Page 1 of Should Our Stars Collide

PROLOGUE

Kieran’s getting officially nervous. The chat window is dead quiet, the last message is from Kelsey, sent an hour ago letting him know she’s on the way. Not wanting to sound desperate, he’s decided against messaging her to ask where she is, even though his thumbs are itching to do that.

The same waiter who took his order when he arrived stops by his table, a tablet at the ready.

“Can I get you anything else while you’re waiting? Another one of those?” He nods at the empty glass between Kieran’s hands, the remnants of his soda pooling at the bottom.

“I’m good, thanks.” The drink was gross, too. Some supposedly healthy lemongrass ginger shit Kieran only got because it’s one of the few things on the menu that doesn’t have caffeine or sugar, both of which he loves but would leave him bouncing off the walls. Not a great idea since his anxiety is already going through the roof, as it always does on a first date—or when meeting new people in general.

“No worries,” the waiter says, looking like he’s about to move on to the next table, but hesitates. “Running late, are they?”

Kieran appreciates how the question comes out mildly annoyed, probably in sympathy.

“Yeah, but that’s fine.” He almost cringes at the transparent lie, and his annoyance builds. “You know what? It’s not. How hard is it to show up on time, huh? Everyone’s glued to their phones these days,but clearly no one can tell the fucking time.” And now he sounds like a boomer. Great.

The waiter chokes out a laugh. “You sound like a grumpy old man. But I’m with you on that one. How late are they? Maybe they got lost?”

Kelsey picked the place, wanting to go somewhere she knew they served ‘organic’ food, so Kieran is very skeptical about that possibility.

“Unlikely. And as of now…” Kieran makes a show of looking at his watch. “Twenty-two minutes.”

“That sucks.” The waiter clicks his tongue. “First date?”

“That obvious, huh?”

“You do look a little nervous. Where did you meet?”

“We haven’t. Just swiped right on each other.” Shooting a glance at the door—he’s been trying not to do that, so as to not look like a total loser—Kieran pushes his chair back and stands up. “Hey, could you do me a favor? I need to pop to the boys’ room real quick. If this chick shows up, can you let her know?” He tries to bring up Kelsey’s picture only to find that she’s disappeared from his matches and her profile is nowhere to be found. He’s unable to access the chat too. “Uh…”

“Something wrong?”

“I think…she blocked me,” he says, dumbfounded. Any more attempts to find her profile go without success.

“Oh, shit. That’s fucked up.”

He doesn’t get it. Did he say something to piss her off? Then why did she say she was on the way?

“Hey, uh…” the waiter starts, uncomfortable.

“What?”

“By any chance…was she blonde? Hair about here…” He makes a line under his armpit level. “A pink highlight at the front?”

“She already showed up, didn’t she?” The answer is obvious.

The waiter winces in sympathy. “Saw her pop in a while back, but she didn’t stay.” He puts a hand on Kieran’s shoulder, patting it awkwardly. “Sorry, mate. That really sucks.”

Jesus, how slow is he? Of course that’s what happened. How didhe not think of that?

Dropping back into his chair, Kieran tries and fails to sound unaffected as he says, “I’ll need something stronger now.”

The waiter gives him a strained smile. “Pick whatever. It’s on the house.”

“Cheers.”

He knew it. He knew he shouldn’t have let himself be swayed by his stupid coworkers who insisted he try online dating. It’s not like he has time for a relationship anyway—one of the main points of contention between him and his ex. Well, Jess had always found something to bitch about, but in this case, she’d had a point. He doesn’t know what came over him that made a dating app seem like a good idea. Maybe he’s lonelier than he thought?

Nah, that can’t be it. Having most of his time to himself is why he lives alone and doesn’t hang out with his coworkers after work, which is something that baffles everybody. Apparently, despite his best efforts at making it clear that he prefers solitude, aka peace and quiet, he comes across as an extrovert. Not that he’s acompleterecluse. He does hang out with people; the few chosen ones who are not total energy suckers. Which, at the moment, only includes Dawson who, as irony would have it, almost never has time for Kieran.