When Stars Align

Chapter 1

"I've been calling out to you for 5 minutes! Get up!"

I dimly register my sister's voice and feel that she's nudging my shoulder - shit - remembering that she and I have plans this morning, my eyes shoot open, and I jump out of bed.

"Shit Emily, I hit snooze on my alarm clock, and I must have fallen back to sleep! What time is it?" I say in a hurry trying to quickly get ready for the day.

Last night, at the Saloon here in Pelican Town, after a few too many alcoholic beverages, Emily decided that it would be a great idea to bake something to welcome the new famer into town, and drunk me agreed, much to my dismay. It's not that I'm opposed to making the new famer feel welcome, I just don't particularly enjoy the idea of putting in effort for some guy that I don't even care know.

"It's 9:15am, Haley. You promised to come with me to Pierre's as soon as it opened with me so we could get ingredients to bake something for Jamie!" Emily exclaims with her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed with my sleeping in.

Jamie - Right that's the name of the new farmer. I don't even understand why this guy wants to take over that overgrown farm and move to this boring town. His loss, I guess.

"Oh my Yoba Emily, it only opened 15 minutes ago, chill out. I'm sorry I slept in but, I'm ready now." I say walking past her and I give her arm a squeeze to emphasize my apology. As much as I love annoying my sister, I also just want to make her happy as well.

I give myself a once over in the mirror and I internally cringe at myself. I clearly look hungover and like I just hauled myself out of bed. I have no makeup on, my blonde hair is thrown into a messy high ponytail, and I just threw on a casual outfit of jeans and a sweatshirt. Luckily, this will just be a quick trip to the store and straight back home again. Even though I don't really care what the towns people here think of me, I still like to keep up my put together appearance for myself. Looking good makes me feel good.

We step outside the front door of our house and begin our walk to the general store. Today is the last day of winter so it's starting to warm up, but the air still feels crisp. I deeply inhale the fresh air and it helps to fully wake me up.

"I'm kind of excided to have someone new move into town. It's been getting kind of boring around here lately" Emily says while looking over the grocery list.

I shoot her a look and let out a sigh.

"What's your deal with the new farmer? Why are you so... annoyed about it?" Emily stops walking and stares at me in question.

Pelican Town has been the same for as long as I can remember. The same people, the same events, the same everything. Why should I feel excited about some guy leaving his life in Zuzu City, to come here - the middle of nowhere. I get that people are excited to have someone new in town to get to know and talk to, but it's still just going to be the same boring old town, just with some new guy living here.

"It's just-" I roll my eyes with a sigh "Why should I care about some dude moving here? I don't know anything about him besides his name and that he's from the city. Also, don't we have enough guys living here? I don't know Emily; I'm just not overly enthused about having to pretend to want to get to know this guy" I throw my head back on a groan and I look at Emily. She knows that I'm not the most welcoming individual, so when I see her nodding at me, I know that she understands my feelings.

"I know that you're not the most social person ever, but maybe try to not scare him away with your attitude when he arrives." Emily chuckles and bumps my hip with her own as we begin walking towards the store again.

"You're just mad that it's not a sexy famer girl coming to sweep you off your feet." Emily adds on and I roll my eyes in response.

The people here in town that are around my age are all nice and decent to talk to, and I have made some close friends, like Alex, but none of them have ever captured my interest romantically. I found flaws in the men around town that ended up being deal breakers for me. Alex has always been the most like me, but when we shared a kiss after the flower dance last year, we both realized that we are only meant to be friends.

That kiss made me realize that the problem wasn't the men in this town, it was my attraction towards them. Kissing Alex should have been amazing. He is a handsome guy, and any person would be lucky to date him, but to me, it felt like nothing. With some more inner reflecting, and many nights crying to Emily and Alex, I realized that I'm not attracted to any men... I like girls.

With that realization, I started noticing the women around town more often, and yeah, I did find them more appealing than the men around here, but there was still no one here that I wanted to pursue in that regard. Sure, then women here were hot, but I guess I just have high standards, sue me.

"Ha-Ha so funny." I say dryly as we finally make it to the store.

Being a lesbian in a small town with very few options is not for the weak, but I have embraced my sexuality and the likelihood that I won't be finding "the one" any time soon- if she even exists.

Emily gathers the groceries while I stay out of the way as I am not in the mood to converse with anyone this morning. Once we pay, I pile our things in my tote bag, and we begin to head home. Many of the town's folk are beginning their daily routines out and about and we overhear that most people are talking about Jamie's arrival tomorrow. Emily nudges my shoulder and walks over towards Jodi and Caroline while I give them a quick wave and keep walking towards our house. Emily can socialize all she wants, I for one, would like to bake.