The Star Kissed Collection

by Jamie Campbell

  “Do it again and do it right this time,” he said in that whiny voice he kept reserved just for me. He pushed the mop into my hand and kicked the bucket of water my way. Droplets of dirty water spattered out onto the floor.

  I bit my tongue so I didn’t tell him what I really wanted him to do with the mop and nodded my head. The floor was spotless besides the new droplets Pete had put there. Still, I danced the mop around the tiles anyway and hoped it would pass his test this time.

  At least mopping the floor meant I didn’t have to clean out the grease trap or empty the trash. Pete was picking on someone else for those tasks. I swore he enjoyed making people miserable.

  “Pete’s fired up tonight, huh?” Andy, my co-worker, nudged me as he spoke. He was on cooking duty, his dark hair held back in a net hat. He was one of the people that made working at Burger Nation bearable.

  “He’s on a mission to see how many people he can tick off in one day,” I replied. “Do you think this floor looks clean?”

  Andy made a show of inspecting it, holding his chin in his plastic gloved hands. “I can see up your skirt, so it looks clean enough to me.”

  I pushed him. “It’s not that clean.”

  He pushed me back playfully as we goofed around. “Close enough. When’s your break? Want to synch?” We sometimes had our breaks together and used the time to moan about our menial jobs.

  “Not for another hour.”

  “I’ll see you in the break room in an hour.” He winked and turned back to his sizzling burger patties. I did another sweep with the mop. The moment I saw Pete heading my way, I decided the floor in the restaurant needed cleaning too and ducked under the counter.

  For a Tuesday night, the place had a decent amount of people – at least a dozen, mostly teenagers from my school. Apparently we were the only ones that went out on a weeknight. They kept me in employment so I didn’t care.

  I mopped up what I hoped was a milkshake instead of vomit and kept my head down so Pete wouldn’t hassle me. As I did, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation at the nearest table.

  Three girls from my school were sharing a serve of fries. “My mom said she would get tickets for the Paris show for my birthday. We were going to be on vacation there for the summer anyway,” one of the girls, Abigail, said happily.

  “I bet the show will be so much better than the one they did here. It will be all European,” Maddison replied, placing extra emphasis on the last word like everything was so much cooler if it was European. I rolled my eyes, thankfully I still had my back turned to them so they didn’t see. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself.

  “I know, right?” Abigail continued. “She better get good seats, I want to be front row again.”

  The third girl, Brianna, nodded. “You can’t see Two Dimension any other way. I’m so jealous, I wish I was seeing them in Paris.”

  My ears pricked up at the mention of Cole’s band. I mopped a little closer, not wanting to mishear any of the details.

  Abigail leant across the table to place a comforting hand over Brianna’s. “Maybe they’ll do another European tour next summer. You can save up all year to see them.”

  So I guessed I knew what Cole was doing with his summer. So much for hoping he might have days off so we could spend some time together. It was probably foolish to hope for it to begin with.

  I stopped mopping long enough to interrupt their little chit chat. “Are you talking about Two Dimension?”

  All three sets of eyes stared at me. Maddison was the one brave enough to talk. “Yeah, haven’t you heard? They announced a summer tour through Europe today. They’re starting in London and finishing in Madrid. It’s going to be epic.”

  “How long will they be touring for?” I asked, quickly wishing I hadn’t as the girls seemed frustrated with my lack of understanding.

  “All summer long,” Abigail replied, speaking slowly so I would understand her English. “That’s normally what a summer tour means… duh.” They started giggling at their own hilarity so I left them to it.

  I had spoken to Cole only the night before, he would have known about the tour. It wasn’t like they worked those things out overnight. I was annoyed he hadn’t told me about it, even angrier that I would have to spend the entire summer without him.

  Chapter Eight

  I stalked back to the counter and attended to some customers waiting to be served. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts because I would probably do something stupid like call Cole and give him a piece of my mind. I would probably regret it in the morning, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

  I was still upset an hour later when I had my break with Andy. I didn’t want to unload my problems onto him so I pretended everything was fine. Even though it definitely wasn’t.

  “You never have a burger during your break,” he commented, nodding toward my tub of yoghurt. “Anyone would think you’re a health freak or something.”

  I laughed, there were many things you could call me but health freak definitely wasn’t one of them. I was actually quite the opposite, I just really liked yoghurt for some reason.

  “I know what’s in the burgers,” I said. “And I don’t think I want to eat them.”

  Andy took a big bite of his burger pointedly. “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” He flexed his biceps as he laughed.

  “I’m pretty sure bacteria will kill you.”

  “Not today, Morgan, it can’t take me in my prime.” He continued to preen himself like a peacock until he went back to his burger. “So, prom, hey? It’s coming up quick.”

  Prom was about four weeks away at last count. I hadn’t given it much thought considering it wasn’t high on my list of priorities. “I guess so.”

  “Don’t you girls spend months planning what you’re going to wear and stuff?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe some girls. I don’t happen to be one of them.”

  “That’s what I like about you, Morgan.”

  “That I’m not into prom?” I asked, trying to work out what on earth he was talking about. Sometimes I swore guys spoke an entirely different language than I did.

  “No, that you’re real, you think and stuff,” he replied, as if that explained everything. “Most girls don’t.”

  “I could be really offended by that on behalf of the female race, or I could take it as a compliment. I choose to take it as a compliment, Andy.”

  “You should, that’s what I meant.” He grinned as I finished my yoghurt. I left the break room with no idea of what we had just discussed. Literally, no idea.

  But that was Andy for you. He was a great guy, genuinely funny and happy nearly all the time. He could make me laugh when I was in the worst mood because of something Creepy Pete or a customer did. A nice guy, yes. A little… odd? That too.

  When I returned to the front counter, I was just in time to see Dallas hurry into the restaurant. I looked around for Pete, I was in luck, he was outside hassling some kids.

  Judging by the excited look on Dallas’s face, I guessed she had something she was bursting to tell me. “What can I get you?” I asked, in my best Burger Nation sales voice.

  “I wouldn’t eat here,” she said, her mouth pouting in disgust at the thought. “I came to see you.”

  “Well? What is it? Spit it out.”

  She looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. Whatever she was about to say, my expectations of it being something juicy escalated.

  “I just got a call from Dax Stewart,” she finally said, clearly trying to contain her excitement. “He asked me out to the movies on Saturday night!”

  “That’s great, Dal.” She had been semi-stalking Dax all year, thank goodness he finally noticed her. Dallas wasn’t the best about being subtle with her hints either, she had practically bashed him over the head with her date suggestions.

  “I need to know whether you think I should wear my pink dress with my green shoes, or my green dress with my pink shoes?” She wait
ed as I thought it through – or at least pretended to anyway. I had no idea what dresses she was talking about.

  “What about the blue one?” I asked, mainly just for my own entertainment.

  “The one with the white bows?”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  She nodded slowly, her eyes gazing up as she pictured herself in the dresses. I didn’t have to see inside her brain to know that, I had spent way too much time with Dallas over the years.

  “That could work,” she finally decided. “Just think, if this date goes well, he might ask me to prom.”

  I suppressed a groan, what was everyone’s obsession with prom all of a sudden? Maybe I could hide for the next four weeks. “Maybe.”

  “We could double date.”

  “I would need a date for us to double date,” I pointed out. Considering Cole was planning on running off to Europe, he probably wouldn’t be around for a stupid school prom. Not to mention the fact that we couldn’t tell anyone we were together.

  Dallas waggled her finger at me. “Have you even told Cole about the prom? He’s probably busy, you have to tell him things well in advance so he can schedule in Melrose time.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure Cole isn’t interested in going to our prom.”

  “You’ll never know unless you ask him.”

  That wasn’t going to happen. I plastered on a smile for her benefit. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I earned a chastising swat of my arm.

  “Don’t give me that, you know that’s what parents say when they mean no and hope you’ll forget about it.”

  “Okay, okay, stop it. I’ll think about asking him,” I promised. It was as good as I could do.

  “Good. And then we can go shopping for dresses one weekend.” Dallas’s smile was beaming from her face, I couldn’t refuse her. Although, I could hope she forget about it in the meantime.

  “Looking forward to it already,” I lied, saying those words with way more enthusiasm than I actually felt. I wasn’t going to prom, I was pretty certain of that fact.

  Dallas disappeared as quickly as she had arrived and I finished my shift at exactly ten o’clock. I was in the staff room picking up my stuff when my phone beeped with a text message.

  I expected it to be Dallas, over-sharing something else about her date preparations. She had already sent me photos in her dresses as she found one after the other that might look cuter.

  But the message wasn’t from Dallas, the sender was Cole.

  You weren’t online, missed you. Keeping smiling that beautiful smile. xoxo C.

  “What are you grinning at?” Pete asked. I hadn’t heard him come in. I didn’t even realize my lips had spread into a smile as I read the message.

  “Nothing,” I replied, returning my phone to my handbag.

  “Doesn’t look like nothing.”

  “I assure you it is. Goodnight, Pete.” I brushed past him before he could say anything else. Knowing Creepy Pete, I wouldn’t put it past him to snatch my phone from me and take a look for himself.

  The entire drive home, Cole kept drifting in and out of my mind. How could he be so sweet on one hand but then keep something big from me like being gone all summer? I thought we had a connection, I thought I understood him, but every time he just ended up confusing me more.

  I knew I liked him, I knew I was falling in love with him. I just hoped and prayed and crossed my fingers that he wasn’t going to hurt me. If he left like everyone else did in my life, I didn’t know if I could handle it.

  My dad and Jemma were already in bed by the time I arrived home. I checked online but Cole – or Donald Duck – wasn’t logged on. I went to bed and tried not to obsess over it all night long.

  It didn’t work. Turning off my brain was a lot harder than it sounded. I went to school tired and grumpy which only attracted things that made me even grumpier.

  I had a pop quiz in my History class, got called on for my homework answers in Math, and was teamed with Abigail in Science. I thought my day couldn’t get any worse. But just because you think something, doesn’t always make it true.

  I found out that rule for sure when I was standing in line at the cafeteria. Brianna was behind me, huffing at every extra second I took in deciding between chocolate or strawberry milk.

  “Come on, Melrose. If you don’t decide soon, your fifteen seconds of fame is going to be over and you’ll have no milk to cry into,” she said, tapping her foot. Gosh, talk about impatient.

  Any other day and I might just have taken whatever was closest and scurried off. That day, however, apparently I wanted to make my day even worse.

  “Brianna, what’s your problem? I’ve been standing here for about two seconds,” I said, not even trying to keep the hostility out of my voice.

  She leaned down closer so she was right in front of my face. “Two seconds too long. What, just because you got up on stage at the Two Dimension concert, you think you’re better than us now? Huh? Do you, Melrose?”

  Before I could open my mouth to tell her exactly how much better I was than her, I felt an elbow in my ribs. I turned around, ready to give someone else a piece of my mind when I saw Dallas.

  “What?” I said grumpily.

  Dallas didn’t say a word, she only nodded toward the door. I knew the stunned look on her face as well I knew the back of my hand. I slowly turned around to see what had taken her aback, dreading each moment.

  Standing in the doorway of the cafeteria was Cole Newton. And we weren’t the only two who had noticed.

  Chapter Nine

  “Oh my God, is that Cole Newton?” Brianna gasped, completely forgetting about the way I grated on her nerves.

  A sea of girls hurried toward the door, all intent on reaching Cole before the others. They shrieked, screaming out his name in their high pitched tones.

  “What’s he doing here?” I whispered to Dallas. She shrugged.

  “I have no idea. But if you want a piece of him, I’d go now before they start tearing his clothes off,” she replied, not taking her eyes off him.

  I couldn’t move, the furthest I could go was the railing. I leaned against it, trying to work out if I was dreaming again. Cole was actually standing in the middle of my school, I had a hundred witnesses to prove it.

  He disappeared behind a legion of bodies and we broke eye contact. He really should have considered bringing his security team with him, it looked like he was going to need it.

  “Go get your man,” Dallas urged as she nudged me.

  “I can’t,” I whimpered in reply. I wished I had full control over my legs but they weren’t listening to me anymore. Nothing was.

  I couldn’t see anything through the crowd as everyone converged on poor Cole. I still had no idea what he was doing there. The mean little voice in my head said he was probably going to break up with me. But the other voice said he would probably do that over the phone. My stomach was a conglomerate of butterflies as I stood there.

  I worried about what was happening in the middle of the mass. Cole was just one person and there had to be at least a hundred people huddling around him. Being crushed was a real possibility that I didn’t want to picture. He might be nothing more than a pancake when and if he emerged.

  From the middle of it all, Cole suddenly appeared as he stood on a table. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. His hair was more messed up than it usually was and his shirt was now un-tucked from his pants. He looked like he had lost a fight with a lion.

  Our eyes locked again as he found me. My breath caught in my throat, making it impossible to even speak now. He took a run on the table and deftly jumped onto the next one, making the boys sitting around it jump in surprise.

  Cole continued, dancing over the tables until he was standing on the one closest to me. His legion of fans followed, making their way through the maze to keep up with him.

  He reached down, extending his hand and holding it open for me. Move, Melrose! I seriously needed to get myself toge
ther.

  I placed my hand in Cole’s and he gripped it instantly, pulling me onto the table. I didn’t have a choice, I let him guide me upwards until my feet were standing right beside his.

  It was higher standing on the table than I expected. We were absolutely surrounded by a sea of faces as they watched to see what the superstar did next. My heart was racing with the same question.

  Cole still gripped my hand, our fingers intertwined. “What are you doing?” I asked. For a start, nobody was supposed to know about us. Secondly, we were in the middle of the entire school. Thirdly, I couldn’t think straight when he was holding my hand.

  He leaned in closer so nobody could overhear us, like we were sharing a secret just meant for the two of us. “I was on my way back to L.A. and I couldn’t wait another moment to kiss you.”

  Cole pulled me closer and unlinked his fingers so he could cradle my head in both of his hands. I could see nothing but his beautiful green eyes, the rest of the school completely faded away.

  “People are going to see us,” I pointed out. I didn’t want to get him into any kind of trouble.

  “I don’t care.” He grinned.

  And then there was no more talking. Cole leaned in and his lips pressed on mine. His kiss was so soft and tender, our lips locking together and making every thought in my head completely disappear.

  I was totally lost in him. His strong hands held me up as I sunk against his body. He grazed his lips on mine before giving me one last kiss. I was completely breathless, left motionless in his wake.

  He pulled back but continued to hold me. His eyes never left mine. “That was worth the wait,” he said breathlessly with a laugh.

  There was only one thing I could think to say. “Will you go to prom with me?”

  “Absolutely,” he replied, planting another kiss on my lips before letting me go.

  He linked his hands behind my back, keeping me there with no way out. The rest of the cafeteria faded back into my consciousness. My gaze darted around at the faces, they were all still staring at us. And not one of them looked happy except for Dallas.