by Geri Watson
She was offended. It wasn't like every guy she came across distracted her from what she was doing. Sure there had been a few guys here and there that her best friends had seen her fawn over, but they tended to be few and far between. The way the two of them were acting you'd have thought she was boy crazy.
Alyssa was one to talk. She was the one who was head of her sorority and always immersed in student activities. Most nights the woman was at some mixer or fundraising event for her house. The beginning of last year Alyssa had tried to get her to rush for the club she was head of and after attending a few parties and seeing what the fraternity guys were like, Star hadn't been impressed by the Greek system. It was a lifestyle that was more suited for social people, and Star wasn't that type, although she had come to have a pretty good friendship with Alyssa since then.
Star preferred only having a handful of friends and spending quiet nights reading, watching a movie or occasionally going out to a bar. During the warmer weather, she enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and camping, so it wasn't like she was strictly an indoor person either. One of her favorite activities was watching the night sky, and nothing was better than doing that by a fire in a sleeping bag.
"Maybe?" Alyssa repeated. "Very cryptic, Star. Are you still going out with Alex now that you've maybe met a new guy?"
At the mention of Alex, Star closed her eyes. Alex. Now that was going to be a problem. She had been seeing him for a few months now. They had met when she had signed up to be a guide for one of the transfer students that filtered through their school from other countries. He was from Australia and had taken a vested interest in her. Alex was 5'11, had a thick accent, shoulder-length sandy hair, and jade colored eyes. He always told her tales of the outback and what it was like living out in the bush. They had a lot of fun together. She had never stated that they were exclusive to each other, but Star always got the idea that he thought they were. If this Tristan thing was real, then she and Alex were going to have to talk. Soon.
"I'm not officially dating Alex; you know that," she said shortly.
Alyssa finished chewing and took a sip of her wine. "Yeah, but he thinks you two are. You know that."
"She has a point," Zack chimed in. "That guy is nuts about you."
Star sighed. Alex was the least of her problems. She knew she wasn't going to be able to hide that she'd met Tristan from Zack and Alyssa. Twirling her spaghetti around her fork, she thought about how to word what happened. Nothing came to mind that didn't sound crazy. As she stared at her plate, she caught them scrutinizing her, waiting for a response. The longer she waited, the more uneasy they seemed to get.
"What does this 'maybe' guy have to do with you missing class?" Zack asked, tired of waiting for her reply. "Did he do something to you?"
Without thinking, Star's immediate response was laughter. "You could say that. I missed class because I fainted."
"You fainted?" Zack looked over at her alarmed. "Are you alright? You're not sick or anything like that, are you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, and no, I'm not sick," she rested her hand on Zack's arm to comfort him.
"Did you faint or swoon? If you swooned, I totally wanna meet this guy. He must be some Adonis," Alyssa commented with a coy smile.
"I don't think I swooned; I think it was more of an overload..." Star started to say, and once she saw them both pause and stare at her oddly, she realized that statement didn't make sense. She chewed her lip. "You know what? Maybe I am getting sick." Star quickly stood up and took her plate with her.
Zack and Alyssa looked at each other strangely as Star rinsed her plate hastily and put it in the dishwasher.
"I'll call you later, okay?" she said to Alyssa. "I think I'm going to go lay down."
“Um...okay, feel better," Alyssa called to her as she walked away from the kitchen.
Star walked into her bedroom and closed the door. She didn't realize it until she looked down, but her hands were shaking. What had she been thinking? If she had told them what happened today, they would have had her committed. Her head was starting to ache. She needed more time to process this whole thing before she told anyone else about it. Who believed in fairy tales at their age? Star closed her eyes to ease the pain that was starting to radiate from between them and collapsed backward onto her bed. When they closed, she saw Tristan, and the pain seemed to ease up a bit. Images of him protecting her from war, as a fellow soldier, her as a southern belle, him as a brother, some flashes that weren't as clear...but he was always her savior, her other half. She started to feel dizzy and then everything was black.
January 1, 1776
It was cold. The room had wood panels and smelled like old ale. There was a mass of soldiers present and surrounding the room as if they'd just dispersed from a meeting of sorts. A rickety table made of a richer, darker wood lay in front of two soldiers, one of which was waving his hand in front of the others face.
"Ben? Hello?" he promoted again.
"Sorry, Elijah. I was just thinking."
"Ah. Colonel Howe did give us a lot to think about," Elijah replied. "Think the British are going to be all that he claims we're up against?"
"I don't know, maybe." his hands lifted the mug in front of him, and the warm ale ran down his throat.
Benjamin Cooper looked back over at Elijah Brown, his best friend for as far back as he could remember. Neither set of their parents had been thrilled with the idea of the two of them being Revolutionaries. Regardless, the boys felt it was their duty to stand up and protect what was rightfully theirs. Elijah was a few years older than Ben and had always looked out for him, keeping him out of trouble. Although, at times he had been guilty of getting them into quite a bit of it as well. Ben and Elijah shared a unique bond. It was almost as if they could sense what the other was thinking. That bond had saved their hides on numerous occasions.
There was an explosion followed by screams coming from outside. The duo ran out to see what was going on. It was early morning. Looking down at the waterfront, Ben noticed the buildings were blazing. Orange and red flames licked the sky. Colonel Howe appeared and started barking orders. Elijah grabbed the back of Ben's uniform and pulled him away just as a musket ball whizzed by his head.
"You're lucky I pay attention," Elijah loomed over him. "Everything is scorching, and you were almost a casualty of chaos."
Ben got up and brushed off his uniform. "You couldn't be more right about that." He looked over at Elijah, who was scanning the streets and down the waterfront. He could almost hear the wheels turning as a plan formed in his friend's mind. After taking a glance around the streets himself, Ben could see that even their fellow soldiers were setting the cities buildings aflame.
"What are they doing?" Ben voiced aloud.
Squinting in the distance, Elijah answered. "They're setting fire to the houses of the Tories." he looked back down at Ben and grabbed his arm. "Come on. We've got to get under better cover if we're going to survive this."
As Ben stood up, his vision blurred and the world in front of him disappeared.
Star awoke to the sound of her phone ringing and reached into her pocket, answering without bothering to check to see who it was.
"Hello?" she answered groggily.
"I never thought hearing another person's voice could matter so much...did I wake you up?"
Realizing who it was on the other end of the phone, Star cracked a smile. "It's good to hear your voice too, Tristan."
"Were you sleeping?" She could hear the worry in his voice. "I could always call tomorrow."
Grabbing her pillow and tossing it to the foot of the bed, Star rolled over onto her stomach and switched positions "No. It's fine. I want to talk to you."
"Okay,” Tristan paused, and she could hear rustling on his end of the phone. "How was your exam?"
"I'm not worried about it. I knew most of the answers without second guessing myself, so I did alright." She picked at a loose feather from her pillow.
"Well, that's good."
"Went to class, came home and fed my dog then went to the library to look for a book."
"Sounds thrilling," she teased.
"I think my afternoon was more thrilling in comparison. It's not like I have women fainting in my arms every day." Tristan laughed in the same lighthearted, whimsical way he had before.
"I sincerely hope not...sorry I fainted by the way. I don't think I said that earlier." Star was still embarrassed. It was the first time she could ever recall fainting.
"Why apologize? It's not like you had control over it, Star."
She liked the way Tristan said her name. It made her feel warm like seeing his smile did. "You said you went to class, do you go to UW too?"
"Yeah. I guess you wouldn't know that though, huh? We didn't exactly have a normal conversation today..." he trailed off.
"What made you do it?" Star asked suddenly.
"Do what?"
"Say what you did to me today. What made you turn around and come after me?" Maybe if he explained it to her, she could relay it to Zack and Alyssa more easily.
"Ah....well...." she heard Tristan exhale. "I was headed to class. When you passed me I caught your eyes for this split second...and it was like my whole world stopped moving in that instant. I stood there for a minute while all these visions of us together flew through my mind...and then something told me to go after you. I was serious when I said I felt like if I walked away, I'd never find you again. It was like my head was telling me this was my one chance and not to blow it...wow...that sounds completely ludicrous when I say it out loud, doesn't it?"
There went that idea. "Yes, it does. But I understand why you did it." She thought for a minute. "What about the prince kissing the girl thing?"
Star heard him laugh again. "To be honest, I just really wanted to kiss you. I had no idea it would make you remember me. It worked though, right?" The humor stayed in his voice.
"Oh, really nice Tristan," she laughed shortly. "What if it hadn't done anything?"
"Eh. At least I would have known how it felt. Maybe I would have kept stalking you." Tristan chuckled, and Star could tell he was teasing her now.
She yawned and rested her head on her pillow. "Lucky for you it worked. I would have gotten a restraining order if you kept popping up everywhere I went."
"That would have been unfortunate." There were more rustling noises on his end of the line, and she figured he was crawling into bed.
Star glanced at the glowing lights on her alarm clock and saw it was after 1:00. Internally she groaned knowing she had an 8 am Calculus class she loathed. Getting up tomorrow was going to hurt, especially if Zack woke her up in his typical drill sergeant way for their daily morning workout beforehand. Hearing Tristan yawn on the other end of the phone, she closed her eyes and listened to his breathing for a minute.
"Star?" his voice was softer than before.
"Hm?" She wasn't planning on opening her eyes again. It felt comforting talking to him like this.
"Did you fall asleep?"
"Mm... no. I'm awake," Star mumbled.
"Did this actually happen to us?"
Star wanted to answer him but she was falling asleep quickly, and it took her a bit to coherently respond. It was silent on his end except for some shallow breathing.
"Tristan?"
It was still for a minute, and then he answered her, obviously half asleep. "Did you say something?"
"I'm glad you found me," she murmured as she started falling asleep again.
"Me too," he whispered and yawned again. "Night, Star."
She would have answered him, but she'd already drifted into sleep. Her dreams filled with her past and Tristan once again.
Chapter 2
The sun streaming through the window reached Tristan as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. Stretching out would have been easier if his Border Collie's head wasn't resting on his stomach. He ran his hand over her belly and ruffled the fur on top of her head.
"Come on Scout, time to get up." Tristan saw her ears twitch, but she made no effort to move.
"Scout. Move. I have to get up." This time she lifted her head and tilted it toward him.
He leaned down and kissed her nose. "Thank you." Her tongue lolled out in approval, and her tail wagged happily.
Standing up and stretching his arms above his head, Tristan's thoughts ran through the events of the day before. He shook his head. Life was so strange sometimes. Seeing that Scout wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon, he headed for the kitchen to make some coffee.
The smell of eggs and bacon cooking piqued his curiosity, and as he entered the kitchen, he was slightly surprised to see a dark-haired beauty in his brother's robe at the stove. He cleared his throat. "Morning."
Startled, the woman turned around. "Oh. You must be Tristan. Artie said you'd be here this morning. I'm Natasha."
"That was nice of Artie to tell you, might have been nice if he had relayed that to me." He sat down on one of the barstools at the counter. "Nice to meet you."
"Your brother speaks very highly of you." Natasha smiled and set a steaming cup of coffee in front of him.
Tristan reached over and grabbed some sugar packets then added them to his coffee. "That's nice to know...how long have you known my brother?"
Natasha didn't seem put off by Tristan's attitude. "We work together at the hospital."
"Hm. I see." He took a sip of his coffee and looked into the cup.
He figured she had to be either another doctor or RN. It wasn't like his brother to bring home a date and not say anything about it. Then again, he'd never heard his brother referred to as "Artie" either. He smiled to himself.
As if he had known they were talking about him, his brother came out of his bedroom and walked over to Natasha. Art was a few inches taller than Tristan, but that was about where the differences ended. A lot of people got them mixed up because they looked so much alike otherwise. Art pulled Natasha into a kiss that made Tristan cringe and feel like he was intruding. He cleared his throat to make his presence known.
"Morning, Arthur...or should I say, Artie?"
Arthur stopped kissing Natasha and looked over at Tristan's amused facial expression.
"You're up early," he mumbled as he straightened his tie. Natasha slid a plate in front of Tristan and handed another to Arthur.
Tristan scooped up some eggs and eyed his brother. "It's not that early, and I wanted to talk to you about something..." he quickly glanced over at Natasha. "But I guess it can wait until tonight."
Maybe sensing the tension, Natasha excused herself and disappeared into Arthur's bedroom.
Sighing, his brother sat on the stool next to him. "You could have handled that with more class, Tristan."
"A little warning would have been nice, Art." Tristan barbed back. "I mean, you know I don't care, but...walking in on a babe in your robe is a little disarming when one is half asleep."
"Sorry, you got home late last night. I wasn't even sure if you were going to come home," Arthur defended himself. "What did you want to talk about?"
Tristan moved the remains of his eggs around on his plate. "You ever wonder about reincarnation?" When he got no answer, he stopped pushing his eggs and looked over at his brother.
Seeing that Art's fork was halfway to his mouth and his eyebrows raised in surprise didn't help Tristan's hope of getting a logical answer. After setting his fork down, Arthur turned to face him. "You know I'm a man of science. There isn't any documented proof to back that belief up."
Tristan looked at his brother curiously. "Yes, but...what if it's real?"
"Since when are you into this mystic crap?" Art got up and rinsed his plate in the sink.
Handing Art his plate after grabbing the last piece of bacon on it, Tristan shook his head. "Never mind, forget I asked."
He got up and started walking back toward his bedroom. "Have a good day at work and thank Natasha for the great breakfast. You should hold onto her. Not many of them can cook that well."
Tristan walked back into his room, and Scout's tail whipped back and forth as she saw the bacon in his hand. He sat on the bed and gave it to her, and as she munched, she looked up at him.
"What do you think, girl?" he asked.
In response to his question, Scout cocked her head to the side. Tristan ruffled her fur and stood back up. On his nightstand was the book on reincarnation he'd brought home from the library the night before. He had been telling Star a half-truth when he said he went to the library. What Tristan had not admitted to were the hours scouring over documented research on the subject. He had lost total track of the time, fell asleep on top of a pile of books, embarrassingly enough, and felt terrible when he realized how late it was when he had gotten home and dialed her number without thinking. Hearing Star's voice had made the questions and doubts in his mind disappear for the time being. Now that it was morning and she wasn't there, he was starting to wonder all over again how yesterday's events occurred. It didn't make sense.
