Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

"It's easiest to talk about the dreams, so I'll start there, okay?" Cora asked as I slurped pho. I barely noticed the salty broth scented with star anise because I could tell whatever Cora needed to say was intense.

"The first dream happened with I lived with HC and Paddy. Did they tell you?"

My eyebrows shot up in surprise; I couldn't help it. I shook my head, and she continued.

"I was seventeen and things were bad at home. Mr. C was an English teacher in my high school, but directed the musicals—"

"What!? HC was leading musicals in your high school? Like in the show 'Joy?!'" I shrieked.

Cora laughed, "Totally, and it was as fun as you'd imagine. Everyone adored him—"

"And his official name was 'Mr. C?'" I asked, incredulous.

Cora couldn't stop grinning, and I preferred that expression the haunted one she'd worn seconds ago.

"That all we knew to call him! Mr. C! He wasn't a famous author to us, he was just our teach, anyway, he pulled me out of rehearsals one day because I was barely coherent. Forgetting lines, not paying attention. He was sharp, and he noticed everything. He actually thought I was sick with mono or something, but then he realized I just wasn't sleeping. Like ever."

Her voiced softened. "Because I couldn't. I was too scared. Dreading the night that thankfully never happened. My mom'd re-married, and the guy— I can't even call him my 'stepdad' because he doesn't deserve that title—was a creep of the worst kind. Always hugging me too long. Mom thought he was soooo loving and affectionate, but it was gross— wrong. I kept my door locked, but I was terrified of him, too scared to go to sleep."

"Did you tell HC?" I asked softly.

"Kinda. Not the words I just told you, but he put two and two together and called Paddy. The three of us went to my house, and Paddy and I packed everything of mine we could while HC schmoozed my mother and her husband, telling them how newly-weds needed space to enjoy themselves, and his daughters wanted me to stay with them."

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"One of his girls lived on campus at the University, and the other wound up becoming a friend, even though she was older than me. I knew her from school. Anyway, my idiot mother fell for it, and her husband went along with it, but the look in his eyes really freaked me out. Paddy kept putting herself in between him and me, which was the safest I'd felt in weeks."

"The first night I slept in Liliana's room—that's HC's older daughter who was away at school. I dreamed I was standing with my feet in a pink lake, and there was golden light, and a soft, single, solitary note like a chime. A girl hugged me from behind, and it was warmth, and comfort, and just, well— love. Peace. Like I knew everything would be okay. Though nothing really was okay in my waking life. When I woke up, that calm comfort feeling stayed with me. And I didn't want to ever forget it. Forget her."

"After that, I doubled down in music. I knew I couldn't go home, so I worked as hard as I could. HC and Paddy helped me, got me tutors, took my already decent piano skills and helped me hone them with my vocals. All of that helped, and I sang to the girl I couldn't see but wanted to know. No one knew what drove me, but I did. I knew that there was someone out there I wanted to be with, and if I got on stage, maybe she'd see me."

My eyes welled, and I forgot about my soup. "Cora, I— I don't know what to say. I think I wanna hug HC and Paddy all the more."

She nodded, "Yeah, every chance you get. He wasn't my teacher in school. I never had him in class, only theater, so the school said it was fine that I stayed at their place. Nima, their younger daughter practically adopted me and made it seem like I was a sister to everyone. I guess in some ways, it helped that we both have brown skin. I mean, I'm just mostly Cuban, not Sri Lankan, but no one really seemed to care that we weren't actually sisters," she chuckled.

"And that's not even the whole story; it's just the beginning. It gets worse. The journey from Cora the homeless to Coraline As Is was a rough one with a lot of bumps in the road. Are you ready to hear it all, Sam?"

"I'm listening, Cora. Anything you need to tell me, I'll be here, and if you want to keep some of it to yourself, that's okay. You don't have to rip the band-aid off all at once, you know."

She shook her head, "No, I want to tell you everything. I want you to know the real me, not just the performer on stage, Sam."

I nodded, "Then I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

And I was. Body and soul. All of me, ready for whatever she needed to lay on the table in the light of the moonlit night, and for whatever came after that. Whatever bumps in the road Cora had faced, I didn't want her to keep traveling that path alone.

So she told me the rest of her story, and it made perfect sense how I was falling in love with someone so incredible.

As though she had always been meant for me; it'd just taken me a while to be ready for her and then find my perfect one.