Star Crossed

Chapter One
     

            Skylar couldn't help thinking that she was glad the inevitable question hadn't come up yet as she took back her driver's license from the woman behind the counter. This was the fourth such visit she had made today and she already felt the need to hide the brochures for the other apartment complexes she had been to in her glove box. Logically, she knew everyone shopped around when they were searching for a new place to live. Emotionally, she didn't want a leasing agent to start extolling the virtues of their complex even more forcefully because of the added awareness of competition.

            Not that people made a habit of looking in anyone's cars in this type of neighborhood, but it was better to be careful just in case.

            “Did you enjoy your visit here, Ms. Barnes?”

            “Oh, very much, thank you,” she said as she slipped her license back in her wallet. It had taken a moment for her to find the wallet since it had disappeared into the bottom of her purse briefly. She was sure she had cleaned it out recently but stuff just seemed to gravitate there.

            “Good, good. Now, you do know that you can bring your boyfriend back with you any time tonight. We close at six and if he wants to see the apartment when he gets off of work then that is certainly fine by us. Remember, my name is Wendy and I will be available by phone all day. Here is your packet and my card and your pet information and I hope you have a great day!”

            Skylar took the offered items and made the expected pleasantries before making a hasty retreat out to her car. She fumbled briefly with her keys and then gave a sigh of relief when the air conditioning came on. Her little Beetle may have been an older model but something in its little wires worked right. Too much heat at one time usually made her feel like she was going to pass out.

            She looked up at the sign above the leasing office and sighed once more. The one bedroom apartment was perfect. The kitchen wasn't too small, the appliances were new, there was a studio feel to the living room that made it feel like home, and there was even an attached garage. She wished she could sign the papers and set the move in date.

            However, she already knew she was not going to be bringing her boyfriend to look at the apartment later that day. She couldn't afford the rent on a place like this without a roommate.

            When she had sat in the car long enough that she was starting to feel self-conscious she shifted gears and drove over to the nearest fast food place. It was the middle of the afternoon and she had had a large lunch so she did not go inside, but parking there felt less accusatory than staying parked in front of the leasing office had.

            She took her phone out of her pocket and tapped the picture of her best friend before putting the phone to her ear.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey, Tara, are you busy?”

            “Not really, I'm just packing with the boyfriend. Well, truthfully, I'm packing and he's putting the already organized DVDs in a box and calling it a day. We'll see how the rest of the afternoon goes. Anyway, what's up?”

            “I was looking at apartments this morning.”

            “Oh, are they giving you more hours at the massage place?”

            “No, I just... wanted to look.”

            Tara clucked in understanding and then asked brightly, “Well, did you see anything you liked?”

            “The last one I went to was perfect. I could definitely see myself living there one day. Did you know that they keep their pool entirely salt water so there's no chlorine?”

            “Wouldn't that be bad for your hair?”

            Skylar laughed. “I'm pretty sure chlorine's bad for your hair, too.”

            “Salt might be worse, though. My shampoo says it's better for my hair because it doesn't have any sulfates.”

            “I've never seen shampoo that has chlorine in it in the first place.”

            “Hm, science is weird.”

            “You say that about math every time you have to use a calculator.”

            “Well, if I say it so often then it must be true. After all, I keep telling you that you need to stop torturing yourself. It's not that bad staying with your parents until you get your feet on the ground.”

            “It is when you're nearly thirty.”

            “You're twenty-eight.”

            “Which is nearly thirty.”

            “You have plenty of time.”

            “Not if I don't want to be tired forever. I wanted to find someone by now and to get to know them well enough to be sure they're what I'm looking for. How else will I make sure that they are going to stick around long enough to be a part of my kids' lives?”

            “I still don't understand why you're so worried about getting married. The divorce rate is so high isn't it better to just stay in the committed relationship you have instead of screwing it up?”

            “That might work for you and Andrew but it won't for me. I want what my parents have and it seems like no one else wants a wholesome relationship.”

            “Hm. There are plenty of people that want that, just not a lot that are actively pursuing it. What about that guy you keep telling me about? The one that works next door?”

            Skylar was glad she was on the phone so that her friend would not see her flush. “I'm sure he has a girlfriend already.”

            “Have you bothered to ask? You're not getting anywhere with him if you don't put yourself out there.”

            “Anyway, I shouldn't keep you from your packing. I just wanted to talk for a minute.”

            “No problem, if you want you can call again later tonight. I'm not up to much besides getting my life together enough to take it someplace else.”

            Skylar laughed and bid her friend goodbye before hanging up. She knew that she shouldn't feel jealous that Tara and her boyfriend were getting to move out of Tara's dad's place. They had been staying there building funds for a couple of years now and she should be happy for them. She was, she just wished that she had someone to move out with her.

            Waiting around in a fast food parking lot for some answer to hit her in the face was not going to help much, though. She put the car in gear and drove home, somewhat comforted that she did have someone waiting for her. Nellie was her family's border collie and she was always happy to have her humans come home to her.

            After she had been barked at and chased around, she curled up on the couch to snuggle with the excited dog. Nellie stared disconcertingly at her for a long moment before licking her chin and settling against her for a nap. Skylar chuckled; Nellie was so funny when she forgot that she was not a puppy.

            “Hey, kiddo, you home?” her father called from the garage.

            “Yeah, I'm here,” Skyler called back, not wanting to disturb her canine friend.

            He came into the living room after a few moments, wiping his hands on a rag. His light brown hair was silvering at the temples and some gray was scattered in his mustache but his dark eyes were attentive to any detail. Her father was one of the sharpest people she knew and she was flattered whenever anyone pointed out that she looked like him. It wasn't true since her eyes were blue like her mother's, but she did have his hair and his smile.

            Sometimes she wished she was closer to his height but perhaps it was better that she wasn't. Boys were uninterested in her enough as it was without her towering over some of them. She kept her hair long and straightened her curls so that they would not get in her face. Skylar liked to wear jeans and camisoles and just enough makeup to bring out her vibrantly blue eyes. She thought that she was pretty enough but every time she made an attempt to catch the eye of a boy she somehow never could manage it.

            Her father's voice broke through her reverie. “How was your day at work?”

            “Oh, I wasn't at work. I went looking at apartments.”

            His brow raised but he diplomatically went to the fridge to get a soda. “Yeah? How did that go?”

            “It was fine. I think I have definitely picked where I would want to live if I was making a little more, but I should find more reviews on the place before I make any kind of decision.”

            “You didn't sign anything, did you? You know how your mother gets about signing anything.”

            “No, it's not anything that serious. I was just looking.”

            “No harm in that. Dinner's at seven,” he said over his shoulder as he went back to the garage.

            Skylar watched him go fondly and then buried her face in Nellie's fur as she gave her a big hug. “What am I supposed to do, girl?” she asked softly.

            Unsurprisingly, the dog did not answer. Skylar wished that she could ask someone that could answer her, but it somehow felt irresponsible to ask for advice on how to be responsible, especially since it was a matter of nothing working out the way that she thought it ought to.

~~~

            She spent the next morning carefully applying her makeup and then stepping around Nellie with irritated rebukes so that she could heat up a breakfast biscuit in the microwave. Skylar fluffed her hair so that it would look naturally mussed and bid her parents goodbye on the way out the door. Her father replied with a distracted grunt and her mother called after her to get some more milk on the way home.

            “But I don't even drink milk,” she grumbled under her breath as she drove to work. “I just use it in my cereal.” She debated calling her mother and telling her to get her own milk but decided not to. After all, she was living at home rent free so doing a favor every so often shouldn't be a problem. Skylar just hated feeling trapped by having to do such favors instead of feeling as if she could choose to do them out of the goodness of her heart.