Star-Crossed Memories

by Geri Watson

  It was still relatively cold, and Star desperately wanted to start seeing the first signs of spring. She didn't want to wait another month before it began to warm up again. Tristan had promised they would go camping together when the weather cleared up, and she was looking forward to that. A night under the stars seemed like a perfect evening to her. It would be nice to get away from everything for a weekend too.

  Once Star got back to the apartment, she noticed how quiet it was and that Scout hadn't greeted her at the door like she usually did. That's odd. Poking her head into the sunroom, she saw Zack lounging on the couch watching TV with his feet propped up.

  "Hey," she smiled.

  "Oh, hey! When did you get home?" he asked swiveling around.

  "Just a minute ago." Star flopped down beside him. "Where's Scout?"

  "In your room with Tristan. He's got the overnight shift tonight, so I guess he's sleeping," Zack relayed to her.

  "Ah," she breathed. She'd forgotten Tristan was working overnight tonight. That made her slightly sad. She'd gotten used to falling asleep in his arms.

  "What's on your mind, Starshine?" Zack bumped her shoulder.

  "Nothing," she said softly, trying to look unphased by his question.

  "Don't give me that," he scoffed. "Something’s bothering you. I know that face when I see it."

  "Yeah, well. Have you eaten yet?" Star asked.

  "Don't change the subject." Zack narrowed his eyes. "Tell me what's going on."

  Star stood up, and he pulled her back down into his lap and trapped her with his arms in a stronghold. "I mean it. Spill."

  She struggled for a minute, but once she realized Zack wasn't going to let go, she rested her forehead against his and sighed, closing her eyes. "Tristan's having nightmares."

  Zack looked at her, and she could've sworn he looked guilty. "What do you know about them?" she demanded.

  "I don't," his wide eyes answered hers.

  "Zack...if you're hiding something from me you're going to regret it, I swear," she peered at him.

  He buckled. "Look, I did a rune reading on him the night everyone was over. He seemed kinda spooked by it, but he didn't say anything."

  A chilling scream interrupted their banter and Zack released her instantly. It was coming from her room. She ran down the hall and opened the door, with Scout running out as she walked in, letting the door close again behind her. Tristan was thrashing in bed, still asleep but having one hell of a nightmare. Not sure what to do, Star climbed up onto the bed and rested her hand on his chest. Tristan's heart was racing, and his breathing was ragged. He was sweating profusely. Her heart broke seeing him in a state like that.

  "Tristan?" she shook his shoulder lightly. He continued to thrash underneath her. She climbed on top of his chest in an attempt to control the thrashing and shook him again. "Tristan? Baby, wake up!" her voice was starting to catch in fear for him.

  "Not again...not like this!" he yelled as tears started streaming down his cheeks.

  Star found herself crying despite trying to hold back. "Tristan!" she pleaded. "WAKE UP!" she shook him harder. "Please?" she begged, her tears coming faster.

  "NO! STAR!" he screamed, bolting up and almost knocking her off of him in the process. If she hadn't grabbed ahold of his shoulders and buried her head in his chest, she would've hit the floor for sure.

  His breathing remained labored, and he blindly took in his surroundings as she lifted her face to his. Her soulful eyes met his terrified ones, blazing blue from raw emotion. Tristan hugged her tightly to him, collapsing back against the pillows and taking her with him.

  Neither one said anything as his breathing slowed and his hold on her remained strong. When she dared to look up at him again, he pulled her closer and kissed her with enough passion to set her soul on fire. Still scared, Star felt his bare chest hot beneath her and returned the kiss willingly, her tears still escaping.

  His hands slid underneath her hooded sweatshirt and pulled it off, then he met her lips again and slid his hands along her back, stopping only to pull the scrunchie from her hair to let it fall loosely across her shoulders. His fingertips grazed down her spine and rested at the hemline of her jeans as he kissed her deeper, moaning her name slightly into her mouth. Star leaned herself against him and let her hair fall gently across his dimples as she ended their kisses.

  He started trailing light kisses across her neck and collarbone instead, and she let a sigh escape before she spoke, closing her eyes and biting her lower lip at the sensation. "Tristan, we should talk about what just happened."

  "No," he breathed as his teeth grazed her earlobe. "Talking is the last thing on my mind right now."

  "I can see that," she groaned as he wrapped his leg around hers. "But you're only avoiding it."

  "All we ever do is talk," he murmured against her skin as he retraced his trail down her neck. "I'm done talking, and it doesn't help with anything."

  "Zack's home," Star protested.

  "Let him learn to knock first," he silenced her with a hard kiss.

  "Tristan," she moaned and grabbed his hands, setting them on his chest.

  He shot her a pouted and pained look in response.

  "Oh, don't look at me like that," Star's face crumpled. "You're gonna make me feel bad."

  Taking advantage of his triumph, Tristan smirked and rolled her over efficiently pinning her against the bed. He hovered over her and continued with his assault of kisses where he left off. Frustrated with herself for giving into him, Star shook her head. "You're impossible."

  "I want you to myself." He brushed his lips against her cheek. "Is that so much to ask?" His tongue flicked up her throat, and she felt his hold on her hands tighten as he entwined his fingers with hers.

  "Your nightmares..." she panted out, trying to regain her senses.

  "Marry me, Star," his lips lightly met hers. "Stay with me forever."

  She closed her eyes and shuddered at the feel of his breath against her neck. Did he ask me that? Seriously? "M-marry you?" she stammered out against his lips as they met hers again.

  "That was the question." He arched an eyebrow, looking down at her. "Unless you don't want to."

  "It's not that I don't want to...it's well, you've got med school, and we still have a year before graduation!" she swallowed. "Don't you think that's fast?"

  Tristan moved off of her and dug around in his duffel bag for a minute before running his hand through his hair and returning with a small box in his hand. "It's been on my mind." He looked over at her with a solemn expression. His fingers ran over the fabric across the top of the box as he spoke. "In fact lately, it's the only thing on my mind."

  Star's eyes focused on the box in Tristan's hand, and she felt her temperature rise. He was dead serious about this. People stayed engaged for a long time sometimes, didn't they? This would just be a promise to wait for one another until school was over, right? A commitment that they belonged to one another and nobody else. She could live with that. The only person she was meant to love was sitting in front of her right now, and he was asking her to be his forever. When he opened the box, tucked within the cushioning was a two carat, emerald cut, white gold engagement ring. Star felt a tear roll down her cheek.

  "Do you want me to get on one knee? I will, you know," Tristan half-smiled.

  Not knowing what to say or do, the only thing she could do was allow her mouth to drop at the sight of the ring. Star had never seen a ring that large or that stunning before. She watched as Tristan took that as an answer, made his way to the bed and knelt down in front of her, his elbows resting on the mattress. He gently took the ring out of the box and slid it on her left ring finger. "Star McKenzie Levine, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and spending the rest of this lifetime with me?"

  After seeing what the ring looked like shining on her finger, Star slid off the bed and into his waiting lap on the floor. She threw her arms around his neck, knocking him down in the process and kissing him ferven
tly. "Yes." she murmured against his lips as he held her. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

  She heard Zack chuckle in the doorway. That boy never would learn how to knock.

  CHAPTER 38

  Tristan could smell smoke. There was something warm running across his face. Star, worry about Star, his mind told him. There was a lot of commotion around him, and he was dizzy. He had a piece of metal stuck in his side below his abdomen. The pain was what his body was focusing on, and it was making trying to find Star difficult. There was something white in his way, and he was coughing against a powdery substance. The airbag must have gone off. Tristan pushed back the white covering again and saw Star crushed from the waist down with the car. The metal gnarled around her legs.

  "Get the Jaws of Life!" he heard echoing in his ears along with the sound of his blood rushing in his head.

  She was barely breathing; her pulse was weak...he was going to lose her. "Not again...not like this." his voice trembled as he shook his head, making it throb in the process. He must have hit his head pretty hard on something. Don't think about the pain; you're going to lose her again. Some hero you turned out to be, Tristan.

  "The engine is on fire, get him out of the car! We've lost her." a faceless, panicked voice said.

  Tristan felt himself pulled from the wreckage of what used to be his car. A pair of strong hands gripped him as he thrashed and tried to get back to where Star was. He could see the fire licking up the side of the vehicle, and he could smell the sickening smoke and see the other car that had smashed all the way into the passenger side of his vehicle. Star's side. There was a massive explosion, and he was pushed farther away and shielded by someone’s body.

  "NO!!! STAR!!!" he screamed.

  Tristan shot up in bed, his heart racing. This nightmare had to stop happening. It didn't matter how many times he told Dr. Walker about it; he still kept having it. He would have been able to deal with it had it been some other lifetime, but this was him and Star, not them at any other time. Between that stupid rune reading and the nightmare, Tristan was getting worried about driving anywhere anymore. His car had stayed parked most of the time since the apartment was so close to campus. When they did go out, he either let Zack drive, against his better judgment, or told Star he'd meet up with her somewhere else, so she wasn't in the car. He was getting paranoid.

  He looked down at Star's sleeping form next to him and was glad he hadn't woken her up. The last thing Tristan needed was her worrying about him on top of everything else. Admittedly, it was a cheap shot to ask her to marry him when she'd walked in on him having the nightmare before his shift the other night. He could have asked her in a more romantic way and at a better time. But he knew Star, and he knew she wasn't going to drop it if she wanted answers. He had to throw her off somehow, and he did have the ring sitting in his bag waiting for him to pick his time and place to ask.

  Rolling over onto his side, Tristan lightly ran his fingers across Star's jaw and over her pouted lips. The sunlight from the window was reflecting off her ring and leaving a small rainbow above the headboard. He had to chuckle to himself thinking that his treasure was at the end of that particular rainbow. It was the weekend, and he didn't have to work today since he'd had the past few overnight shifts this week. By the time he got back to the apartment, Star was usually fast asleep. She'd complained that he couldn't possibly be getting enough sleep, but he'd brushed it off. He peppered her face with light kisses until he heard her giggle underneath him. Her warm eyes opened inches from his own.

  "Morning, Sunshine," he murmured before moving closer and kissing her more properly, the way she deserved to be kissed.

  Star lifted her hands and ran them over his morning stubble happily after his lips released her. He never would understand what her fascination with his morning appearance was. "Morning, Gorgeous."

  He ran his fingers lightly through her hair, brushing it away from her face. "What do you want to do today?"

  "No work today?" she asked.

  "Nope. You've got me to yourself all day," he replied with a smile, resting his head on his hand after propping himself up on his elbow.

  "Hm." Star's eyes wandered to the ceiling as she thought. While waiting for an answer, Tristan caught a patch of bare skin peeking out at her waistline from her tank top being scrunched up and poked her. She squirmed away, swatting at him and laughing. "Stop. I'm trying to think!"

  He feigned innocence and rolled over onto his back again, resting his hands behind his head on the pillow. She was entirely too easy to torment. His mind wandered back to the nightmare, and he frowned. If he could only nail down the details better, maybe he could avoid the area the crash happened. But everything was so dang fuzzy in the dream every time. It was his car they were in, but that was as much as he could figure out for sure. Maybe he could get his car checked. Perhaps he should buy a new vehicle altogether.

  Star's hands on his chest and her lips on his interrupted Tristan's thought pattern. By the time she let him up for air, he was lightheaded. It was like he forgot how to breathe when she was kissing him. He wasn't quite sure how she managed that. After yawning and stretching, which was difficult with her still leaning on his chest, he smiled lazily up at her. "Figure out what you wanted?"

  "No. Just wanted to kiss you," she smirked.

  "Know what I want?" he asked her with a smirk of his own.

  "No, but I have a feeling I'm going to find out," she responded with a small laugh when she saw the mischievous look in his eyes.

  "You know me so well." He laughed before pulling the covers over their heads and mercilessly attacking her. The only things heard from their room for the next few minutes were her squeaks and both of them laughing from him tickling her until she could barely breathe.

  -

  "You two could be a little quieter, you know. I could hear you all the way in my room with the door closed," Zack said over breakfast later.

  Tristan choked on his orange juice. Star laughed. "Sorry, Zack."

  "Sorry or not, remember there are other people in this apartment other than you two, huh?" he narrowed his eyes at Tristan.

  "Zack. We were goofing off. It's not what you're thinking," Tristan tried to defend himself with a humored smile. "I swear."

  "Uh huh," Zack mumbled, looking back over at his laptop and scanning the page. "I know what I heard."

  Tristan shook his head and went back to eating his omelet. He and Star had decided to spend the day together doing whatever came to mind. He'd already gotten his run out of the way, so she didn't have to suffer her way through that. They'd already tried that once, and it had been a disaster. It was a beautiful thought, but Zack was a far better running partner. Star had twisted her ankle, and Tristan had to carry her back the last half mile.

  "By the way, when are you planning on telling your folks that you're marrying Star?" Zack queried without looking up from his laptop. Star looked over and shrugged. They hadn't told Zack how things had gone the last time they'd been at his parent's house. When Tristan didn't answer, Zack closed his laptop and squinted at him. "You are telling them, aren't you?"

  "I'm waiting." Tristan took a sip of his juice and set the glass down, spinning it slowly on the coaster underneath it.

  "Waiting for what?" Zack asked confused. "Shouldn't that be something you'd want to share with your family?"

  "I don't think they approved of me, Zack," Star said as she looked down.

  "Honey..." Tristan started.

  "No, Tristan. They didn't, at least I highly doubt your father did." She picked at the remains of her omelet.

  "My father hates everyone," he snapped, his lips forming a tight line. "Ignore him. I do."

  "Well, that should make for some lovely holiday gatherings," Zack sighed.

  "I don't care what they think, Zack. Honestly, I'm more worried that I didn't ask for her hand in marriage from Captain Levine before proposing. I feel like I disrespected the man. I'm afraid he'll hold that against me." He looked over at Star and fro
wned. "What do you think?"

  "I don't know, Tristan." Her eyes widened a bit. "I didn't think about that."

  "Would it help if I called him?" Tristan asked, trying to come up with something. "You guys know him better than I do."

  "Couldn't hurt," Zack shrugged. "At least then he'd know you tried."

  Tristan turned back to Star. She was chewing her bottom lip and looking down at her ring. Once again he wished that he could read her thoughts. After spending Christmas with her parents, he knew how important they were to her. She seemed to have such a great relationship with them. He'd hate to make a mess out of things from being too impulsive. Again, he admonished himself.

  "Call him," Star said as she looked up and grabbed Tristan's cell phone off the counter. She dialed the number and handed him the phone. "Won't know unless you try."