Shooting Star: A Star Bright Prequel Novella by Staci Hart

Author:Staci Hart [Hart, Staci]
Language: eng
Format: epub

It was nearly midnight, the moon high and the spirits higher. We were a smiling band of merriment, waiting for that moment of hope, the transition into something new.

Dex had wandered back to me, but my friends made a shield of social excuses to keep me moving in the opposite direction of him. We spent a long time at the brook racing champagne corks, the distraction welcome. Because I didn’t know if I could keep my feelings inside, and the last thing I wanted to do before the stroke of the new year was talk about this. The confusion on his face pleased me. But I noticed he’d stayed away from Elsie for the rest of the night.

Everyone was on the platform in the last few minutes of the year, waiting.

“You okay?” Betty asked, squeezing my hand.

I nodded, hoping my smile was assuring. “Are you sure you can’t kiss me at midnight? It just feels like bad luck.”

She was about to answer, but whatever she would have said died in her throat. “Might be bad luck anyway.”

I felt him behind me, that familiar hand in the notch of my waist.

“Hey,” he said, smiling when I looked up at him. “I’ve barely seen you all night.”

“We had some very serious gambling happening in the cork races. Somebody had to keep the peace,” I joked over the sound of my drumming heart.

He chuckled, moving to kiss me, but I turned my face to land his lips on my cheek. When he backed up, he was frowning. Taking my hand, he pulled me until we were flush. Gazed into my upturned face, tracing its shape with his eyes.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he urged as the energy in the crowd rose.

I tried to smile, searched for the words to deny it. But my chin flexed instead. Tears pricked my eyes. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Confusion and worry drew his brows together. A flash of fear shot like a comet behind his eyes. “What? What happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing has happened. You’ve stayed exactly the same, and I haven’t. I’ve been pretending for a long time that this—you and me—could be more. That someday, you’d come around, that you’d realize you wanted more. But you haven’t. You won’t. And that’s okay, Dex. You’ve always been honest with me, but I haven’t been honest with you.”

He cupped my jaw, held it like it was a precious thing. “Stella, I’m not just with you because you’re familiar and convenient. I’m with you because I care about you. I can’t give you what you want, all the hearts and flowers and promises. I can’t promise you love. Because I can’t promise you something I don’t believe in. But I always come back to you. I’ll always come back to you.”

The crowd began to count down from ten as a tear rolled down my cheek.

“I understand if you don’t want that. And I’ll accept it, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Neither do I, but—”

“What

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