Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

RORY

My eyes opened to a pitch dark bedroom. So, not even the tiniest bit of morning yet. Sigh. It was warm in our apartment, and of course, next to Slydar, I never got cold, but three years of Nineton winters hadn't trained me to like it. On days like this, when I woke before dawn, I knew Rhianne would be waiting for me at the gym, and I could usually muster up the enthusiasm to hop to it, but sometimes. . . .

Sometimes, I just wanted to pull the warm blankets up over my head and forget about doing all the right things. As usual, Slydar's mind was silent while he slept, but there was always some part of him that attuned to me, and often as not, he woke up when I was like this. Sure enough, that's what happened.

Wrapping my arms around him, I held him close as he nuzzled against my chest then kissed his way up my breastbone. Well, that was already making things better. Warm bed got hotter in seconds, but he paused.

"Rory? What's wrong?"

Yeah, perceptive he was. You could't really hide from a telepathic lover, anyway, so there was no use pretending like nothing was bothering me.

Sigh. "Winter's barely started, Sly, and already, I'm wanting to escape. It just seems like we have nothing but long, bleak months ahead of us, and I don't know how to face all that time. All those cold days. Being inside." Missing the desert heat and the warmth of the sun.

"We can go. Let's go visit your folks. Tomorrow. We can do that, right? Your work's in your pad, and I can take off. I mean, what? Is the skate park gonna fire me? I don't think so."

Holding him tighter against my heart, I let my mind wander out. Home. Back across Andromeda to Shurwinn. It felt so distant, like everything I'd known was some far away memory.

I shook my head. "No. It helps to think about it, so thanks, baby. Just havin' the option is a relief, but I don't think it's really that. Maybe it's a little bit of homesickness, maybe it's winter, or maybe it's just that sometimes life feels like a constant repeat, repeat, repeat cycle. Ya know?"

Nodding. Patience.

I smiled into his hair. Slydar knew me too well. Sometimes, all I needed was to wake up in the dark and just let myself babble until I felt better. My hands roamed his shoulders, appreciating how sturdy they were to lean on when I needed him, and my heart welled, grateful that he was mine.

That was all it took, and strong arms wrapped around me, flipping us and pulling me onto him. Better. Everything was better. I smiled against his mouth, loving him like always, and he showed me for the millionth time how much he loved me back.

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It was a shock when my pad buzzed with a message from Rhianne saying she'd meet me at the diner thirty minutes later than our usual work out time. Odd. Hmm. Something exciting? I hoped so. A quick shower, and I was on my way.

Rhianne was at our usual booth, and a server I didn't know brought me steaming hot coffee then left the carafe at the table. I got a bearclaw, warmed perfectly and savored the cinnamony dough, eyebrows twisted as they watched my best friend hemming and hawing across the table from me.

My silent best friend who looked a little like she wanted to puke and a little like she wanted to run around the room screaming. Can't picture it? Well, I'm having a hard time describing it for ya, but Rhianne was usually confident, unruffled, and babbled a mile a minute. Not a nervous bone in her body, but today, well, she was kinda' bouncy in her seat, and her face kept screwing up like she couldn't decide if she wanted to smile or barf.

"I don't even know what to ask, Rhianne. All of this is so weird. What the fuck is today?"

That had been exactly the right way to go because she busted up laughing.

"Twenty fucks, I need this. I don't even know how to tell you about it. It's like. I'm . . ."

"Start with this morning. Why didn't you go to the gym?"

"Well, I did, or I was about to. I thought I'd jog down since I woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep. Just didn't feel relaxed. Ansty, ya know?"

I nodded. Apparently I wasn't the only one feeling like something was off.

"Then, I was about two blocks from the gym when I saw a woman walking out of a townhouse. The sun was just coming up, and it was that kind of misty, not-quite-foggy dawn. Peaceful and quiet, but cold. Everything around me seemed magical, and as she glanced at me, her feet hit a patch of black ice, and it was like every bad thing I've ever known all happening at once."

"She slammed into the sidewalk, and there was nothing I could do about it but run to see if she was okay. Thankfully, she was fine, but before I'd even gotten close to her, my senses reached out and evaporated that ice clear off the sidewalk. Lands below, Rory, you've never seen such a thing. There was this beautiful blonde on the sidewalk on her bum, her mouth open in shock, surrounded in misty morning light like some kind of fairy princess."

I was beaming and not even trying to hide it. This was the best morning ever!

"Then I just, well, I . . ." her face screwed up again as she faltered. "Well, I don't know, Rory. I helped her up, and then took off." Rhianne's shoulders fell as she said it, and she looked positively sick.

Oh no. No, no, no. This was not happening. You don't meet fairy princesses in the dawning sunlight and then leave them on the sidewalk unkissed.

"Rhianne Stinson," I snapped at her in my no-nonsense voice. "Where was this, and why didn't we meet there instead of in this diner?"

Withdrawing in on herself, she hunched her shoulders even more. "You know where. Those townhouses right before the gym."

I nodded, paid the bill, and commanded, "Come on, we're not letting her get away, Rhianne. That was the best meet cute ever, and it's not gonna end with you clamming up and runnin' away."

Smiling, we pulled on our coats and bustled out into the cold, making our way down the street towards the townhouses we passed all the time.