Written in the stars *COMPLETE*

Xander

     Saturday morning I woke up to Jenny's face inches from mine- her eyes gleaming with excitement. "You have a date today!" She whispered excitedly as I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "It's not a date. We are just working on a project." Jenny didn't care. I had told my mom that I was going to be gone on Saturday to help a friend with a project a few days ago and Jenny had immediately figured out what "friend" I was helping and hadn't shut up about it since. Jenny announced she was going to make me a special "date" breakfast and raced out of my room. As she left, I called after her in an urgent whisper and reminded her to be extra quiet so as to not wake up our mom. Mom had started staying extra late at work several nights a week so we had to let her get as much sleep as she could.

     She runs the marketing and advertising department for one of the fancy restaurants in the town over, but she's always wanted to open her own coffee shop. The good news is that she's getting really close to being able to be living her dream. She just needs a little extra money "for security" she tells me. The restaurant she is working for wants to renovate, and they want a bunch of new advertisements for when they get their "new look". Mom constantly comes home muttering about different shades of green and people she needs to contact and whatnot. I worry about her, but I know that she really wants that coffee shop more than anything. Apparently, she and Dad met at a coffee shop in college and quickly became regulars; studying together several nights a week, going on dates and early morning coffee runs, and sitting in the teal chairs playing cards for hours. They had planned to open their own coffee shop together after they got married, but then parenting got in the way and then... the whole travel job thing. I have seen some of the letters and emails back and forth between her and Dad and they still talked about the shop. Dad's messages were filled with promises, all starting with "when I get back...". One of those promises is the coffee shop. I guess Mom just wanted to get a head start.

     I pushed myself to leave the warm comfort of my bed and get dressed. I pulled on a pair of comfortable blue jeans and an old, worn grey sweatshirt. I grabbed a few of my nicer shirts out of my closet in case Juliette wanted to do an outfit change, neatly folded them up, and put them in my backpack along with my sketchbook and some pencils. It was almost nine am when I stepped out of my bedroom and headed downstairs. I reached the kitchen and was presented with two syrup-drenched Eggo waffles from Jenny. I thanked her and sat down at the kitchen table to eat before Juliette came to pick me up. She had the most gas in her tank, so she offered to drive. I looked up to see Jenny staring at me eating my Eggos.

"Did you poison these or something?"

"No."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you poisoned my waffles and you're waiting for me to die."

"Can I meet her?"

"What?"

"Juliette! Can I meet her?"

"What? Why?"

"Cuz."

"No."

"Pleaseeeee! I promise I won't tell her anything embarrassing."

     I sighed. She was giving me puppy eyes and I guess it wouldn't hurt to let her meet Juliette. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I slid it out to check the screen and saw a text notification. Juliette was here. I had texted her my address last night, but I was so tired I didn't know if I had typed it right or not but I suppose I did because she was outside my house. I grabbed my jacket and hat and looked at Jenny, sighing and gesturing with my head for her to follow me. She jumped up and ran to the front door, somehow already wearing her shoes and jacket. I opened the door and Jenny bolted out the door and nearly knocked Juliette over. She had been walking up to the front door and didn't expect a ball of energy in a bright pink coat to come hurtling towards her. Jenny skidded to a stop right in front of Juliette and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Jenny and I'm Xander's sister and I think you're pretty." Juliette glanced up at me and I gave her an apologetic smile. She looked back down at Jenny. "Hi Jenny, is that short for something?" she asked. Jenny looked confused but I felt giddy catching her reference from how I had introduced myself to her the first time we talked. Jenny and Juliette talked for a couple of minutes before Jenny decided it was too cold for her to be outside. I looked at Juliette as she waved goodbye to Jenny, who was almost inside the house. She was wearing jeans and a dark green winter jacket over a dark knitted sweater and she looked beautiful. She led me to her car, looked over her shoulder at me, and smiled.

     "Shall we?" she asked. "We shall," I replied. She turned on some music and a Beach Boys song came on. I laughed, "Isn't this more of a summery song?" I asked, gesturing to the snow-covered streets around us. "The Beach Boys, contrary to popular opinion, are an all-weather band." She refuted. I was going to reply but she sensed my on-coming sarcasm, and reached for the radio volume, cranking it all the way up and singing along at the top of her lungs until the song was over. When the song was finished, she turned the volume back down to a level we could talk over.

"I've never heard anyone sing "Kokomo" so loud in my whole life."

"Well, then you haven't lived. The Beach Boys should always be played at top volume."

For the rest of the too short drive, we listened to whatever came on shuffle and talked over most of the music, pausing occasionally to sing along to any Beach Boys song that came on.