Start Again

“Will you love me like this forever?”

Lying in the grass, his thumb gently rubbed against my index finger. The stars in the night sky were mesmerizing as they sparkled against the dark, shining for everyone to see, and for him and I to admire. The breeze sweeping through every now and then provided just enough cool air to go against the summer night’s heat.

“I will love you until the world ends, Dahlia,” he responded. “I promise that we will find each other in our future lives.”

…

I smiled as I watched the colors of the sunrise blend together through the window. Even though I stayed up all night, the accomplished feeling of finally finishing the ending of my latest novel made me feel refreshed, as if I got hours upon hours of sleep.

I would pay for the lack of sleep later. But that’s not in my list of worries today.

Looking down at my phone, I clicked on the text from Calliope that lit up the screen. Wakey?

As the keyboard pulled up, I typed my usual response back, and sat my laptop off to the side, still open. Wakey. Setting my phone down next to me, and closing the laptop on my lap, I stretched my arms up.

Now that Calliope knows I’m awake, it’ll only be a matter of minutes before she’s at my bedroom door with a hot chocolate. Moving my laptop next to me on the bed, I flipped the covers off and moved so that my legs hung over the edge, just barely touching the floor.

“Lia, open the door, my hands are full,” Calliope said from the other side of the door. Standing up, I rubbed my eyes as I stumbled with my first few steps towards the door. Pulling the door open, I turned around as I walked back to my bed. “Did you finish writing the ending yet?”

“I did,” I replied, grabbing one of the cups of hot chocolate from her hand as she walked over to my bed and sat down. “But you’re still not going to like the ending. Do you have any sessions today?”

“Hand me the laptop,” Calliope replied with a smile, setting her cup down on the nightstand and reaching for my laptop.

“If you were gonna grab it, why did you ask me to hand it to you?” I laughed as I sat my hot chocolate down on the desk next to where I was sitting after taking a small drink.

“You took forever and I need to know what happens between Jules and Reese!” As she typed the pin into my laptop, the light from the screen lit her face up as she waited for it to load, a smile on her face as she reached for her hot chocolate.

“You’re still not going to be happy,” I replied as I leaned back against the headboard of my bed, waving my hand slightly in the air. “You know it doesn’t have a happy ending like you want.”

“Lia,” she replied as she looked up at me, a look of irritation that showed she was also joking. “I plot the ending out for you every time, and it still doesn’t work?”

“Nope.” I gave her a smile after I answered, leaning my head back slightly. “Hey, does Jane have practice tonight?” I turned my head towards her slightly, waiting for her to come to a stopping point to answer me back.

“Yeah, at seven I think.” Calliope looked up at me for a brief second before returning her gaze to the screen in front of her. Suddenly, she gasped and looked up at me, hurt and anger for Jules and Reese in her eyes.

“I told you that you wouldn’t like it,” I shrugged, giving her a smirk. She never has liked the way the endings go, and if she could, she would take my characters from me just to keep them safe from harm.

“Why don’t you ever write happy endings?” She asked, setting the laptop aside as she took another drink of her hot chocolate.

“Calli,” I replied, grabbing my cup off of the desk and taking a drink. “I told you before it just happens naturally. Besides, there isn’t a thrill in writing a happy ending. There’s no emotion in it.”

“Or,” she started, dragging out the r. “Maybe it’s because you’ve never experienced a happy ending.” Her lips had a smile, and I knew it meant she thought she had it all figured out.

“I haven’t had bad endings,” I replied, lifting my head up as I held my cup in both hands. “My relationships just don’t last very long. But the breakups weren’t bad.”

“Still not a happy ending,” she replied. “What do you have planned for today?”

“I was going to go down to The Book Cafe to get a few new books and to start working on the promotions for Perfect Mess,” I replied, setting the cup down on the desk again.

“I’m gonna come with,” Calliope replied, standing up as she moved off of the bed. “When are you leaving?”

“Well, I planned on showering and getting dressed first,” I responded as she started to walk towards the door.

“Perfect.” She turned around to give me a quick smile before opening my bedroom door. “I’ll let Jane know you and I are going out today, so she can take the time to work on her car if she wants.”

**This is currently an on-going story, set to publish in February 2024! Enjoy the special chapters as I add them in!**