Written in the Stars (A Short Story) (5 page)

“That was a fantastic prank you pulled on Greg today. You really
punked
him,” called Mario, the barista who worked the coffee cart in the foyer. “You should have filmed it and put it up on
Youtube
. It would have got a million hits.”

“Thanks,” she said weakl
y, almost running for the door.

****

Melanie
wanted to walk past her computer when she got home
and ignore it. Instead of turning it on
and allowing it suck more hours from her life
,
she wanted to take a stroll
in the park or phone up a friend and meet them for coffe
e
, or go and see a movie
. Anything to take her mind off the terrible day she’d just had. But the lure of the laptop was too strong for her to resist
,
and
within twent
y minutes
she found herself logging in
to the Psychic
Journey
s
website.

As much as she hated to admit it, Serenity had been
right after all. Greg was far to
o
unevolved for her
and they could never be happy
together
. They were at very
different stages in their
spiritual
development
,
and that was why he had made such a stupid mistake
today
.

Serenity
had said she could see
an
other guy who could possibly be her destiny now
that she’d outgrown Greg
,
and
Melanie decided it could not
hur
t to find out a little bit more
.
It might
help to take her mind off Greg.
She saw that Serenity was alre
ady online and she quickly typed a message.

Mel:
Hi.
Sorry about last ni
ght. I was c
ut off
b4
I could say
gnite
.

Serenity:
No probs. How r u
?

Mel:
Good. What were u saying b4
I was disconnected
? 
Something
about Greg?

Serenity:
My guides ha
ve told me u need to look
4
someone else
. Greg is gon
e.

Didn’t she know
it.

Mel:
Ok.
Where should I look?

Serenity:
Don’t laugh, they suggest online dating
.

Mel:
Really?

Serenity:
Is
kinda
funny
ya
gotta
admit
hahahahaha

Mel:
R u pulling my leg?

Serenity:
No! There is one site
called
Hearts of
Destiny
,
they want u 2 go 2.
Do
u
know it?

Mel:
H
eard of it.

Serenity:
Good.  They r saying 2 look
4 man
with initials JD.
Dark hair /
brown eyes.
About 5’8
.
Might have music, motorbikes,
computer
games
as interests.

Mel:
That’s v
specific.

Serenity:
I’m
only the messenger. They want u to get started
asap
.

Mel:
Ok. I’ll have a look now.

Serenity:
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

Se
renity had seemed so adamant that
Melanie felt she had no choice but to do
exactly
as the guides told her.
After she created her profile
on the site
she
went searching for men who matched
the de
scription
.

She found someone almost immediately
who fitted the bill
. He was very good-
looking
and she messaged Ser
enity to tell her she had hit pay dirt
.

Mel:
Think I’ve found him!
Name
is Jarrod Dean. Not bad at all
. Should I poke?

Serenity responded swiftly.

Serenity:
No!
He is not 4 u

Mel:
But he’s so nice and
exactly what they said
.

Serenity:
Guides sending v
strong message that this ma
n
dangerous, possibly even
serial killer. Keep looking.

Mel:
*sigh*
Ok

Within a short time she had found another man with the right initials, who fitted the description
well
. He was quite appealing too
.

Mel:
Think this could be the one
. Really s
e
xy and has a great job
.

Serenity:
N
ame?

Mel:
Jason
De
niston
.

Serenity:
Will check with guides and get back 2 u

A couple of minutes passed and Mel
anie grew more excited as
she read about him. H
e owned his own house and had travelled all over the world.

Serenity:
Sorry Mel, keep trying
.

Mel:
R u
sure?

Serenity:
He has a w
eird se
xual fetish
.
I
nvolving garden gnomes
.

Mel:
Oh.
Will
give him a miss.
Might finish looking tomorrow.
Getting tired now
.

Serenity:
No!
You’re
so
close. Just take another look.

Melanie’s ent
husiasm had waned and she yawned
as she scanned
the remaining profiles
Just when she was about to give up s
he came across a guy called James Devine who seemed to mat
ch the criteria.

He
looked like a bit of a slacker
,
with
three-day growth
,
and
a crumpled
t-shirt
. S
he
had almost scrolled right past him
.
He was nothing like Greg who was always immaculately groomed.
She did not hold out much hope when
she gav
e his name to Serenity
,
and her immediate response was surprising.

Serenity:
Getting a v
positive vibe
from
this name Mel. He could
b
the 1.

Mel:
Are u
sure? He’s not what I’d norm
ally go 4
. I like men
who dress well
and shave
. Doesn’t even say what his job is.

Serenity:
Don’t judge a boo
k by its cover. This man is v wise and has a lot to offer.
Becoming less shallow another important life lesson 4 u
.

Mel:
So he’s definitely the one they wanted me 2 find?

Serenity:
Just w
aiting on confirmation from
guides
.

While
Melanie waited f
or Serenity’s message to pop up she took
a closer look at him. He
was
kind of cute,
and
t
he guides were right, she
was
a bit
shallow when it c
ame to the kind of men she went for
.
Over the
years
plenty of nice guys
had asked her out
,
but she had turned nearly all of them dow
n because she was convinced the perfect man was about to come along
.

When
Greg
started work in her department
,
she thought
he had finally arrived, and their kiss at the Christmas party had just confirmed
to her
that they were meant to be
together. Melanie had just been waiting
since then
for him to come to his senses and get rid of Tamara
so they could live happily ever after.

Serenity:
Yep, they are saying he’
s right 4
you
. Go 4
it. Pok
e him all you want.
It’s
safe 2
meet him
.

Mel:
He’s not a serial killer?

Serenity:
No
, he’s a great guy
.
Good luck. Keep me up to date.

Mel
:
Th
nx
Serenity.
Will send
you an invite 2 the wedding
hahahahah
a

Melanie’s mood lifted a little as she sent James
Devine a message. It had not
turned out to be
such a bad day after all.

****

The morning
of their first meeting dawned bright and clear.
Melanie took it as
an
omen
that it would be
a great success
.
She was still glad she’d arranged to meet as this busy café in the park
,
rather than
at her house
as they had originally planned
. Y
ou
could not be sure w
ho you were talking to online
these days
, t
here were a lot of weirdos out there.

She had chosen a seat outside where she could be clearly seen from the park’s entrance. As the hand on her watch crept past one o’clock she began to get nervous and she checked her mobile phone
again
. There were no new messages or missed calls.
Finally she spotted a familiar face in the c
rowd and s
he
waved.

“I was beginning to get worried,
” she said.
“It’s so nice to finally meet in
person.” She tried
h
ard to h
id
e
her disappointment
. The profile
pho
to must have been
taken at least ten
years earlier
,
or else it had been
Photoshopped
within an inch of its life
.