Page 14 of When Our Stars Aligned
I take a swig of my beer and watch Gabby and Michelle set the table. The girls always insist that they handle the setup, and the guys are in charge of cleanup. It doesn’t bother me in the least. I’m just happy to get a home-cooked meal, and both of these girls know how to cook. Gabby is known for her Mexican-style food. Alex proposes to her every time she makes her famous empanadas. Michelle is a great cook but is more into baking. Her cakes and cookies could give any bakery a run for their money.
We genuinely like these ladies and think of them as sisters—except for their last roommate, but that’s a whole other story and we blame it all on Alex. But it’s an unspoken rule we don’t fuck with them, in every meaning of the word. I have no doubt that it will be the same with Aly. What’s that saying? You don’t shit where you eat?
“Hey, guys! Sorry I’m late,” I hear from the door. I look up to see the most beautiful girl—no,woman—I’ve ever laid eyes on, and she’s standing no less than fifteen feet in front of me. Her dirty-blond hair is down, framing her angelic face. The hem of her light green wrap dress is slightly above the knee, revealing her long, lean legs. Her body is a mixture of athletic and soft. She’s in heels, but I can tell that even without them, she is significantly taller than Gabby and Michelle. Now that stupid nickname Alex gave her makes sense.
Crash!
I drop my freaking beer. Pieces of glass shatter as soon as the bottle hits the tile. The amber liquid splashes all over the white cabinets and pools onto the floor.
“You okay, man?” Carter comes up from behind me with a roll of paper towels in his hand.
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened. It just slipped from my hand.”
“No worries.” He hands me some cleaner. “I’ll help you clean it up.”
“Everything okay?” A sweet as sugar voice comes from beside me. I turn to meet two large sky-blue eyes looking at me with curiosity. Her face up close is even more beautiful than I thought. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t get tongue-tied when it comes to women.
“Yeah, we got it, Aly,” Carter pipes up from the floor.
“Hi! You must be Jax.” She puts out her hand to shake mine.
“Uh, y-yeah. Yeah, I am,” I stammer, wipe my hands on my jeans, and stick my hand out to shake hers. An electrical current flows through my arm the moment our hands touch. I can write it off as my imagination, but I notice her eyes widen and her breath hitches before she quickly releases my hand and steps back.
“Thank God you’re here, Legs!” Alex whines. “Michelle said I couldn’t eat until you arrived. I was about to die of starvation.”
“Oh, please, like you didn’t have your second lunch a few hours ago,” Gabby jokes.
“I’m a growing boy, baby girl. I got needs.” Alex winks at her, earning a collective eye roll from all the girls.
Carter and I finish cleaning up my mess and head for the farmhouse-style table. While no one is officially assigned a seat, it’s a habit for Michelle and Gabby to sit across from Carter and Alex. On the days I show up, I sit on the other side of Alex. The girls’ old roommate, Carrie, used to sit across from me. Now that she is gone, Aly is in her place instead.
“So why were you late, Legs?’ Alex asks, shoveling a forkful of salad in his mouth.
“Ugh, I got pulled over. I swear I wasn’t speeding, but the cop said I was going five miles over the speed limit.”
“No shit! Did he give you a ticket?”
“Yup.”
“That’s bull! For five miles over?”
“Seriously! I’ve never had a speeding ticket before or any kind of ticket for that matter.”
“That’s 'cause you got those Georgia plates still on your car. You stick out like a sore thumb. Why haven’t you switched everything over to Oregon?”
“Uh…” Aly stiffens. “I’m only here for a year. I felt like it would be foolish to change everything over and then switch it back again when I return. I’m not considered a resident; I’m just visiting.” Everyone else seems to accept that answer, but I can tell she’s lying.
The subject changes to other random topics. I try to focus on the food on my plate rather than the beauty sitting across from me, but I keep feeling her eyes on me. Every now and then, I look up to find Aly studying me, like she’s working on a puzzle and can’t get the pieces to fit.
After the fourth or fifth time I catch her looking at me, I lean over the table. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s just that you seem familiar and I can’t figure out why.”
“Never seen you before,” I grumble and twirl the spaghetti around my fork.
“You’ve probably seen him in the parking lot or in a store,” Michelle suggests.
“Yeah, maybe…” Her voice trails off.
