by Geri Watson
"Tristan! Hey!" she happily welcomed his call.
"Hey Em. Saw you called, what's up?" He yawned despite his effort to fight it off.
"You sound tired, rough night?" she guessed.
"You could say that." He stretched and rubbed his neck, trying to work out a kink.
"Wanna come over?" she asked. "I could always give you a back massage," Emily singsonged.
Tristan chuckled. "Well, since you offered..."
"I take it you need one," she giggled in return "See you in a bit then."
"Be there soon," he smiled into the phone as he hung up.
It would be good for him to get out tonight. At least he knew he could relax over there. Emily lived at the sorority house, but when she was on break or wanted time to herself, she stayed with her parents. They worked late. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother was a resident surgeon at the same hospital Arthur worked. Tristan got to the townhouse about 15 minutes later. Emily met him at the door, no doubt watching for his arrival through the window. He shook his head at her impulsiveness as she opened the door.
"You should try a little harder Em; I almost guessed you didn't miss me."
She rolled her eyes and shoved him. "I did miss you."
"Ow," Tristan winced. She'd managed to hit the exact spot where a stretcher had caught his side earlier.
"Sorry!" Her hands flew up in the air, and she cringed apologetically.
He rubbed at the mark and closed an eye. "I'm not glass. I think I'll survive...pretty sure it's only a bruise."
Emily shook her head as she walked downstairs. "Well, I never know what you've gotten yourself into out there. Who knows what you've been through on any given night."
Tristan rolled his eyes and followed behind her into the recreation room with the leather couches and lavish entertainment center. She sat down and patted the floor in front of the 103-inch plasma television. He pulled off his shirt and sat in front of her, taking the remote from her outstretched hand.
Emily started working the knots out of his back slowly as he flipped through the channels. When he'd first come over to the townhouse he'd fallen in love with the TV, and ever since then the two of them had fallen into this pattern when he had especially tough nights, and she was staying there. Emily was good at getting the knots out, and they usually talked about whatever was on his mind. While she was working out an unusually large knot, he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath.
"So, I talked to Alyssa today."
"Oh yeah? About Alex?" Emily continued kneading out the knot.
"Sorta, I asked if his ex's name was Star." he winced as she moved on and found another knot.
"Uh huh… what did she say?'
"She said it was and asked if I knew her." He flipped to a movie channel.
"What did you say?" She moved up to his shoulders.
"I asked for Star's parents’ address in Virginia, and she gave it to me." He felt Emily's hands freeze.
"You did what?" She pulled his shoulder, and Tristan turned to face her.
"Judging by your reaction, I'm sure you heard me correctly the first time."
"Why?" she asked, sounding disgusted. "I thought you were done with all of that."
Figuring his massage was shot, Tristan pulled his shirt back on and turned off the television.
"You know better than anyone else that I still think about Star all the time," he said, leaning back on his hands.
"Tristan..." Emily looked into his eyes. "She never called."
His eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe she's stubborn."
"Don't do this to yourself; it's Christmas." Emily pleaded.
"Exactly, it's Christmas. What better time for a miracle, right?" he tried.
Emily shook her head.
Tristan shrugged. "I wanna go, Em. I need to see her again. Can't you understand that?"
"No," she replied quickly. "If some guy burned me like she did you, I'd never want to see him ever again."
Tristan tried to think of anything he could say to make Emily understand why what he wanted wasn't crazy. His thoughts went back to when he'd seen Zack about two weeks after giving Star her ultimatum.
He'd been eating at the HUB with Emily when Zack had appeared at their table. The look on Zack's face was menacing, and Tristan had told Emily that he'd meet up with her in their next class. She had wanted to stay, but he'd convinced her to leave. After Emily went, Tristan nodded to Zack and invited him to have a seat. Not surprisingly Zack had opted to stand and crossed his arms in front of him.
"You've got some nerve dumping Star the same weekend I told you not to hurt her. She cried for hours. I don't know what you did, but I should eliminate you for doing that to her."
Tristan blinked in shock. "Excuse me?"
"Don't tell me you have no memory of what you did. Pre-Med kids are supposed to have minds like steel traps," Zack sneered.
Several things ran through Tristan's mind. He was surprised that Star had been crying for hours over him leaving. If it had upset her that badly why hadn't she called him and told him to come back? He would have, even in as much pain as he had been in. Hearing from her would have been better than this alternative.
Plus, if she had been that upset, why didn't she tell Zack what had happened? Why was he staring at him like it was all his fault? He told her to make a decision, and seeing as she hadn't talked to him in two weeks, Tristan had assumed she'd chosen Alex over him.
Not to mention that Zack looking down on him like that was making him slightly nervous. He wasn't a fighter, and he hoped that Zack wasn't either. Even if the reason Star hadn't told Zack had been out of embarrassment from her behavior, he wasn't the target here.
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Zack. I told her that I didn't want to get in the way of her life and that she had to choose between Alex and me...I didn't dump her," he defended himself. "If anything, she dumped me."
Zack glared at him. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you? If she dumped you, then why was she crying all night?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Tristan shrugged. "I'd like to know that myself."
Thrown off, Zack had uncrossed his arms. "You're lying."
Tristan crossed his arms and glared back at Zack. "I can assure you that I'm not lying." He stood up and stepped toward Zack, which made him back up a step. "In fact, if you want the whole truth, I would do anything for that woman. I love her more than you could ever comprehend and I would never do anything that would intentionally upset her like that, so I suggest you get your facts straight before you go around accusing people of things." He shoved past him. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get to class."
Tristan had stormed off angry from being accused and frustrated by the new information about Star. He'd seen Zack staring after him with his mouth slightly parted and a confused look on his face. When Tristan had gotten to class, he'd told Emily what had happened, and she had been as stunned as he was.
"What about what Zack said? Do you think Star would have been that upset if she didn't care?" he asked Emily, hoping she didn't think he was grasping at straws.
"Tristan, that was like a month ago." She raised an eyebrow. When he didn't say anything, Emily looked up at the ceiling then back at him. "Look if you're a sucker for punishment, do it. Don't be surprised when you don't get what you're hoping for. I'd hate to see you get all depressed over her again."
CHAPTER 17
Zack lounged across Star's bed and flipped through the channels on the television. "I forgot your parents only get basic cable...what are we supposed to watch with no movie channels?" he whined.
Star snatched the remote from his hand. "If you went home to your parents’ house then you could watch all the movie channels you wanted."
"Please," he rolled over onto his back. "I'd rather walk on broken glass than go home for the holidays. It's so much easier staying over here."
Zack's parents were divorced, and even though he was in his twenties, they still
fought over who got to spend time with him. They had separated and moved from Virginia not long after Star and he had gone to Seattle. His dad had moved to Chicago; his mother had moved to L.A.
Star's parents didn't mind him staying with them. They'd liked Zack from the beginning, and they did have three spare rooms for him to choose from. Besides, he kept Star company while they were still working most of the two weeks they'd be home.
Her father was a retired Naval Pilot Captain, but still did consulting and teaching. Her mother ran her own successful business and was well known throughout the state. Star's parents hadn't been that thrilled with her when she'd decided to move out to Seattle with Zack. The only thing that had cinched the deal was the fact that she had gotten the full scholarship for four years with room and board included.
Star knew they liked the fact that Zack was with her to help keep her out of trouble. Every Sunday she called to fill them in on what was going on and to let them know she was safe. It was still nice to come home though. Christmas was her favorite holiday, and her father had well earned his nickname of Mr. Christmas year after year.
They'd been home a few days now and had caught up with their other friends that were home on break. Soon they were bored. "Well, what do you want to go do? We could always go see a movie." Star was sitting on the floor leaning her back against the bed and looked up at Zack.
"Nah. I don't wanna see anything that's out right now." He was staring at the ceiling and rested his arms behind his head.
"We could go Christmas shopping," she suggested. "I know I should be done...but I'm not."
"The mall might not be so bad since it's a weekday," he agreed. "But you know how I loathe shopping, especially holiday shopping."
Star stood up. "Well, that's where I'm going. You can hang around here if you want, but I'm taking Dad's GTO."
Zack agilely hopped off the bed. "I'm coming."
They headed to the local mall and found that it was busier than they had expected, but they still found a parking space within a reasonable distance and took their time looking around in the stores. Star bought a few things, and they had lunch together at the food court.
After they ate, they went back to browsing through the stores until Star saw a bookstore and headed inside. Zack veered toward the Real Crime section, and Star for New Age. Her mother liked books about crossing over and getting messages from the other side.
She scanned the books and stopped when she saw a book written by her favorite professor, who also was head of the Psychology department. When she pulled the book out, she didn't look at the title, but once it was in her hands and Star saw what it was, she dropped it as if it had been on fire.
Zack happened by then and picked up the book. "Cases of Reincarnation, by Dr. Dan Walker." He flipped the book over and saw their professor’s picture on the dust cover. "Hey! Awesome find, Star. I never knew he wrote a book." He handed it back to her.
Star swallowed and looked the book over again, not believing her own eyes. Of all of the things for her to run across, this was the most random. She'd worked with their professor on numerous projects before and she'd never even seen as much as an article on reincarnation in his office.
Her thoughts turned to Tristan, and she bit her lip as tears sprung to her eyes. She regretted that she hadn't called him. It was a mistake for her to try to continue her life as if she'd never met him. As much as she'd attempted to forget him, thoughts of Tristan ran through her mind on a daily basis. Her blackouts continued, but only happened when she couldn't distract herself from thinking about him. They usually happened when she was alone, which she was grateful for.
It went against her stubborn streak to admit to Tristan that she had been wrong. If there was one thing she wanted for Christmas, it was to take back that night. She wiped at the tears in her eyes with her sleeve, trying to make it look like her face itched so Zack wouldn't notice.
"Are you going to buy it?" Zack asked.
Star looked up at him. "I think I will. Should be an interesting read, right?"
Zack nodded. "Let me borrow it when you're through reading. Did you find the book your mom wanted?"
Star went back to scanning the bookshelf and found what she had initially been looking for. "Here it is."
"Well, that was easy. Let's go get in line." Zack headed off toward the registers.
She turned the book back over in her hands and looked at her professor’s picture. Then she looked up. If ever there was a way for fate to make her take reincarnation seriously, it would be through a book by the professor for whom she held the most respect.
Shaking her head, Star made her way up to the register to wait in line behind Zack. They spent a few more hours at the mall and driving around town. Once it got close to dinner time, they headed back to the house. After parking, she saw that her parents were both home and walked into the house, both she and Zack laden down with shopping bags.
Her father was sitting at the kitchen table looking over some papers, and her mother was at the stove cooking. Star walked over and kissed her dad on the cheek then went to help her mom with whatever she could.
Zack sat down at the table with her father, and they started talking about how cold it had gotten and how he and Star must've brought the weather with them. Her mother wanted to show her something and took her hand, leading her into the office.
Apparently, there was a package that had arrived for Star while they had been at the mall. When she opened it there was a smaller package inside with a name tag that only read “Do Not Open Until Christmas.” She looked on the outer box for a return address and saw none.
"That's strange." Star looked over at her mom. "I wonder who sent it?"
Her mother shrugged. "Are you going to wait?"
Star tilted her head. "I think I am. It's exciting not to know where it came from."
She got pulled into a hug by her mom then, and she returned it warmly. "I'm glad you're home. We missed you."
"Me too." Star smiled, then her face went serious. "Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Remember that guy I told you about before Thanksgiving?" She ran her fingertips absently over the desk, looking down.
"Christen?" she offered.
"Tristan," Star corrected her.
"I can never keep all your guys’ names straight. Why don't you have more female friends?"
Star shot her a rueful look.
"Sorry, what about Tristan?" her Mom asked, going back to the original subject. "You brought him up, and then I never heard about him again...you think he sent the package?"
Star shook her head, surprised. "W-what?" It hadn't crossed her mind until her mother had said something. She looked down at the box in her hand and back up at her mother. "I don't know...I doubt it though." her face fell. "I was pretty lousy to him."
Her mother looked up, hearing the tone of Star's voice change. "Something you want to talk about?"
"No... I’m gonna go take my bags upstairs." She leaned over and kissed her mom on the cheek. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." She looked at Star a little oddly. "Dinner should be ready in a little while."
Star grabbed her bags from the hallway and looked over to see Zack deep in discussion with her father over something. Once she was upstairs, she cracked her door, took out the gifts, and set them in her closet to wrap later.
She set the mystery package on her nightstand. Then she unpacked the things that she'd bought for herself, and when she got to the reincarnation book, she sat down on her bed. Star flipped the book open and started reading. Absorbed, she didn't notice that Zack had come in until he lightly tapped her shoulder. An image of Tristan doing the same to her the day they'd met flashed across her mind as Star looked up at him a little dazed.
"Dinner's ready." Zack smiled, amused that he'd been able to make her jump so easily.
"Thanks." Star got up and set the book on the bed. He eyed the book but didn't say anything, and they went downstairs together.
&n
bsp; They ate dinner and afterward the two of them and her parents talked about school and things they'd gotten involved in and told stories about their friends. Her father filled them in on what had been going on at the Naval Academy, and her mother talked about the places she'd traveled and the people she'd done business with.
It was a comfortable meal, and it made Star feel warm inside. She hadn't felt this good in weeks. Zack noticed the change and winked at her across the table. After a few hours, her parents went to bed, and she and Zack dug out an old action movie and watched it. When it was over, Zack yawned and said he was going to his room to mess around on his laptop. Star followed him upstairs and went into her room. After changing into flannel pants and a worn t-shirt, she sat cross-legged on her bed and started reading where she left off in the book.