by Geri Watson
Star-Crossed Memories
Geri Watson
Copyright © 2010, 2018
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1463604264
ISBN-10: 14636042
For Tom, the Tristan to my Star.
“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
– Maya Angelou
proloGUe
Shifting the shoulder strap of her bag, Star walked toward the next building on the busy campus street. A student passing by locked eyes with her for a mere second and she noticed he suddenly stopped in his tracks. She kept walking but heard him call out to her.
"Um, Miss... Hey!"
Her eyes widened a bit as the student popped up in front of her path a minute later, obviously flustered. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"
Star eyed him cautiously. He seemed to be close to her age, a few inches taller, with tousled chestnut hair and a boyish look about him. "I wasn't sure you were talking to me, and I'm kind of on my way somewhere."
The man shifted his weight, but still stood in her way. "Do I know you?"
Puzzled, Star looked him over. "I don't think so." She was pretty sure she would have remembered a face like his.
"Where did you go to high school?" he asked eagerly, eyes brightening.
Raising an eyebrow and studying him closer, Star answered while absentmindedly chewing her bottom lip. "Um...not around here. I moved from Virginia two years ago."
The man's face fell. "What are you doing here then?"
Star looked at him like he was stupid. This guy was beginning to make her uncomfortable. "I go to school here"-she waved her hand at the building ahead of them-"University of Washington."
He looked up at the building embarrassed and scratched his head. "Oh, of course, you do."
"Look. As much as I'd like to stand here and talk to you, I do have to go." Star sidestepped him and continued toward the building, but vaguely wanted to turn around and see if he was following her. It was somewhat of a strange encounter, and she didn't get those every day. He was cute. Strange, but cute.
The front doors of the building opened and some other students piled out. Star stood to the side of the door, letting them pass. A light tap on her shoulder a second later caused her to jump.
She turned, and there the strange student was again with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"To be honest, you are scaring me." Star raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You're acting like a stalker."
The man looked mortified for a minute and then shook his head. "But I know you...I swear I know you!"
Star smirked at him. "If you're so sure you've met me then wouldn't you know my name?"
"Maybe it would help if you'd give it to me." He tilted his head innocently with a pleading look in his eyes.
She chewed her lip considering giving him another name entirely but figured giving him her first name wouldn't do any harm. "Star."
The look on his face said her name didn't ring a bell. She could tell he was searching his memory bank pretty hard. "Well?"
Obviously disappointed, the man shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the sidewalk. "No, didn't help."
After looking at her watch, Star realized if she didn't get moving she was going to be late. "Sorry if it didn't help. I hope you find whoever it is that I remind you of."
She took a few steps toward the door and halted when she felt his hand grab hers lightly from behind. A small shock wound its way up her arm from his touch. "Tristan."
Looking down at her hand and then back up again, Star questioned him. "Excuse me?"
"My name is Tristan. And I know it's you."
Star looked into his eyes and didn't see anything menacing in them, only a mixture of confusion and pleading for her to believe him. She sighed. "Enlighten me."
He looked deeply into her eyes and let out a deep breath. "This is going to sound crazy but just hear me out, okay?"
"Okay." she fought the need to roll her eyes.
"I don't know your name, but I know you," the man she now knew as Tristan swallowed and continued.
"You hate people, but you love the human mind. You have freckles on both shoulders, more freckles on the left than the right, and a beauty mark on your left shoulder. You have a birthmark on the back of your head underneath your hairline the shape and size of the bottom of a musket rifle. You sleep on your left side and get a better night's sleep if you fall asleep when someone you love is holding you close. You're smart, but you don't use it to your advantage..."
Star's stomach did flips, and her heart raced as Tristan continued his ranting.
"You're terrified of success and the responsibility that comes along with it. You close yourself off because when you care about someone, you love that person so much that you give away a piece of yourself, and when that relationship ends a part of you disappears along with it. You feel like if you do that too many times you won't have anything left for yourself. The reason I know is because at one point in time..."
"How could you possibly know all of that?" Star gasped, interrupting him.
"...you gave part of yourself to me." Tristan finished.
She backed against the wall, and he stood in front of her, placing a hand on each side of her head and holding his face inches from hers. "Because I know you. If I were blind, I would know that it's you."
"Why don't I know you, then?" It was more a question for herself than meant directed toward him.
Tristan's breath was light against her face. "I don't know. But I'm afraid that if you walk away I'm never going to see you again, and I don't want that to happen. Do you?"
Star chewed her lip again and gazed into Tristan's eyes. There was no way that he could have found those things out from people that she knew. Even her closest friends didn't have access to all of that information about her. Him guessing would never have been that pinpoint accurate. Now she desperately felt the need to find out more about the mystery that was Tristan. "No."
Tristan's muscles relaxed, but he made no effort to move away from her. "I have an idea."
"What might that be?" Star raised her eyebrow at his look of contemplation.
"You know how in fairy tales the prince kisses the girl and wakes her up?"
She scoffed. "Yeah."
Tristan looked pointedly at her and smirked.
"You want me to let you kiss me to see if some fairy tale thing is going on?" Star exclaimed, shocked. "This is reality Tristan, not a book. I'm starting to wonder if you're not psychotic."
He laughed. It was a light and easy one that left Star feeling a bit weak.
"Come on, Star. Humor me." Tristan's clear eyes danced as his half-smile reached them.
Star internally groaned, thinking there was no other way out of this. What harm could it do? she thought to herself. "Fine. Kiss me. Then at least I can get to class, and we can move on from all of this crazy speak."
Tristan took her face in his hands gently and kissed her slow. As he did, memories of the two of them together flooded Star's mind. The scenery and the centuries changed around them, but their souls were the same.
"Tristan..." Star whispered as she ended the kiss. "I remember you." Her world went black as she collapsed into his arms..
CHAPTER 1
The door slammed shut behind Star as she entered the apartment, making her jump. She had to fix that stupid door before her nerves became shot for life. After dumping her books on the coffee table and sliding her bag off her shoulder, Star stepped down into the sunroom that led to the balcony. Her roommate was running on the treadmill with his earbuds in, and the news was flashing on the flat screen but muted
. Zack was 6'2 and well-built with black naturally-spiked hair and dazzling bright blue eyes. He took pride in his eight-pack abs and his strict workout routine to keep him looking that way. Star didn't complain. Because of him, she was in the best shape of her life; he refused to have flabby roommates. Zack pulled one of the earbuds out as he noticed her, but kept running.
"Hey," he welcomed her with a smile.
"Hey. How was your day?" Star sat down on the couch across from him and pulled her legs up underneath her.
"Wasn't bad. Got an A on that Psych paper you helped revise...which reminds me...why weren't you in class today? You never miss Dr. Walker's lectures." The timer beeped on the treadmill, and Zack wiped his face and neck with a towel, then flopped down next to her. When she didn't answer him right away, he poked her side lightly. "Hello? Earth to Star?"
Star snapped out of her daydreaming. "Oh! Sorry." She looked over at him and sighed. "I had an odd day. My mind's not all here."
Zack tilted his head and looked her over. "Well, I picked up your paper. Of course, you got an A." He shook his head. "I don't know how you do it."
Star smiled. "Do what?"
"Ace everything. I never see you study...ever. You make me feel like an imbecile."
"Whatever," she responded distantly.
Zack studied her carefully. "Okay, what's going on with you? You look completely distracted. Do I need to arrange an intervention?"
Scrunching up her face, Star shoved him. "No." She got up and walked into the kitchen where she started collecting the ingredients to make spaghetti. It was her night to cook, and their friend Alyssa was going to be there in less than an hour. She bent down to collect some pots from the cabinet and ignored Zack as he hopped up on the counter and continued to stare at her. She glanced over at him, then back to boiling the water and moved onto browning the ground beef. They were quiet for a few minutes; then Zack stuck his feet out blocking her path from the kitchen as she tried to escape his attentiveness.
He hopped down and grabbed her hands. "You're hiding something."
"No, I'm no," Star snapped back quickly and defensively.
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Come on, tell me." He gave her puppy dog eyes. "You know you want to."
"I know you didn't give me those eyes. That's not fair." Star groaned.
"Since when do I play fair?" he smirked.
"Good point," she admitted as she looked at the door, wishing Alyssa would show up and distract Zack from grilling her.
"Good, so you're gonna tell me then," he urged on.
"I didn't say that," Star responded automatically.
"Ah ha! See! You are hiding something! I knew it!" his whole face lit up. "Spill."
Star sighed and turned to look back at Zack. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me anyway."
"How will you know unless you tell me?" his eyes probed hers.
"Ugh." She squeezed his hands. "Look, I'll tell you later okay? I have to finish dinner before Alyssa gets here." She hoped that would appease him enough to make him go away.
"Hm. Okay." Zack didn't look like he fully believed her, but he leaned down and kissed her cheek, then left the kitchen so she could finish up in peace.
Rolling her eyes as she watched his retreating form, Star went back to preparing. She blindly mixed the ingredients for the sauce and added the beef. Her mind went back to thinking about Tristan as it had the rest of the day since she'd met him.
After the kiss and all of the memories that had returned to her, she had fainted in his arms, only to wake up to him looking at her worriedly. Deciding that some caffeine and food might make her feel better, they had walked to a restaurant near the campus.
The two had talked about what they remembered about each other from the past until her cell phone alarm had gone off. She had been stunned to see that it was already 3 o'clock and they had been sitting there talking for four hours. The beeping was a reminder for an English exam she had in an hour.
Noticing her face, Tristan's own had fallen. "You have to go." It was a statement, not a question.
"I can't miss this exam; it's 25% of my final grade," Star explained sadly. She felt guilty having to leave him. His cell phone sat next to him, and she grabbed it and programmed her number, laughing to herself that his phone was the same model as hers.
"Call me later?" she asked, handing him back his phone.
"You have to ask?" Tristan raised an eyebrow.
Glancing at her watch, Star collected her things and stood up. Tristian's face looked as stricken as she felt. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, hoping it would help ease their sorrow for parting with one another. "Talk to you tonight then."
She walked with her back toward the door, not wanting to break eye contact with him until it was necessary. As her back hit the glass door, she sent him a small wave which he returned with one of his own. Then she had walked out of the restaurant and back into her reality.
It had been difficult to concentrate on her English Lit exam, but her photographic memory bailed her out, as it usually did. They were studying Romanticism, and she had thought that was ironic considering the events of the day. The flashes had been so strange. In them, she knew what she was seeing were images of her and Tristan, but they didn't look like they did now. In one, she had seen them in the Revolutionary War together as comrades in arms. Small details about him like the fact that he was stubborn, analytical, and always needed to get to the bottom of things flooded her memories. He had always been there to bail her out of trouble. That was an indelible memory above all else. In other flashes he was more of a lover than a friend and the love they shared was something rare and eternal. As she had been talking to Tristan, Star felt like she had found a long lost friend and could share anything.
Her entire life Star heard accusations of her never trusting anyone, and she knew there was a lot of truth behind that. With Tristan, there hadn't been a moment she doubted him or a second of distrust between them. The hours filled with telling each other small facts they knew about each other without giving the other person any hints or prodding.
At the beginning of their game, it had been vague things. Tristan loved running and was a bleeding heart when it came to animals. Star loved studying people and could tell when they were lying; things the two of them could have discovered by asking someone else they knew. As the time had gone on, the facts became more detailed and personal. She felt lost without wearing a watch because she felt like time slipped away faster. He couldn't fall asleep without knowing he'd accomplished something that day, otherwise, he felt like he'd wasted precious hours of his life that could never be retrieved. They began unconsciously leaning closer to each other and by the time Star's alarm had gone off they'd been close enough to kiss without effort.
Her lips turned into a small smile as she thought about what it would be like to kiss him again. The front door slammed, and she heard Alyssa swear as the banging scared her.
"Hello? Anyone home? Something smells good."
Star looked up to see Alyssa in a stunning blue dress that made her look like she was more suited for a runway than dinner at the apartment. Her golden hair was pulled up in an exquisite mass of ringlets. She rounded the corner and hugged Star. "Hey there, sweetie."
Returning the hug, Star smiled warmly at her friend. "Dinner's almost ready. I'm glad you came over; it's been a while."
"You know I never pass up free meals," Alyssa replied with a dazzling smile of her own. "Now where's that stud of a roomie of yours?"
Star nodded toward the sunroom where Zack was lounging watching TV, and Alyssa sauntered in to say hello. She saw him pull Alyssa closer and whisper something into her ear and Alyssa's face changed into one of curiosity. Then Star watched as they both turned and looked at her conspiratorially. She waved at them, and they quickly looked away. It was never a good thing when the two of them got together. Star shook her head and pulled out plates and silverware, setting the table, then went back to get the bowls of spaghetti a
nd salad.
Seeing dinner had been served, the duo wandered over to the table and seated then helped themselves. As soon as Star had the first bite of salad in her mouth, Alyssa started her interrogation. "So why'd you skip Dr. Walker's lecture?"
Star shifted her eyes slowly and glared across the table at Zack, who looked back at her innocently.
"Can I please eat first? It's hard to explain."
"Does it have to do with a guy? I bet it does," Alyssa nodded and elbowed Zack who smiled knowingly back at her.
"Maybe," Star answered quietly and went back to eating.
