When Greg started work in her department, she thought he had finally arrived, and their kiss at the Christmas party had just confirmed to her that they were meant to be together. Melanie had just been waiting since then for him to come to his senses and get rid of Tamara so they could live happily ever after.
Serenity: Yep, they are saying he’s right 4 you. Go 4 it. Poke him all you want. It’s safe 2 meet him.
Mel: He’s not a serial killer?
Serenity: No, he’s a great guy. Good luck. Keep me up to date.
Mel: Thnx Serenity. Will send you an invite 2 the wedding hahahahaha
Melanie’s mood lifted a little as she sent James Devine a message. It had not turned out to be such a bad day after all.
****
The morning of their first meeting dawned bright and clear. Melanie took it as an omen that it would be a great success. She was still glad she’d arranged to meet as this busy café in the park, rather than at her house as they had originally planned. You could not be sure who you were talking to online these days, there were a lot of weirdos out there.
She had chosen a seat outside where she could be clearly seen from the park’s entrance. As the hand on her watch crept past one o’clock she began to get nervous and she checked her mobile phone again. There were no new messages or missed calls. Finally she spotted a familiar face in the crowd and she waved.
“I was beginning to get worried,” she said. “It’s so nice to finally meet in person.” She tried hard to hide her disappointment. The profile photo must have been taken at least ten years earlier, or else it had been Photoshopped within an inch of its life.
“Yes, you too.”
There was an awkward pause and she tried to think of something to say. They had talked so easily online that she had not expected them to struggle for conversation.
“This just seems so bizarre, to be sitting across from each other after all this time. Does it seem weird to you?” she asked.
“Not really, I’m used to it. What would you like to talk about?”
She shrugged. “Anything you haven’t told me already. Whatever you’re willing to share. I’m glad I don’t have to fill you in on my whole history since you already know so much about me.”
“Refresh my memory, if you don’t mind.”
Melanie paused. “You’re joking right?”
“I meet so many people online. It’s hard to remember everyone.”
She could only stare, open-mouthed for a few moments. “But I’m not just anyone. We’ve been talking online for ages now. How could you not remember me?”
“Of course I remember you, Mel, I just don’t remember every detail about you. Do you mind if I smoke?” Melanie shook her head, too dumbfounded to say no even though it was one of her pet hates. “Now where is that lighter?”
Her companion put a large bag on the ground and began rifling through it, and Melanie was left staring at the top of what she could now see was a really bad wig. After a minute had passed, she leaned forward to find out what on earth was taking so long.
She caught a glimpse inside the bag of a thick pile of computer print outs. Alarm bells began to ring inside her head and she quickly got to her feet and grabbed a page out of the bag before she could be stopped. It was a copy of one of their online conversations.
“Oh, my God! Were you reading this to remind yourself of my details? I didn’t even know you could save these conversations.”
The saying ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ took on a whole new meaning for Melanie at the sight of her cyber friend’s face. “I told you, I meet a lot of people online. It’s not easy keeping up. I’m very popular you know.”
Everything suddenly became crystal clear. For the first time in her life she did not need a psychic to predict her future because she knew exactly what was going to happen next.
“I can’t do this anymore. I thought we really had a connection, but it was obviously an illusion. It’s over between us. I can’t trust you, and without trust there’s nothing. Don’t try and contact me again.” She picked up her bag and walked away.
“What are you doing? You can’t just get up and leave. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings but I’ll make it up to you, I promise. You are a very special person, I can see that clearly. I will make you so happy if you’ll just come back.”
Melanie did not even bother to turn around. She’d had more than enough of fakes for one lifetime, but before she could put this whole sorry episode behind her she had one more person to meet with that day.
****
For the second time that day she was early, and as she waited for her date to arrive she felt a little like a spider watching for its prey. She did not have to wait long because he was early too. James Devine looked exactly like he did in his profile picture, except today he was wearing a collared shirt over his t-shirt, and he had made an effort to shave. He seemed very nervous as he shook her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you Mel….I mean Melanie. You’re even prettier in person.”
“Thank you.” The waitress came and took their order and when she left there was an awkward silence.
He cleared his throat. “I suppose I should tell you some more about myself then, even though there’s not much more to say. I think we covered most of it already. I’m pretty simple really.” He laughed but she did not even crack a smile.
“No.”
“What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“That won’t be necessary. There’s nothing more I need to know about you.”
“I....I thought we were….. here to, you know, get to know each other a bit better. I’m not that repulsive in person, am I?”
“Did I say that?”
“Well no, but….”
“What I meant is I already know everything I need to know about you. I’ll cut straight to the chase, James. My psychic Serenity, who I would trust with my life, has told me that you’re the right guy for me. In fact she was the one who led me to your profile on Hearts of Destiny.”
“Really? That’s amazing.”
“Isn’t it? So basically, since our love is written in the stars, I want to skip over all the pointless getting to know you stuff, and just do what we both know we really want to do, what we are destined to do. Are you with me?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” he said slowly. “What do we both really want to do?”
“Get married, of course. I applied for the marriage license on the same day I poked you, before you’d even replied. Isn’t that wild? It goes to sure how sure I am. I got all your details from your profile and your Facebook account. I’ve booked us in at the registry office in forty minutes, so today is our first date and our wedding day!”
He did not say anything but his face had turned very white. “What do you say? How about we grab life with both hands and make things happen? If we wait for life to come to us, it will just pass us by. This is something Serenity has taught me.”
Now it was James’ turn to look like a rabbit caught in the headlights. He shuffled his feet, and rubbed his hands through his hair while his eyes scanned the room as if he was desperately looking for an exit. He couldn’t seem to find his voice.
“I’ve got my bags packed in the car and I will be moved into your place by tonight. I know it’s just a studio apartment but we’ll make it work till we can find something bigger. My parents have said we can move in with them if we want to, and I think we should seriously consider it, at least until the first baby comes along. You don’t have to decide straight away. We’re having dinner with them tomorrow night so you can make up your mind then, but I know you’ll love them. It’s going to be just wonderful.” She clapped her hands together and her eyes shone with joy.
James cleared his throat. “Listen Melanie, I’m sure you’re a very nice girl and I would….This is all a bit sudden for me and…..Oh hell, there’s something I really need to tell you.”
Melanie wanted to stay angry at him so badly, but the sight of his misery and c
onfusion were just too much for her. She could not stop the chuckles from spilling over, and for a few moments she gave into them completely and clutched at her sides. It was
nice to be the one doing the laughing for a change.
“I should have taken a photo of that. My God, the look on your face was priceless!” she said when she managed to compose herself. “What was it you wanted to tell me, Serenity, oops, sorry, I mean James?”
James appeared shocked at first, and then a sheepish smile spread across his face. “I guess I deserved that. So obviously you know the truth. I thought the meeting with Serenity today might have blown my cover. She never looks over the readings.”
“Well she did, but right in front of me while she pretended to search in her bag for a lighter. The woman is a nightmare.”
“She doesn’t do well in person with clients. I don’t even know why she bothers. Believe it or not I was planning to tell you today, even if you didn’t find out.”
Her anger suddenly returned with full force. “Give me one reason why I should believe you? You’ve lied to me, abused the sacred trust that exists between psychic and client, and totally messed around with my life. I could probably have you and Serenity charged for what you’ve done.”
“All I can say is I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you in any way. It’s just a job. I get paid to lie to people every day, but I really started to like you and wanted to get to know you better.”
“But it’s not just a job James, that’s the thing. People really believe what you say and they follow your advice. It’s wrong to prey on them like that. I, of all people, should know.”
He picked up a coaster and began tearing it into small pieces. “I know you’re right. When Serenity first hired me to take care of her online readings, I never worried much about it. To be honest I thought if people were stupid enough to believe some stranger on a computer could predict their future, they deserved everything they got.”
“That’s really awful.”
“To me it was just a way to make some extra cash. After I while I started to feel bad. So many of the problems people have are really sad, and a lot of them just want someone to talk to. I tried to help as many as I could. I even tried to help you, if you remember.”
It was true, he had tried to tell her to take control of her own destiny and stop relying on psychics, but she had refused to listen. “That still doesn’t justify it.”
“I know. When you agreed to meet with me I handed in my resignation.”
“Really, so you don’t work for Serenity anymore?”
“No, I wanted to start with a clean slate with you, and that meant no lies. Well, no more lies.”
“That’s kind of sweet, but I’m not sure if I want to forgive you. You must have a lot of bad karma, and I’m clearly far more spiritually evolved than you.”
“At least give me another chance and say you’ll go out with me again. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“Considering what you did, yes. And what about all those other girls you’ve picked up on Hearts of Destiny? I bet I’m not the only one.”
“I created that profile just for you. Check out my joining date if you don’t believe me. It’s the only way I could think of to meet you without having to physically stalk you. That would have been far creepier.”
“Don’t kid yourself, what you did was pretty high up on the creepy stalker scale.”
“You’ve got to admit, though, that it could make a great story to tell our grandchildren one day.”
“Not helping your ranking on the creepy stalker scale.”
“Okay, just let me buy you another coffee now, that’s all I ask. No more talk about marriage or grandchildren till at least our second date, I promise.”
“I’m an old-fashioned girl, let’s make it the third date. Even better, let’s just enjoy the moment and let the future take care of itself. A wise person once gave me that advice and I think it’s time I started taking it.”
“I agree. That’s the wisest thing I’ve heard in a very long time.”
“I guess one good thing that’s come out of this whole situation is that I don’t have to pretend I’m something I’m not with you. You’ve already seen me at my craziest.”
“Yet I still turned up today, so what does that tell you?”
“It tells me that you’re just as crazy as I am, and that means we’re going to get along just fine.”
“I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, which may, or may not, be written in the stars.”
“We could always check with Serenity.”
“Don’t even joke about it.”
THE END
About the author
Francene Carroll is a true romantic at heart. She has written a number of books in the romance genre ranging from paranormal romance to comedy and suspense. She enjoys writing stories with interesting twists and turns, and she tries to keep her readers guessing till the end. You can visit her blog at:
http://francenecarroll13.blogspot.com.au/
or her website at:
www.francenecarroll.com
Other books by Francene Carroll:
Pleasure Island
When Jackson Moore and Allie Read are paired up for reality show Pleasure Island the challenge is simply to outlast their opponent. Both believe they will win with ease. What they do not realize is that they are about to face the greatest challenge of all – falling in love.
Jackson Moore is a typical Hollywood bad boy and millions of women would love to be stranded on a desert island with him. Not every woman finds him irresistible though.
Allie Read is an uptight documentary filmmaker with no tolerance for men like Jack. It does not take long for the sparks to fly between this mismatched pair, and no one is more surprised than Allie when she finds herself becoming attracted to him.
As their physical attraction heats up Jack and Allie struggle to control themselves in front of the cameras, while at the same time dealing with their unexpected feelings for each other.
EXCERPT
“And that brings us to the end of the show,” said Pam as she beamed at them from the security of a studio in L.A., thousands of kilometers away. “You might not be seeing us for a while, but we’ll definitely be seeing the two of you. I’d like to remind you that this is the last time you’ll have any contact with another human being besides each other until the show is over. Good luck, and remember to keep it real.”
The screen went black, and he was suddenly alone with Allie again. He wished that Pam hadn’t felt the need to remind them of just how cut off from the rest of the human race they were, because the thought sent a cold shiver down his spine. He looked across at Allie to see how she was taking it, but she was already off the lounge and walking toward the kitchen. She shot a disdainful look his way, but she didn’t say another word. Pam had explained that they didn’t officially have to start spending time together until eight o’clock the next morning, and after picking something out of the fridge, Allie made her way straight to her room with her dinner, closing the door loudly behind her.
For the first time in a long time, Jack was completely on his own with nothing but the unfamiliar sounds of the night to keep him company. He stretched and yawned and then went to scratch his crotch before remembering that he wasn’t alone at all. There were people out there watching his every move, and even though he was used to being filmed and dealing with the paparazzi prying into every aspect of his life, this was different. He’d never been a fan of Big Brother-type shows because he couldn’t understand why people were interested in watching other people sitting around all day or doing stupid stunts. His own life was far too exciting for that, but he supposed that most people out there lived really meaningless existences and he should feel sorry for them. He couldn’t find it in his heart to feel sorry for anyone but himself at the moment, though.
All he wanted was to lie down and go to sleep for a long time, but he knew sleep was going to be
very hard to come by that night. His cravings for a cigarette and a drink were there, niggling at the back of his mind constantly, occasionally giving him a knifelike jab in the guts to remind him of their hunger. He got up and paced the room, checking that he’d closed the sliding doors earlier. Allie hadn’t even noticed that he’d locked the place up. So typical of a woman like her to expect him to do everything and not even acknowledge it. He stood at the door for a moment, staring out at the moonlit beach, and was again reminded of what a fantastic time he could have had here with the right woman and a bar. With a sigh, he leaned his head against the glass and then, on a whim, decided to go outside for a walk on the beach. It might help to tire him out a bit, and the fresh air would do him good. He knew that the cameras could zoom in on him anywhere, at any time of the night or day, and the highly sensitive audio equipment could pick up every sound he made even though he wasn’t wearing a wire. There was no escape from prying eyes or ears even outside, but he felt a sense of freedom as he walked down the steep stairs and onto the empty white beach that seemed to glow in the darkness.
Written in the Stars (A Short Story) Page 3