When Stars Align-Love, Orion.

Since high school, Anna was always the pretty one. She had long blond hair, kissed with streaks of the summer sun. Her fringe made a perfect border around her oval shaped face and with every mood the color of her green blue eyes would change. She liked keeping it real with nude lip liner and a touch of light pink lipstick. Her lashes were carefully brushed with midnight black and her breath always smelled of fresh mint. Anna had a body that was nice to look at. With caves perfectly shaped and a body with all the desired curves. What made her more beautiful was her kind, adventures spirit and the fact that she didn’t even know how beautiful she really was. She did not believe in luck but she did believe in the magic of the stars, that every now and then they would align and that good and bad things would happen randomly over the course of time…

Its summer time, Sirius has risen and the heat is already picking up. I’ve been trapped between these creamy walls for weeks. They call it ‘quarantine’. I’ve never experienced such loneliness in my life! This summer was supposed to be filled with adventure and fun but instead I will be spending it all alone!

“Ugh! I am going to lose my mind and soon die from boredom… or heat!” Anna mumbled. She pulled a big box out from underneath her bed. Big letters are scribbled in red and black all over the sparkly box.

It reads: “Memories Are Like Stars, Beautiful Treasures, Everlasting Lights In Our Hearts.”

Anna opened the box and start taking out old pictures and letters from family, friends and love that got lost along the way. She took out a cigar case, a red one with words written in gold. She opened it and smelled inside. It still smelled like cherry.

“Oh the memories! Just a smell or sound can bring them back to life!” With her eyes closed, she smiled a little smile as she remembered the good old days. There’s a bright, red ribbon sticking out from underneath all the stuff in the box.

“What do we have here?” She whispered curiously while she carefully pulled on the ribbon, taking it out of the box.

“Oh my goodness, of course! The cassette!” There’s a photo tied up with the cassette. A very special one that she hadn’t seen in a while. She turned the photo around and there it was… Written with a big black marker…His number! Anna felt the excitement growing in her body while she’s thinking up a storm of scenarios about what it would be like to meet again after all these years… 

She rushed to her phone, grabbed it quickly but then she paused…

 “This number may not even exist anymore, it’s been twelve years! Ugh, what was I thinking?” She unlocked her phone and dialed it anyway and in that moment she knew that the stars were on her side!

“Hi, this is Zane. If you hear this message I’m not available. Please leave your details and I’ll give you a ring ASAP! PEEEEEEEEEP!”

“Hi Zane, its Anna. Don’t know if you remember me? I was doing some ‘quarantine stuff’ and found your number on that Christmas photo? We were still kids! Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. Give me call. ”

Anna slammed the phone down on the kitchen counter covering her eyes with both hands.

“That was awkward!” She shouted softly in a high pitched voice. “Doing some quarantine stuff! Who says that? Ha-ha-ha! Oh well, what’s done is done… Moving on!”

She walked back to her bedroom, took the cassette and popped it into the old radio. She listened to every song as she lied there on the floor, surrounded by memories, scattered all around her.

The weather is awful this time of year and clothes are definitely not an option in this kind of heat. Since there’s no one around I might as well give my birthday suit a try, she thought!

Anna took her clothes off and threw them in a pile.

“Perfect, much better!” She said out loud, lying back on her bedroom floor again…

“What the heck! Did I just hear a car park in the driveway?” Anna jumped up and grabbed the towel that’s been lying on the edge of her bed. She peeked through her bedroom curtains and saw a red van parked in the driveway but there’s no one inside.

“Great! Good timing. I just got comfortable in my new outfit and there goes the doorbell!” 

When she opened the front door a tall, handsome man stood there, waiting patiently.

“Anna!” The man said happily and hugged her without warning! Quarantine doesn’t bother him much I guess. She patted him on the back of his shoulders while he hugged her tight, then she gently pushed him away…

“I’m sorry, you look so familiar and yet I just can’t seem to place you…”

Without a word he showed her a mark on his arm…

“From High school, Zane? You look totally different, I almost didn’t recognize you! Come here, give me another hug! Oh my gosh, this is totally random. I’ve called you like an hour ago! Did you get my message?” Anna asked while she hugged him again.

“No I haven’t, the signal is quite bad around here! I’ve reached out to your parents a while back to get your details, they said to keep it a secret! Well…Surprise!!” Zane uttered a playful laugh.

“It’s the best surprise ever! Please come inside. Make yourself comfortable! I’m going to get dressed quickly. There are some cold drinks in the fridge, please help yourself!”

“Yeah! I was wondering about that birthday suit in the middle of the day but hi, I’m not judging!”

“Ha-ha very funny Zane, this heat is just insane! I had to do something since I’m trapped in here!”

Anna ran down the hall into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. For a while she just stood there, with her back against the door, in total shock and disbelieve! She pulled a comfortable T-dress over her head and brushed her hair, finishing off with a touch of nude lip liner and light pink lipstick…

“Wow, you’re even more beautiful than I remember Anna!” Zane complimented her. “You haven’t aged a bit!”

Anna blushed without saying anything, she just looked at him, smiling! He is the most gorgeous man that she has ever seen. His legs so strong and well defined. His hair falls perfectly on his dark brown eye brows and his eyes… Oh, it’s blue like the heavens and shines like the stars! After all these years he can still make her heart melt with just one look!

“So… For how long will you be staying Zane? Are you here on business or something? We have so much to talk about.”

“No business Ann. I’m an architect now and since quarantine started all my plans were put on hold… That’s when I decided to come down and visit you. We were always so close growing up. It was one of the hardest days of my life when we moved away. We had so much planned for our final high school year together but then we never got the chance to make it a reality! I wanted to find you earlier but the stars just didn’t line up! I am so sorry Anny!”

Anna’s heart felt deeply moved by his honest words. She missed him very much after he had moved away so suddenly. They were inseparable once, both in love with each other and with the magic of the stars! They’ve spend hours under the starry skies, connecting them to form pictures of all kinds of things. She has always loved him but over the years she had to learn how to live without him. Now that he’s sitting right there next to her, she feels strangely complete. As if she’s finally home again after a very long and lonely journey…

That night they sneaked out of town and drove to a river nearby. They watched the stars for hours, trying to find all the pictures they once created together years ago when they were high school sweethearts…

“Look Ann, that’s Sirius, the most beautiful star of all! Just look how big and bright she shines!”

Zane looked at Anna, he can see Sirius reflecting in her eyes. I think she has always been my Sirius… He thought while taking her hand in his and squeezing it tight…

“See how tall Orion stands? It has always been one of our favorites. Sirius follows Orion into the night, see? At last the stars align again. They say that it brings heat, drought… And bad luck…”

“Well, luckily I don’t believe in luck!” Anna laughs softly.

“That’s a relief, neither do I!” They looked at each other and this time there was an unavoidable wealth of emotions between them, a second chance to make up for all the lost time… For a moment it felt as if they were never apart, that nothing between them had changed over the years… 

Anna touched his face, stroking softly over his cheeks and nose as if she wanted to make sure that she would never forget this moment with him…

Each night they returned to the river side, where they lied under starry skies on an old square, patched blanket. Lost in each others arms and in the heatwaves of passion. It’s been the most memorable five days of their lives. Just before sunrise they drove back home, it was warm and cool at the same time. Everything felt perfect and life made sense again… Before blue and red lights started to flicker behind them, signaling them to pull over. Zane was escorted back to his hometown to spent fourteen days in isolation…

For a while they lived on the edge of the night in a silent, quarantined world. The rebirth of their long lost love overpowered the sweltering heat of the July sun… And for a moment they experienced something so real…So extraordinary…

When their stars aligned…

When Anna got home she found a new cassette and a photo they took at the river on the kitchen table… Tears streamed down her face as she read every word…

Dear Ann

You are the Sirius in my night sky

The brightest star of all

I am your Orion

Standing brave and tall

Into the night you followed my call

For a while our stars aligned

But the earth turned slowly

And took you away

My beautiful Sirius, brightest star off all

Never will I forget your beauty

Nor the warmth of your presence

Oh! How I wished our days together would never end

My skies will never be as bright without you

My Sirius, my queen of the night sky

May our stars align once again and then…

Forever.

Love ‘Orion’