The Star Kissed Collection

by Jamie Campbell

  The Star Kissed Collection

  The Star Kissed Collection

  Jamie Campbell

  Copyright © 2014 Jamie Campbell

  Smashwords Edition

  Jamie Campbell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

  In the Star Kissed Collection:

  Book 1: Star Struck

  Book 2: Star Kissed

  Book 3: starburst

  book 4: star bright

  Star Struck

  Chapter One

  The soda machine sprayed everywhere, just like confetti. I covered the spout with a cloth, trying to get the darn thing to stop. Nothing was going right today, not one stupid thing.

  “Can someone switch the machine off? Please?” I called out, hoping one of my co-workers would actually be awake and mobile.

  The fountain stopped its relentless spurting and fell into silence. I released my hands slowly, not wanting to get covered in the sticky syrup any more than I already was. There wasn’t one part of me that wasn’t contaminated with soda, salt, and fast food grease. Welcome to Saturday at Burger Nation.

  “What’s all this mess, Melrose?” My manager, officially named Pete, otherwise known as Creepy Pete, stood over me.

  “The soda machine is broken, the off switch isn’t working. It’s going to need to be fixed.” What on earth did he think the mess was from? It wasn’t like I casually threw soda on myself for fun. That would be his fantasy, definitely not mine.

  “It’s not broken, you’re just not doing it right. Here, let me do it.” He pushed me aside to flick the on switch again. I gave him a wide berth, letting him get covered in syrup and see how he likes it.

  But, then again, Creepy Pete would probably like that too. I shuddered, heading to the counter and the long line of angry customers. I bet every one of them wanted a soda too.

  “Welcome to Burger Nation, what can I get you?” I asked, wiping a fake smile across my lips.

  “Two king burgers and super-sized cherry cokes, please.”

  “Our soda machine is broken, sorry. I can offer you a free water instead?” Behind me, the soda machine hissed before a bang loud enough to rattle the windows rung out. Good old Creepy Pete wasn’t as handy as he liked to believe.

  “Water’s fine, thanks.”

  I repeated the same conversation with each of the next nine customers, all with Pete swearing under his breath behind me. He should have listened to me, he could have avoided the smoke fanning out of the machine, and the subsequent fire alarm it caused.

  Halfway through my shift, I found a moment of solace to wipe down all the tables. I was already dirty, I may as well be filthy at the same time.

  “Hey, Rosy.” I straightened up to see the smiling face of my best friend, Dallas Love. Yes, that was her real name. Her mom was really into pageants when she was born, she wanted a name to really stand out. Unfortunately, she never quite lived up to expectations.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, casting a look Pete’s way to make sure he didn’t catch me talking instead of working.

  “I’ve come to talk some sense into you. You look sick, I think you should tell your manager so you can leave and come with me.”

  I rolled my eyes, we had already had that same conversation twelve times in the past week. “I’ve got to work, Dal. I can’t go chasing down some boys. We’ll see them tonight at the concert.”

  “But every rumor I’ve found says they’re staying at the Royal Carousel Hotel. You’ve got to help me stalk them. Come on, Rosy, I can’t do it alone,” she begged, sticking out her bottom lip to pout.

  “I need the money. And I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one at the hotel waiting for them. Every teenager in Meadowbrook will be there with you.”

  “Except you. Do you really want to miss out on seeing them? Up close and personal?”

  I laughed. “We’ll see them tonight.”

  “Yeah, from the nosebleed section.”

  “Melrose!” Creepy Pete called out from behind the counter. Damn, he caught me.

  “I have to go, Dal. I’ll see you tonight. Have fun stalking.” I didn’t wait around for any more arguments.

  Dallas was completely obsessed with the boy band Two Dimension, who happened to be in town ready for their concert tonight. It was the biggest thing to happen to Meadowbrook since, well, forever. It didn’t get bigger than Two Dimension.

  The five-strong band were massive. They had blitzed every record ever held by a group and they literally made girls faint on a daily basis.

  I was obsessed too, but I wasn’t going to let it show like Dallas did. I was cooler than that, at least in my mind. They were all completely gorgeous and their songs felt like they were written just for me. I kept my shrine to them hidden in my closet at home. I kissed their poster every day but I would die if anyone found out.

  Sneaking away from work to stand outside their hotel, hoping for a slight glimpse of them, was more than tempting. But the reality was I had to work. The only way to get the Saturday night off was to work the day shift. It was as close to a compromise that Pete and I could reach.

  “Take the trash out the back, it’s starting to get stinky,” Pete directed me. I felt like telling him the stink was probably him, but I held my tongue. He would probably make me work a double shift. I’m sure child labor laws didn’t apply to Burger Nation.

  I gathered up the black plastic bags, overloaded with garbage, and headed out the back. At least a moment out in the fresh air would be a nice change to the scent of frying oil that lingered everywhere inside. It stuck to my clothes, following me home after my shift too. The first thing I always did when I got home was change. And then I burned my clothes – well, that was my fantasy anyway, I actually put them in the washer.

  I threw the bags into the dumpster one by one. They made a decisive thud as they hit the bottom. No scavenging animal flew out this time, that was a nice change from my last trash run.

  Footsteps pounded behind me as I closed the lid. A slight breeze graced my skin. I spun around quickly, trying to work out who would be behind the fast food joint.

  There was no-one there. I shrugged, obviously my mind was playing tricks on me. It was probably the garbage fumes, finally getting to me.

  I returned back inside, pulling the doorstop out and helping the heavy security door to close again. Pete considered it a sin to leave it unlatched, he was paranoid about robbers getting in. I don’t know why, there was a McDonald’s across the road which probably took in double what we did every day.

  As I turned around, I was face to face with a guy. I jumped back, my heart stopping from the fright.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologized.

  I couldn’t speak. Not one part of my body would do anything I wanted it to. Because standing in front of me was one-fifth of Two Dimension.

  Chapter Two

  “Are you okay?” He asked. How nice of him to be so considerate considering he had just given me a massive heart attack.

  “You’re… you’re…” I stammered out like an idiot. What happened to all the words in the English language that I knew? I had been talking for close to sixteen years, I thought I had mastered it by now.

  He
looked around before grabbing my arm and dragging me into the supply room. It was where we kept all the non-perishable food and plastic goods. I followed him, my mind filled with thoughts that Cole Newton was touching me. Now I knew how all the fainting girls felt.

  He closed the door behind us. “Sorry, but I can’t be found.”

  “You’re Cole Newton,” I finally finished my sentence. Yeah me. Took long enough.

  He nodded, his sandy blonde hair bobbing into his eyes. Those emerald green eyes the music videos all zoomed into at every opportunity were actually looking at me. He was taller than I thought, a good foot taller than me. I had to look up to peer into those eyes.

  “And you are?” He asked.

  All I had to do was remember my name, why was that so difficult? “Um, Melrose Morgan.”

  His beautiful pink lips curled into a smile. Could he be more perfect? “That’s a pretty name.”

  I shook my head, trying to get some sense back into my brain. “What are you doing here? This isn’t the Ritz, you know.”

  “There were about a hundred girls chasing me, I needed to hide. Sorry.”

  He didn’t have to apologize, seriously. “Why were they chasing you?” He gave me a look like I should know the answer. “Oh, right, you’re Cole Newton.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he said, those incredible green eyes staring at me.

  “No, it’s not. It’s just that you’re Cole Newton and I’m just Melrose. I have to wonder if I’m dreaming right now. Maybe I hit my head on the dumpster?”

  He took a step closer to me, my heart racing with each movement. He was so close I could touch him, run my hands through his gorgeous thick blonde hair. My fingers twitched with the idea but I managed to keep them at my side.

  “You’re not dreaming,” he whispered. “And I don’t think you’re just Melrose. You’re stunningly beautiful.”

  I laughed, nervously, because my brain was seriously about to shut down. If I didn’t faint in the next few seconds, I was probably going to die. Drop dead, right in the supply room at Burger Nation. I would probably get on the news when Creepy Pete found my body.

  His hand brushed a stray strand of hair from my face. His touch sent tingles across my skin, not doing anything to help with the heart situation going on. I stood like a statue, in case any movement made him stop doing what he was doing.

  “Melrose! Where are you?” Pete’s voice boomed even through the closed door. Cole instantly stepped back, freeing me from my daze.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said before hurrying out. I tried to wipe the guilty look from my face as I found Pete in the hallway. “Yes, boss?”

  He eyed me suspiciously. Perhaps it was my conscience but I thought for sure he knew I was hiding a teen heartthrob in the supply room. I was just waiting for him to accuse me of it.

  “The soda machine needs a part, I’ve got to go out and pick it up. I won’t be long, keep an eye on the place,” he finally explained. Some time without Pete, perhaps my luck was turning around.

  I nodded and waited until he left before grabbing a burger and returning to Cole. I completely expected him to be gone, just a figment of my imagination. So when I opened the door and he was sitting on a cardboard box full of paper towels, I was completely taken by surprise all over again.

  “You’re still here.”

  Confusion crossed his face. “You said you’d be right back.”

  So he actually believed me, that was kind of sweet. I handed him the burger. “I know it’s probably not what you’re used to, but the burgers are actually pretty good here. You don’t have to eat it.”

  He took it, that wondrous smile back on his face. This really couldn’t be happening. “Thanks, it smells good. Will you join me?” He opened the wrapper and tore the burger in half. I took it and perched on another box.

  “Thanks.” We ate in silence for what seemed like forever and only a second at the same time. Nothing was making sense or functioning in my brain. “So aren’t people going to be missing you or looking for you or something?”

  He nodded, his hair falling into his eyes. “I sent them a text and said I’d be back later. They kind of get a bit much sometimes.”

  I guessed he meant his manager or something. My dad checked up on me all the time, but I figured he probably wasn’t on a national tour with his parents. I nodded like I understood.

  “So tell me about you, I want to know all about Melrose Morgan.” His eyes caught the fluorescent light, making them sparkle. He was mesmerizing to say the least.

  “Well, I work at Burger Nation, obviously. I go to school in town, and I live with my dad and little sister,” I replied. My life wasn’t the fascinating one, that was all his claim.

  “What happened to your mom?”

  The question took me by surprise, people rarely came right out and asked me something so private like that. I guess he was used to being asked personal questions. “My mom left a few years ago, she didn’t want to be a mom anymore.”

  “Tough break. I live with my brother, when I’m home.” I suddenly remembered that detail, his parents had died in a car accident. His brother, who was only four years older, had full custody of him. Talk about a tough break.

  “Do you get to go home very often?” I asked, completely changing the subject so it didn’t involve miserable events in our childhood.

  He shrugged. “Not these days. We’re on the road most of the time.”

  “Must be tiring.”

  “It’s a lot of fun too. What do you do for fun around here?”

  I let a grin grace my lips. “Well, everyone is really excited about a concert tonight. Apparently this boy band is performing.”

  “Oh, really? They sound exciting. What’s their name?”

  “I don’t know, Three Suspension or something like that.”

  He nodded, playing along. “I think I’ve heard of them. They’re really good, they’ve got this guy with blonde hair, he’s super hot.”

  I shrugged nonchalantly. “He’s not really my type. I prefer the guy with dark hair.”

  Cole scrunched up his wrapper and threw it at me playfully. I caught it, sending it sailing back his way. He let it go over his shoulder. “All the girls go crazy for Nick, I’ve got to shave off his hair or something.”

  “That would probably make him even hotter.”

  He smiled and flicked his hair out of his eyes. How many times had I seen him do that on the television? Too many to count, that’s how many. “Are you going to the show tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’m going with my friend, Dallas,” I replied. Dallas would kill me if she knew I was having a conversation with Cole Newton and she wasn’t there.

  “Melrose!” I groaned, Pete was back and looking for me again. If I had a magical power, it would be to make him disappear.

  I stood, Cole did the same. “I need to get back to work.”

  “I should go too, before they call the police to look for me.” He smiled but it didn’t translate to his eyes like it should have if it were a joke. I think he was serious. “Thanks for the food… and shelter.”

  “You’re welcome.” Before I knew it, Cole had wrapped his arms around me and was hugging me. I did the same, hoping he couldn’t feel my racing pulse.

  I never wanted the hug to end so it was over way too soon. Even when I went back to the front counter and started serving customers, I could still feel his hands on my back. I hoped they would never fade away.

  Chapter Three

  I knocked off right on five o’clock and not a second later. My afternoon had gone surprisingly well. Considering how nothing went right all morning, it was a nice change.

  I hurried home and pulled off my uniform, instantly feeling less greasy and meat-orientated. I dived into the shower and dressed in the outfit I picked out a week ago. A green dress that matched Cole’s eyes. Now I had seen them up close, I knew it was the perfect color match.

  My heart was pounding with excitement at seeing
Cole again. It would be with thousands of other girls, but it didn’t matter. Cole and I shared a little secret, even if I couldn’t tell anyone, at least I knew about it.

  I spritzed on a few sprays of the expensive perfume I got from my grandmother for Christmas and put on some brightly colored bracelets. Checking the mirror one last time, I looked passable. It was a huge improvement from my Burger Nation uniform, anyway.

  I waited by the door for Dallas and ran out the moment she pulled up.

  “Hey, you look nice,” she exclaimed as I closed the door. She hit the accelerator, her excitement in overdrive too. “I love that color.”

  “Thanks. You look awesome too.” She was wearing black skinny jeans with a sparkly pink top. Her hair was gelled with glitter, she looked like a cute human disco ball.

  “Awesome is my middle name,” she replied, cranking up the volume on her stereo. We listened to our favorite Two Dimension songs the entire way to the stadium, singing at the top of our lungs. To think we were going to hear them live shortly only upped my anticipation by a thousand percent.

  Dallas had to park the car almost a mile away from the venue. There were vehicles and people everywhere. It looked like every person in Meadowbrook had turned up to see the guys. I didn’t blame them, it was the most exciting thing to happen in our sleepy town for a very long time.

  We joined the queue to get through security where our water bottles were taken away from us. Apparently bottles were considered a weapon and we were the most dangerous criminals around. Yeah, right.

  The next queue was to get into the stadium itself. We joined the end and shuffled along with all the others.

  “Two Dimension are in this building somewhere,” Dallas started. “Can you believe how close we are to them? I wonder if they’re watching us now, like on the security cameras or something.”