I've posted this in fanfiction because it is based on the beginning of the movie Sweet Home Alabama and concentrates on what could have happened with Melanie (Dakota Fanning) and Perry's relationship after being struck by the stars. It's just a short story, but I thought I'd post Please comment!
The stars collided when you were born. The stardust sprinkled on your head and you began to glow. The glow never stopped. You were born from the stars and you live for them.
Melanie Smooter ran onto the beach with Jake Perry counting the time in between the thunder and lightening “one thousand and one… one thousand and two…”
“Answer the question!” Jake snapped
“No!”
“No you won’t answer, or no you won’t marry me?”
“Geez, Perry! I’m ten years old, I got too much to live for!”
Suddenly, a lightening bolt hit the ground in front of them. Melanie screeched and began to run in the other direction, but Jake took hold of her hand and dragged her back to the flaming sand in front of them.
“We’ll be safe here,” he said.
“Says who?” asked Melanie.
“Everybody. Lightening never strikes the same place twice.”
Jake, affectionately known as Perry, looked up into the sky, his face bathed in moonlight. Melanie smiled up at him and asked, “Why would you wanna marry me for anyhow?”
Jake looked back down at her and replied matter-of-factly, “So I could kiss ya anytime I want.”
Melanie’s eyes grew as wide as the moon and she took a deep breath as she realised, he was going to kiss her. Her stomach felt as if there were a million comets whooshing around inside of her; she leant forward. Jake flicked his hair from out of his eyes and leant in towards her too. Their lips met and Melanie closed her eyes. She could feel her face getting warmer, a light was shining on her eyes; she felt like one of the comets from her stomach had slipped out into the night and was dancing on her face.
She opened her left eye a fraction, expecting to see stars dancing around her. By the time she realised it was lightening; it had already struck the ground in between them.
One Year Later…
“Melanie! Are you paying attention?”
Melanie looked away from the notebook in front of her where she was doodling comets and stars, to see her teacher, Miss Crawford, glaring at her.
“Yes, Miss Crawford. I’m paying attention,” Mel sighed. It was almost a year now since the night on the beach. She didn’t speak to Jake anymore since he moved up to middle school, but she still thought about him and the night on the beach. Not every day, but now and again that magical night would fly through her memory, like a comet flashing through an ebony sky.
Melanie drifted through school, trying to avoid as many people as she could. She knew that a year ago tonight she had been on that beach with Jake, and it broke her heart that they didn’t speak anymore. She went home that night and started to paint.
Melanie loved the stars, the universe, the moon, and the possibility of the unknown. It intrigued her so much. She looked at the clock: 9:15pm. She was glad it was a Friday so she could stay up to paint and not worry about being up early for school the next day. Melanie sighed and wandered over to the window to look at the night sky for some inspiration. Last year it was storming when she was on the beach, but tonight was dark, calm and cool. She was glad to live in a rural area; it meant the night skies were always so clear.
Melanie looked outside the window just as a bright flash streaked through the sky. Her face illuminated and she let out a gasp, “A comet!”
Melanie tore down the stairs, grabbed her jacket and raced into the garden. She looked up, but couldn’t see anything but twinkling stars. She didn’t live too far from the beach and had an urge to go down. She wasn’t sure how it would be different, the sky would surely be as comet-free as it was in the garden as it was at the beach, but she ran down anyway.
She arrived at the beach, breathless and excited. After a few moments of waiting a bright light began to sparkle in the sky.
The light began to grow brighter, and brighter, and soon Melanie began to realise that it was shooting right towards her! She stared up at it, feeling unafraid and reluctant to move from the brightness that was speeding towards her. She could feel the heat of the light getting stronger and stronger upon her face, but still she stared up into it with a feeling that this star was meant for her. She was supposed to be here.
“MELANIE!” Someone shouted Melanie’s name and she pulled away from the light from a fraction of a second. At the same time, someone jumped on her and pushed her out of the way. Melanie landed on the beach with a thump; her head was ringing. She opened her eyes, but it was so bright and so hot. She felt herself being pulled down the beach, and soon the heat and light died away enough for her to open and her eyes and drag herself to her feet.
Melanie gasped as she saw the devastation in front of her. There was a large hole in the beach where she was once stood, she was so close to death and she’d been saved. She looked to the person who’d shoved her out of the way, and she saw a young man with sandy brown hair in his eyes looking down at her.
“Perry,” Melanie whispered. “You saved me.”
“Well, I had to. You didn’t answer the question.”
“No.”
“No you won’t answer, or no you won’t marry me?”
“No, I didn’t answer. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
They may have only been eleven and twelve but they felt so much older, and as the meteors began to shoot over their heads, they kissed again under the starry night sky.
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