After Feodorvna

Chapter Seventeen

I quietly crept back into my room. My mom didn't even notice I was gone; I could hear her snores from down the hallway. I released a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding and slipped into my pajamas.

I soon fell asleep, drifting into yet another lucid dream. I gasped when I took in my surroundings. I was standing on the surface of an ocean.

"Oh, thank the Lord." someone whispered beside me. "It worked."

I turned, unsurprisingly finding Holden. He was floating on his back, black sunglasses poised over his eyes and a hand tilted over his forehead to block the sun more. He lowered his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and winked at me.

"Hey." I blushed.

He did this adorable wave and tipped into the water, splashing me. "I created this place for us, darling." he said once he resurfaced.

"Oh, really? Why?" I nudged his arm with my elbow.

He chuckled. "I wanted to see you."

"How does this work, though?" I smiled.

He kissed my forehead. "You'll find out soon enough."

We talked about stuff for awhile, then the sun above us blinked or some shit and Holden hugged me. I woke up not long after, with the feeling as if I weighed nothing. I was in a good mood, and I wasn't tired either. It was Saturday, and looking at my clock, I was psyched. My dad was picking me up in like twenty minutes.

I jumped out of bed and flung on a pair of black shorts, my rainbow-striped top, and some black boots. I pulled my hair into a half-up, half-down bun and tied it with a black scrunchie. Next, I dug my duffel bag from the night of the party out of my closet. It was already packed, but I threw my phone into it. Before I could even go downstairs to eat anything, a car honked outside and it was time to go.

I shouted a goodbye to my mom and grabbed my skates - I never went anywhere without them, if you haven't noticed already - and headed to the door. Just as I was about to leave, I remembered something. That locket. I ran upstairs and swiped it off my desk then quickly threw it into my bag. Maybe my dad will know what it is.

I was sitting next to my dad not long after, grinning at a joke he was telling me. To save my life, I can't remember it now but it was hilarious. He was so happy to have me for the weekend, though. I knew how much he must have missed me, with me living at my mom's and all. He lived alone, too, and that sure didn't help with his loneliness. He used to tell me he didn't have time for lovers; he was too devoted to his work.

"So, Stella, have I ever told you how you got your name?"

My ears perked up a start of one my dad's stories. As much as he denied it, he was a great storyteller. But for once, I hadn't heard this particular one before.

I shook my head. "No."

He sat back against his car seat and smiled. "Alright. When your mom and I first began to consider starting a family, we were going on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park during the summer. It was a long ways away, so we thought it'd be fun to camp along the way instead of staying in the hotel."

I laughed at the idea. "Dad, what about bug bites?"

"Oh, we brought lots of citronella and bug spray." he chuckled.

"What?"

"We thought we brought everything we would need, but we forgot flashlights." he laughed. "That's when your name comes in. Stella means 'star', and stars were the only things that lit the darkness besides the moon. Your mom was always raving about constellations, so it was quite fun for her. Imagine my amusement when my little star wanted to take an astronomy class just like her mother."