"Hey, Chris. Hey, Zac. Star, these are my friends Zac and Chris. Guys, this is Star," Cheyenne Fiscus stated getting Star's attention.
   Looking up from her cup, Star managed to look right into one of Cheyenne's friend's eyes. She smiled slightly, "Hi."
   When he smiled back, Star felt something inside her move… and another part melt.
   "Glad to meet you," Zac commented as he pulled out a chair for himself. Chris followed his example and sat next to Cheyenne.
   Still smiling, Star slowly took a seat and glanced around at the patrons as Zac took his own seat across from her.
   Zac smiled when she finally looked at him again. "What's going on?"
   Cheyenne rolled her eyes and gestured towards their food. "Boss made us stay late. So we're grabbing a late lunch. We couldn't make it until we got home for dinner."
   Chris nodded in understanding and slid his chair closer to Cheyenne's. "We still on for the movies tonight?"
   Cheyenne nodded emphatically, "Did you bring your car?"
   He shook his head, "Nah. I'm riding with Zac."
   She cast a nervous glance and Star wrinkled her face in confusion. "What? Do I have food on my face?" she asked looking between the three.
   Chris and Zac both shook their heads. "No. I don't see anything," Zac shrugged then looked at Cheyenne.
   She chewed her lip for a moment, "Zac, would you mind giving Star a ride home while Chris and I head off to the movies?"
   Star's eyes widened, "What? He doesn't even know me!"
   Zac shrugged again, "Sure." He looked at her, "Just don't mess up my truck."
   Making a face at him, she turned to her friend. "It's just a block away," she reasoned.
   Cheyenne looked at Chris; "I haven't seen him in so long, Star. Please?"
   Pushing her food away, she slouched in her chair. "Fine," she relented tiredly. She looked at Zac, "Mind taking me home now? I don't want to take up their time."
   "That's not fair," Cheyenne argued.
   Star nodded, "You're right this isn't." She stood anyway when Zac agreed to her request.
   "I like your name," Zac said as he started his truck and looked in the rearview mirror as he started to back up.
   Star smiled, "My real name is Étoile Lune Brodreaux." She laughed when Zac shook his head at that and asked her to repeat it. She did, slowly. "It's means Moon Star," she explained. "But no one knows how to pronounce it right, so I just go by Star instead now."
   "Well, it is a mouthful," he rationalized.
   She laughed, "Yes. That's why it's usually only my family that calls me by it."
   When he pulled into her driveway, he got out to help her out and walked her to her doorstep. While she was thanking him he asked her to dinner for the next night and she had agreed.
   Smiling back on that memory from two months ago, Star rushed into her house. Checking her watch she went past the front room where her dad called out, "Bonjour, Lune."
   Nodding, Star gave a small wave in acknowledgement to the greeting. "Bonjour," she called over her shoulder as she moved quickly towards the kitchen. The smell of Jambalaya was heady and like ambrosia to her after a lunch of soup in a cup.
   She inhaled the fragrance after she had lifted the lid and almost stuffed her face inside the large pot. Her stomach growled loudly and she moved to hug her grandma, lid still in hand. "Je t'aime!" she cried out happily before kissing her grandmother's cheeks.
   Mrs. Delacroix giggled like a young girl and kissed Star back. Then her mother, Mrs. Brodreaux, caught them. "Hello, Maman," Star greeted cheerfully, pecking her mother's cheeks as well.
   Shaking her head, Mrs. Brodreaux smiled at her mother. "Silly girls," she chided.
   Mrs. Delacroix nodded proudly. "Nous sommes jeunes!" She looked at her granddaughter and winked conspiratorially at her daughter. "Et elle est amoureuse."
   Star blushed hotly, but did not deny that she was in love. "Has Zac called yet?" she asked quickly, trying to move the conversation forward.
   Her grandma grinned widely and giggled some more. "Zac!" she shouted gleefully.
   "Hush, Maman," Mrs. Brodreaux commented. "Vous l'embarrassez!" Turning to her daughter she shook her head, "No, he has not called yet."
   Feeling disappointed, Star nodded dejectedly before pasting on a smile. "When do we eat?" she asked hopefully, giving the air another good sniff.
   "Soon, mon petite. Soon."
   Nodding, Star went up to her room and discarded her purse and jacket. She glanced wistfully at her phone before she hurried back downstairs to help set the table.
   Late that night, Star woke up to her phone shrilling by her head. Fumbling with her light then blinking away the sharp sting of it, she reached for her phone after looking at the clock. "Hello?" she asked thickly, her voice rough with sleep.
   "Star?" called a familiar voice.
   Star sat up straight as realization sunk in. "Zac? Where are you?" She glanced at the clock again, "What time is it there?"
   She could almost see him checking his watch, "It's 2:30 Oklahoma time, so it must be 5:30 here."
   Star shook her head, "What' going on? Why didn't you call earlier? When are you coming home?"
   The long pause on the other end of the line disturbed her. Those silences were becoming more and more frequent in the times that he'd called her since he'd been on the road.
   "I'm not coming home tonight," Zac answered slowly and Star couldn't miss a quiet… more feminine voice in the background.
   "Oh," she said softly. "Ok."
   "Listen, I gotta go, Star. Ok? Talk to you later." He didn't wait for a response, just simple hung up his phone and Star stared at hers stupidly before slowly hanging it up. "Yeah, later," she voiced; knowing it was a lie.
   She cried that night, when she turned out her light and tried to go back to sleep. Memories bombarded her and chased her. Haunting her even as she tried to sleep.
   The next morning, she woke early and refused to see her family while she was still sad. One look at her face and they would all surround her and comfort her. She didn't want that now, so she headed for a small diner after calling on a friend for moral support.
   While she sat in one of the booths, she ordered a cup of coffee and waited. She rubbed her fingertips over a photograph of her and Zac. Wiping away smudges and smears. She looked up when Cheyenne sat across from her. "I was more in love with him when he hung up the phone last night than when we first met, you know?" she asked softly. "When he was gone I craved to have him here."
   "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," Cheyenne admitted quietly.
   Star nodded and whispered, "Le temps entre la rencontre et partir finalement est parfois appelé être amoureux."
   Cheyenne shook her head, "What does that mean?"
   Star smiled weakly, "That the time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love."
   Her friend agreed whole-heartedly.