Welcome to Cairns

Chapter 1: Welcome to Cairns, Alabama

Rain fell as two young girls sprinted across the beach together. The first, just several steps ahead of the second, wore her brown curly hair in two french braids that ended just above her shoulders. Her vision was blurred, rain fogging up her glasses, but she was undeterred.

"Come on, Roseanne!" she yelled back to her friend as she hopped over a log and looked back over her shoulder.

Roseanne, wavy blonde hair matted to her face, too short to pull back with a hair tie, fumbled her way through the sand to follow her friend. The brunette slowed down to allow for the blonde's shorter legs to catch up with her.

The brunette reached out for Roseanne's hand and the exact moment lightning struck barely feet away from them. Both girls screamed and Roseanne leapt into Lisa's embrace.

"We needa get outta here Lis!" Roseanne yelled over the storm.

Lisa simply shook her head in response. "Don'tchya know?" she asked. "Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Besides, come 'ere."

Lisa grabbed Roseanne's hand and led her the few feet to the site of where the lightning had struck. The sand there was still smoking so Lisa held Roseanne back with a hand as the younger girl looked down.

"What is it?" Roseanne asked.

"Once it cools, we'll dig it up and I'll show ya," Lisa smiled.

"Ya know, you never answered my question from earlier, Lisa," Roseanne crossed her arms across her chest. "You said you wanna marry me, but that's silly. We're both girls. Why'd ya wanna marry me for anyhow?"

"Well before they died, my Momma and Daddy always told me that they got married 'cuz they wanted to marry their best friend. And you're my best friend," Lisa answered matter-of-factly.

"That the only reason why you wanna marry me?" Roseanne taunted.

"Well that, and so I can kiss ya anytime I want," Lisa smiled, causing the smirk to fall from the younger girl's face.

The two young girls leaned in at the same time and their lips touched tentatively. Lightning struck behind them.

Roseanne was startled out of her dream and it took her a moment to register her surroundings. She'd been lying her head down on a table surrounded by sketches and swatches of fabric.

"So 'why'd he wanna marry you anyhow'?" came a voice from across the room, speaking in a drawn out faux-southern accent. Roseanne wiped her eyes and looked across the room at her friend Jennie in confusion. Jennie then began to speak again, this time in her normal New England accent, "You know, Roseanne, your accent gets a whole lot thicker when you're dreaming."

Roseanne rolled her eyes at Jennie and shuffled the papers around her. "Why did you let me fall asleep?" the blonde asked.

"You needed it," Jennie responded. "You kicked that show out of the park this morning and the first thing you did after interviews was get back to work? Don't you have somewhere to be tonight?"
"Yeah," Roseanne sighed. "The Mayor is holding a gala tonight."

"And by the mayor, you mean your future mother-in-law, right?" Jennie waggled her eyebrows at the girl.

"Jaemin hasn't proposed yet, so don't get too excited," Roseanne laughed as she gathered up everything in front of her and placed it in her bag. She checked the time on her watch and cursed under her breath. "I was supposed to have gone home over an hour ago to get ready."

"Why don't you just wear one of your own pieces," Jennie suggested. Roseanne checked the time again, realizing that she really didn't have time to go home.