Into the Starry Night

One

This is the second part of the story and if you read the first one I know you think you already know how this one is going to go, and I know you're dreading it.

But I'm here to tell you that whatever it is that you think you know — whatever notions you've carried over here — is false.

Do not let what you have previously read prejudice you. While the lessons of the first story inform this one, what you are about to read is a completely different story with different versions of the same people. This is a story about perseverance, about rising from the ashes of ruination, but more than that it is a story of love.

If you think that every love story starts out without a few bumps on the road then you're more delusional than I thought.

Bumps are what make anything in life interesting, what make us appreciate the little things.

And ultimately that's what this story is about.

Appreciation.

• • •

Seven Years Later . . .

“Ow!” I exclaimed and turned to glare at the woman behind me. “You're styling my hair not washing jeans. Take it a little easier please.”

Celine brandished the straightener and planted her hand on her hip. “Honey, if beauty was easy you wouldn't be here. Now be a good girl and turn back around.” Her hazel eyes dared me to challenge her.

Mildly offended, I turned back to my brightly lit vanity that was littered with various makeup products.

Staring at the mirror I was almost unrecognizable with my smoky eyes and blue contacts. My hair was still in big poofy rollers and I was yet to see what Celine's intention was with it to warrant such aggressive tugging.

“You know she's right,” came a voice from my almost forgotten iPad that was propped precariously on the edge of the table because that was the only space I could find. “Beauty is pain.”

Alex took another spoonful from her pudding cup and ran a hand through her long dark brown hair.

“Thank you,” Celine interjected with another pull on my scalp that made me wince unattractively. “By the way, you have no idea how honored I am that you agree with me.”

Typical Alex, she blushed and waved a dismissal hand.

“Careful,” I told Celine, directing my full gaze at her reflection. “One more of those and I'll start to think you're kissing ass.”

Celine stuck a tongue out at me in reply.

I steered my attention back to Alex. “Anyway, isn't that, like, your second pudding cup? Thought you were on a diet?”

“Yes to both, but what J-Lo doesn't know can't hurt me.” She emphasized her point by brushing off bits of tortilla chips from her pajamas.

I shook my head at my friend's antic.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would even meet Alexandra Miller not to mention befriending her.

She was all over the news when she married billionaire playboy and CEO of the biggest high-tech company in the world, Carson Miller, but that wasn't what made her so respected.

It was that she was a saint compared to rest of us. Instead of doing nothing with her newfound influence she opted to start countless charities, opened different shelters and generally tried to make this shitty world a little better for those who got the worst of it.