Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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RORY

Rhianne: dinner, one hour, no excuses

I laughed at the message on my pad and sent a thumbs up, then forwarded it to Slydar so he'd know to meet me for dinner at my best friend's house. It was laundry night for me and Bitsy, and we were plugging away at it as fast as we could so she could get to a friend's fifteenth birthday party sleepover.

Yeah, we did laundry night. Neither Bitsy nor I minded folding laundry, so we'd save it up and plow through it together. Sly and Switch both hated folding laundry, but didn't mind making the beds, so they'd done that this afternoon before heading to the skate park while Bits and I'd gotten the shopping done then come home to blitz through the pile of clean clothes.

There, last tee shirt. I waved her on. "Go get your bags, hon, I know you need to go; I'll get this to everyone's rooms."

I liked to support Bitsy's friendships as much as possible because she was the type who'd be perfectly happy just stayin' home reading books all weekend with her mirka Lola curled in her lap munching on popcorn. At fifteen, she had one close friend she'd known since she was ten called Pollonia, and that child was precious. She was a talker, just like my best friend Rhianne, so Bitsy had no issues going anywhere Polly wanted to go and doing what her best friend wanted to on weekends.

Often as not, Polly had sleepovers with a few friends where they watched movies and giggled the night away, so I encouraged Bits to keep going. Every now and then she'd get grumpy about one of the other girls, but most of the time, she seemed to come home pretty happy.

That night, she was ready to get to Polly's, but not so ready she shirked chores. "I'll take Switch's basket upstairs with me," she said darting off with two laundry baskets under her arms.

Good kid. I grabbed the remaining clothes and got everything put away in drawers and on closet shelves. Then I showered and got ready for dinner, wondering why Rhianne was demanding I show up on short notice.

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I walked into Susette and Rhianne's to be greeted by my smiling husband, sweaty from skating all day, but at least he was wearing a fresh shirt. I laughed at him when he kissed me, grinning to himself about getting out of laundry duty and grocery shopping.

"Attention, attention, we have news! No, this isn't your average dinner party, dear friends. Plop your asses in chairs and partake of this stroganoff, for we have decisions to make and plans to undergo."

The dinner smelled amazing, so I didn't hesitate to obey her orders. Savoring a bite of creamy, spicy pasta, I asked them, "What the sands is going on, you two? Something big, I can tell. You're both about to burst with excitement, so just tell us already. You're not having another baby are ya?"

"WHAT?!" Susette shrilled. "Oh cripes, I hope not! Rhianne, you didn't go get yourself knocked up did you? I thought life was just getting fun again having a teenager who goes about her own business and doesn't need her butt wiped, tell me you're not ruining our lives again?!"

We all doubled over at her antics, and, of course, understood the sentiment. Yeah, life with teens got busy, and they needed enormous amounts of groceries, but their independence was worth every moment of their occasional moodiness.

"Nope, it's not a baby, thank the Cosmos. It's a trip. You two ready? We've got something, and we don't want you to say 'no.' In fact, we're not gonna let you say 'no,' so just say 'yes' and get it over with," Rhianne smirked.

I laughed at my best friend, "And, what exactly have I just said 'yes' to?"

"An eclipse tour aboard the starliner The Chaser led by our old friend Mindy—formerly known as 'Jolly Holly's Lollipop Tours,'" Susette announced.

"WHAT!? Jolly Holly's got a starliner now? And she's running an eclipse tour business? Hells bells, she's come up in the world these last twenty years." I looked at Slydar who was grinning.

"Long time since we went star hoppin' babe. I think these ladies are right, we can't say 'no.'" Then he started cackling. "And Cosmos above, with Mindy! Ha ha ha. We gotta do it! So, what's the details? When? Cost? Kids?"

Rhiane shook her head, "No kids. It's an adult cruise, and she's gonna run it with just the four of us plus six other hand-picked people from her favorite tour groups through the years. This is her maiden voyage, and she wants it to be special."

"Awww, we were her favorites?"

Susette scoffed at my question, "We basically paid for her to fly around on the vacation of her dreams, Rory. Of course we were her favorites, plus we bought her an endless supply of alcohol and made sure she drank it all, so we're, like, star customers."

We all cracked up remembering that crazy trip. A starliner cruise sounded great to me.

"Wait," I paused. "No kids? When is this? Where do we go? That's not a local five-day sort of adventure. Sphere hopping takes time, guys."

They nodded, "Yeah, it's a month-long venture, Rory, but the kids are all old enough. It's this summer. We leave in a month, so that's plenty of time for you to get everything organized with the grandparents—"

Slydar cut her off, "We can't miss this, babe. Bits and Switch will be fine at your parents, and they can hang out with my dad too. My fam will check in on them. They're practically independent already."

I nodded, he was right, and lots of kids their age were in boarding school or early-admission Uni, I just wasn't used to being away from family like that. But it was time, yeah, it was probably past time for me to let go a little, so I nodded at my friends.

"Let's do it. We're gonna be eclipse chasers, guys!" And that was a decision that we'd never regret.