Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

SHAH

"Cavemen? That's what you wanna go with? Cavemen?"

Cyn was doubled over, holding her stomach and laughing at a joke I didn't understand. Ronnie was right there with her, but I could tell he was mostly laughing because she was. Apparently, people from Tucson, Arizona thought caveman jokes were really funny. I didn't see the appeal.

"You really want me to reduce Slick and Muller's amazing wedding to a scene in a cave with the two of them in leopard print briefs?" Well, okay, now that I said it out loud, it was pretty funny.

"We've already done caves, Euri. We met Muller in the most amazing cave in Andromeda. We already did cave entendre. This is just stupid."

"Well, then, love, what are you gonna do? You gonna pull something amazing out of that brain and figure out a way to describe their wedding as it actually happened?"

"Can't we have Ronnie illustrate it? I mean, Euri, graphics would go a long way to giving their wedding the attention it deserves."

"Shah, it's a web serial at first. It won't be a printed book until much later. No one looks at the illustrations in web serials. We have to give them text. I don't think you can do it. I don't think you can put it to words."

"Really, Euridyne? Goading? Mature."

"Is it working?"

"Hmmmph."

Psst— you there. Yeah, you. The one reading this, the wedding was amazing. So, Dliptonia. Yeah, that is the name of Slick's home world. You know with a name like that it's gonna have some fun things in store for you. And the couple? Slick and Muller? Well, put the two of them together, and it was positively combustible. Literally.

So, Slick is a skater. Yeah, hoverboards, but also the real kind. He teaches too. Not just at any old skate park. No way, this one was the premier park on Dliptonia, and the only way to take it all in was from platforms that hovered above the park. The wedding guests all gathered, standing on two platforms on either side of the park.

We were on the eastern hover platform, and looking straight across, we could see the western directly opposite. Down below was a skate park bigger than anything I could've dreamed of. Intricate tubes, open spaces, staircases, railings, every sort of surface imaginable except for dirt or sand.

It was just past dusk, and the night sky glowed with the light of seven moons. Then the show began.

Thirty kids flew out of nowhere, zooming, dodging, ducking, crossing, narrowly missing each other. It was a dance on hoverboards to music unlike anything I'd ever heard. It sounded almost like elephants trumpeting, but was set to a low bass beat.

When we watched the kids on their hoverboards zooming through the dark night, it'd looked cool because they all wore reflective colors, and something trailed behind them. What I didn't know was that they were trailing accelerant.

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The kids just sort of faded away as the music grew quiet. Then, two new skaters appeared. Both in bright blue suits. One from the North. One from the South. They sped towards each other and leapt off their boards. It looked like they'd fall to their deaths, but a green hoverboard lit up, and they landed on it together. The moment their feet hit that board, the night sky blazed.

The accelerant burst aflame with a giant symbol above the heads of Slick and Muller. And that was it. Wedding over. Party started.

So, how'd I do? Did I describe it for you? Did you get it? The whole scene? The most bad ass wedding ever? Yeah, I was totally stealing that for Rawl and his true love, Blitz.

What was the symbol that appeared in flames above my friends? The Dliptonia marriage license symbol. They didn't care about vows. They just reproduced the stamp that said, "Hey, dude, you're married. Congrats." And painted it in fire over their heads. Bad. Ass.

Then we all got to have an all-night party at the skate park. No bones were broken, but knees were skinned. And elbows.

"Ha! Read this, Euri. Tell me that's not better than cavemen. Read it, Cyn, and stop laughing about dumb Earth jokes. This is the coolest wedding ever."

EURI

"I think it's time," I said, as my lazy fingers traced up Shah's bare back.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Who's gonna put the nav instructions in?"

Ronnie? I sent the hail out pretty strong.

Yeah. Good, he was awake.

You ready for Five Spheres yet? We're ready.

Cyn'll put the nav codes in.

I chuckled. Telepathy rocked. Having an augment who could control tech with her mind onboard rocked even more.

Yeah, Cyn was that good. She could control the Good Time remotely. We charted a course across Andromeda, and none of us had to get out of bed.

A year had gone by, and it was time to see my niece. I saw her everyday, in a way, just not in real life, on the mental plane. She loved to play telepathic games, so we kept her entertained. She was tricky, though. Sneaky like a cat. Sometimes she'd just pop into my mind when I wasn't expecting it and giggle "Boo!"

It was adorable. And, problematic at times. So, we'd learned how to shield from her in a way that was gentle. We put a sort of external shield up that made her think we were asleep and snoring. So we could do adult things. Like we'd been doing a few minutes ago.

Mmmm. I don't want to get up, Euri.

Then let's not.

Shouldn't we eat?

We ate last night before we left Slipside Fifteen.

Chuckling. Yeah, that had just been a snack, really.

Maybe Cyn will cook.

She cooked last time. It's our turn.

I rolled us over and pushed against her pelvis.

I don't think we're done here, Shay.

I'm game. Dinner can wait.

I smiled against her lips and gave her everything she needed.

Let's make Nonna's lasagna for dinner.

Missing your gram? We could go to Trauton after Five Spheres.

Don't you want to go home, Euri? It's been a whole year.

I could go to Trauton first.

We made lasagna, and everyone ate it in silence. Then we went to Five Spheres and saw my family. Little Rory wasn't a tiny baby anymore. She was trouble toddling on two legs, and we were all besotted with her. We had a birthday party for her, and yeah, it was a bit belated, but she didn't care.

That was her first birthday. There were lots more.

And then, for her fifteenth, she got to go on her first trip aboard the Good Time.