Brighter Than The Stars: Book One

Alternate 1.1

*A few days after the funeral took place* 

"So, I met a guy," Claire told as she poked at the ice in her drink with the straw.

Madeline collected her unruly brown hair and moved it over her shoulder, seeing if she could casually check the time on her smart watch without Claire noticing. "I assume he's a tourist?"

It was slim pickings in this town until tourist season hit. It was a gorgeous area with the most breathtaking lake views, but it was still a small town by comparison to the more popular cities around it. Shitty wifi, no movie theater, and only a few small bars. It wasn't a place where people moved to often, but did seem to enjoy visiting in the summer months.

"You assume correctly," Claire confirm with a quick wink. "Technically, I met him last year, but now he's back and those sparks from last summer turned into fireworks this year."

Claire had been her best friend since sophomore year of high school, but the girl had a little issue of falling too damn easy. It seemed she was with a new guy whenever Madeline was in town. Though, as her mother liked to say, they were at the time in their lives where falling was half the fun of being young.

"Will I be meeting this guy?" Madeline asked before taking a sip of her soda.

Claire leaned back in her chair, the old wood creaking beneath her. "Depends. Are you planning on actually hanging out with me this summer?"

"I'm legit hanging out with you right now."

"And you've checked your watch three times in the last hour," Claire pointed out. "I know bars aren't exactly your thing, since you don't drink, but we can still do other stuff. Go to a beach party, catch a play, hang out at that corny ass festival we used to go to when we were young and didn't have a driver's license yet."

It was true Madeline had neglected the friendship since moving away to college, but more so once they both turned twenty-one, and were able to get into bars. To this day, she still hadn't touched an alcoholic drink, but Claire was all about fun, and bars seemed to be her activity of preference.

"Festival's on Saturday, and Marty's coming home tomorrow. I say we get the old gang back together, drag Gabe out, and have some good old-fashioned fun," Claire suggested with pizzaz.

The old gang consisted of four of them, one of which Madeline was pretty sure wouldn't be in town at all this summer. And she had a history with Marty, or Martin, as he preferred to be called these days. After dating for the last two years of high school, they'd become their classes M&M couple, stealing her childhood nickname. But high school ended, and so did their relationship. Since they'd been best friend's prior to dating, they did their best to remain friends after the breakup.

The only issue was that Martin had tried to rekindle the relationship after the first year of college. It was sweet, but Madeline had outgrown the relationship, and had to let him down gently. Last summer, he'd tried again, and she turned him down again. "He'll see it as a double date, Claire. I don't want to give him any hope."

Claire shook her head and took a sip of her cocktail. "He cares about you, Maddie, and he misses you. I don't see anything wrong with having a casual hookup with the guy. It's not like the two of you are that close anymore, so it's not going to ruin any friendship."

Madeline could see where this was all going, and grabbed her purse before standing from her chair.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"Home," she told her. "Because he asked you to ask me to go to that damn festival, and you were going to lure me into that crap. Guess what? I didn't take the bait. Tell him it's over."

Although Claire shouted at her to come back, she ignored her. This wasn't the first time her friend tried setting her up without her knowledge, and it wouldn't be her last. At least this time Madeline was able to see through it before being put in an awkward position.