Free Written in the Stars (A Short Story) by Francene Carroll

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