Written in the Stars (A Short Story)

Written in t
he Stars

by

Francene
Carroll

“
Do it now
,
Mel.
Take your hands from the keyboard
,
and just walk
away.” It
was  good
advice
she was giving herself, and Melanie
Jones
was in the act of following through with it
,
w
hen she spotted a new photo
that
had just been uploaded to the website. The
woman in the picture
had long
red hair
cascading down
her shoulders
from beneath a
brightly
coloured scarf. Her
large
hoop ear
rings and
exotic
almond-
shaped eyes
gave her a mysterious air.
It looked like t
here was a new girl in town
,
and from what
Melanie could see so far,
she was
just
her
type.

Quickly forgetting
her resolution
to spend
less time in front of
the computer
, Melanie swivell
ed
back around to face the screen
properly
. She clicked on the photo to get
into the woman’s profile
,
pushed
her
reading
glasses back up
on
to
the bridge of her
nose
,
and
settled in to find out more
.

The woman’s
name was Serenity
,
and she was also from Sydney
,
which was a very big bonus. It made meeting so much easier
,
if it ever got to that stage. Melanie had already been through nearly
every
other person listed on the site
,
and
she was y
et to find anyone she was
satisfied with.
Mostly they were women
,
but there were a couple of men too.
Some had
been nice
,
b
ut
too
unsure
of themselves
, while others
had asked too many personal questions
. Most
were
in it for what they could get
,
and a
few had been just plain creepy.

With any
luck Serenity would
be different from the rest.
She might be the one Melanie had been searching
for
all this time
. She was about to click out of the profile when to her
surprise the instant messaging window
popped up on her screen with a greeting from Serenity.

Serenity
:
Hi there.
Noticed u
checking out my profile
.
Feel fr
ee to
ask
any questions
.

Melanie was unsure
what to do next. It was one thing to look
at a photo and read about
s
omeone, but another to begin
a conversation that might lead to more. Was she really ready to take the next step? She decid
ed to throw caution to the wind
and just plunge in. It
seemed fated that Serenity was onlin
e at the same time as she was.

Mel
:
H
i Serenity, how r
u
? I don’t do this often
. N
ot
2
sure how it works

She fi
gured a little white lie wasn’t going to hurt anyone
.

Serenity
:
No worries, I
’m new at this
2,
we can be newbies together : )

Mel: 
What
r
your hourly rates?

Serenity
:
Depends
what u
want. I do sessio
ns
ranging from half hour to
3
hours.
I can come to
your place or u
to mine.
H
appy to do more than 1 person at a time.
Can also do a
show, but this a bit more
exy
.

Melanie had never been interest
ed in parties or shows. For her,
this was so
mething
personal and private that she did not want to share with anyone
. She had not even told her clo
se friends what she got up to
,
and s
he knew they would be ab
solutely horrified if they discovered
how much money she had spent on this sit
e over the past few years. The way she saw
it
, everyone
was entitled to one guilty pleasure
in life
. S
he did not splurge on shoes or clothes like some women, or go out partying every weekend. This
was her
only vice
,
and even though she knew she could not really afford
it
,
she
could not
give it up just yet.

Mel:
I’d like to start online
and c
how it goes from there

Serenity:
No worries.
Do
u
want to use a webcam or just IM to
begin with
?

Mel:
IM to start with

She always like
d
to test them,
to see how good they were when they had
nothing visual to work with. It gave he
r an
idea of their
abilities
. If they could satisfy her
on IM
,
they then moved to webcam and eventually to meeting in person. Only a few had made it that far
,
and
they had been very disappointing in the flesh.

Serenity:
GR
8
.
I can fit you in on Fri
@
7
.30 pm. Does this
suit?

Mel:
Good 4 me. Chat with u
then :
)

****

Melanie was sitting
in front of her laptop
on Friday at seven-
thirty sharp
,
waiting for Serenity t
o begin their session
. To her relief
,
her room
mates
had all gone
out
,
so she would not be disturbed. S
he had told them
she was working on a report for work
,
and locked herself
in
her room just in case
.
A few butterflies danced in her stomach as
the minutes ticked by. No matter how many times she did this
,
she still felt
a little
nervous
,
but it
was all part of the thrill
. Finally the IM
window
popped up
.

Serenity:
Hi Mel. A
ny
questions
b4
I
begin
?

Mel:
No, just begin
thnx
.

Serenity:
Ok. I am f
eeling
hot.
S
o
hot
.

There was a long pause
and Melanie did not know if she was supposed to reply
.

Serenity:
Have u been somewhere tropical
lately?

She
had to think hard for a minute.

Mel:
I went the beach
a few weeks ago.
W
as a hot day.

Serenity:
That’s what I’m seeing. U
are
also planning a holid
ay soon,
somewhere
cold,
with snow. Correct?

Mel:
No
.

Serenity:
U
will be
soon, with a couple of
girl
friends.

Her heart began to sink. There was no way she could afford a holiday to the snow
for a
long time. Was Serenity a fake
like so many of the others?

Mel:
C
an’t afford a holiday

Serenity:
U
will co
me into a large sum of $
. Is
not expected but it will
happen soon.
This will pay
4
the holiday and quite a bit more.

That was more like it. She had been gett
ing very itchy palms lately
which meant money was coming her way
soon
.
Maybe Serenity was the real deal after all.

Mel:
GR8
. I could use it.

Serenity:
I’m seeing
a man in your life.
T
all, blonde hair and blue eyes.
Does
this
make sense?