The length was just right, and it had straps that tied at the shoulders, so it could be adjusted. The fit was loose enough that it wouldn't matter if it was a bit too baggy.

"I'll take it," I agreed. The Mirtoux crafts festival was amazing. Street after street was packed with displays of handmade goods: pottery, clothing, bags, homewares, sculptures, paintings, and everything in between. It only lasted four days, but it seemed like we could spend weeks perusing the outdoor markets. I'd already bought a bag full of things to take home.

Well, the first thing I'd bought was a cross-body bag to carry everything. It was a lovely cream canvas with blue stripes, hand woven with a rope-like adjustable shoulder strap, and it was loaded down with my purchases.

Alright, I said to Euri mentally. No more! The dress is the last thing!

He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. I like the blue dress with the ties at the shoulders. Will you wear it tonight for me?

I laughed at him, Don't you wish? Let's go meet Ronnie and Frank.

We were supposed to catch them up at Fritzen's Pie Shoppe which was three blocks over, and we had a big crowd to wade through to get there. Euri took my hand, and we made a bee-line for the nearby alleyway which was less crowded.

Stinks, Euri grimaced. Yep, the dark alley stunk like beer and piss, and we stayed out of the puddles, but made it to Fritzen's just in time to see Ronnie heading in with Frank on his shoulder. When we got inside, he was settled into a corner booth, looking at digital menu. It was oddly dark in the restaurant— well, really more like a pub than anything else, but it smelled amazing.

Ronnie grinned at me, and I could tell why when I looked at the menu. "Taste of the Sea"— a deep-dish pie with creamy potato filling loaded with crustaceans and cooked to buttery perfection. You could get a single serving, or a larger pie for the table. I was into it!

"Euri, you up for seafood? Or you wanna go veg?"

"How about both? Let's get the big Taste of the Sea and get a smaller caramelized onion-mushroom tart. And a big salad for the table? Sound good?"

We all agreed and put the order in on the control pad. A rolling autocart brought tankards of ale and a basket of crispy fried wafers— some type of sweet vegetable, deep fried and salted with a spicy red dipping sauce. Yum!

"Sands, that's good! Ronnie, what did you and Frank do all day?" I asked my twin who had been eerily silent all day.

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Euri and I had enjoyed the Mirtoux Center of Fine Arts— a majestic building whose architecture was just as much art as the displays inside. The interior of the building was all glass, four stories. It was cylindrical and wrapped around the exterior was a white concrete walking path. So, you walked up the outside of the building and could see into the interior where the art was displayed, and once you got indoors, there was an interior walkway that was similar, only you saw different displays of art because it was a different view point. Quite a poetic way to display their traveling nature art collection.

Euri and I'd spent all day there yesterday, and had gone back today to enjoy it again before making our way through the outdoor market.

But we hadn't seen or heard from Ronnie at all. He'd just been keeping to himself. Of course, it was Ronnie. And we were on an art-themed trip, so of course, my brother, the finest artist in Andromeda, was probably having the time of his life. It was just strange that he wasn't saying anything at all.

He rolled his eyes at me and took a sip of ale. Then he showed me a cute girl who'd tried to give Frank a lollipop in the Center of Fine Arts gift shop. Frank had taken it and given it to Ronnie who laughed and nodded to the girl, but kept walking.

I felt sad then, and I tried to hide it from Ronnie. The girl, well, she wasn't a girl, was she? She looked my own age, or near it, and she was pretty, with blonde hair and dark brown eyes, taller than me, and wispy thin. She'd been flirting with my brother, and probably had no idea he was nonverbal. It wasn't really fair to either of them, was it?

Ronnie knew, of course. He caught the edge of my sadness and smiled softly at me. He let me feel his own sadness too. But he wasn't sad for himself, he was sad for the girl because he wanted to tell her thank you for being sweet to Frank. So, he'd bought a blank card from the market, and had drawn a picture of Frank on the inside with the words, "Thank you," in a bubble over her head. He'd paid a little boy to take it to the blonde-haired woman, and had watched her open it from a distance. She'd laughed and held it to her heart, then put the card in her bag for safe keeping.

I shook my head at him. You're breaking hearts again, Ronnie?

He smiled and changed the topic of conversation. Did you like the displays, Euri? The traveling nature collection?

"Yeah, I could probably go back again every day for another couple of days. Did you see that sculpture of the dolphins? The one inside on the second floor?"

Hard to miss it. It's twenty-feet tall!

"Yeah. I could look at that one sculpture all day long. The stone itself is gorgeous, but the shape of it. It looks so real. Like if you touch the dolphins, you'll feel the water on their skin."

I liked the wind on the third floor. Did you see? How they displayed it?

"I loved that part too," I pitched in. "All of those mosaics of wind from different time periods and cultures, all held up by thin wire. So they looked like they were floating or being blown about. Nothing in straight lines. Everything still, but looking like it was moving. Reminded me of that night at Nanna's when the wind blew the papers all over the kitchen."

"Now you're making me want to go back again!" Euri complained. "Ohhh. Look at that!"

Our Taste of the Sea deep dish pie had arrived, so we sliced it up and dug in. "Umm, oh wow. This is so good! Ronnie, oh man, how are we gonna duplicate this? It's the best pie I've ever had." I was practically moaning in delight at the table.

"Ummm," Euri agreed, his eyes closed. "So creamy and that seasoning, what is it? We gotta know. Wow, so good. How can we get seafood for the Good Time? Can we do that? Will it go bad?"

I laughed at him. "We have shrimp and fish in the freezer. It thaws up pretty good. It'd be great in a pie like this. But you're right. We gotta find out the seasonings before we leave. Ronnie, how much longer do you want to stay in Mirtoux?"

Let's stay two more days. 'Til the festival is over. Then we'll head out, okay?

Euri and I nodded, and no one said anything else because our mouths were stuffed with the pie that was too good for words.