Like Northern Stars

Canary yellow wedges sunk into the sand with every step that Victoria made as she tried to find her seat. Leave it to Kandi to have a wedding and neglect to tell anyone that it would take place on the beach. She guessed the plane ticket to Cabo San Lucas that arrived in her mailbox a month ago should have tipped her off, but it didn’t.

Victoria had never really understood the concept of beach weddings. Wouldn’t your wedding gown get sandy? And you definitely couldn’t wear heels, as she had found out first-hand.

To be honest, even though Kandi was one of her closest friends, Victoria had been more than a little hesitant to attend the wedding. Her mixed emotions were all due to the man seated two rows down in the aisle across from her.

Kendall was there; she knew he would be there. He and the groom were practically best friends, that’s why she was set up with him in the first place, and she couldn’t keep her mind from transporting her back to those days.

Kandi liked to set people up. These matches weren’t exactly the most concrete, mainly because they were created for Kandi’s own selfish reasons. She was infatuated with the concept of double dating, so she just randomly threw her friends together with her boyfriend’s friends. There wasn’t really any sort of thought process behind it.

So far, she was one for two.

Victoria’s fingers gripped the edge of her seat. It was the only way she could release a fraction of the anticipation and pain that was pent up inside of her petite body.

She self-consciously ran a hand through her sleek tawny bob as more people began to trickle towards their seats. Due to the location, it wasn’t really a huge gathering.

This was one instance when Victoria longed to be surrounded by people, anything that would keep her eyes from wandering towards Kendall’s chair.

She couldn’t help but notice how handsome he looked with his dirty blonde hair slicked back slightly, wearing a gray tux that accentuated his broad shoulders. One of his arms rested on the back of the chair beside him, where his date was seated. Long golden curls flowed down her back, and Victoria automatically felt a pang of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. They looked so perfect together, like they were meant for each other, and there Victoria was, alone.

She’d never admit that she hadn’t been on a date since they’d broken up six months earlier.

A guy came and took the empty chair beside her, momentarily tearing her away from her pity party.

“Hi,” she said, reverting to her usual cheerful tone. “Bride or groom?”

He responded with a laugh as he ran a hand through his thick black hair. “I’m a friend of the groom, you?”

She flashed him a bright smile. “Friend of the bride.”

There was a quick moment of silence before he spoke again.

“I’m Carlos, by the way,” he said, offering her his hand.

“I’m Victoria,” she replied as she shook his hand. “It’s funny that I’ve never met you before. I was pretty sure Kandi had already tried to set me up with all of Logan’s friends, so how did you manage to slip through the cracks?”

With a laugh, Carlos shrugged, and Victoria couldn’t help but notice the way his brown eyes lit up when he smiled. It was funny how a little shameless flirting could manage to take her mind off the initial awkwardness of seeing Kendall there.

“I’m not sure. So far, I’ve managed to escape being set up on one of her blind dates,” he laughed and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Not that I’d mind if my date was as pretty as you.”

“Why thank you,” she laughed as she smoothed out the creases in the skirt of her dress.

The opening chords of a song signaled the commencement of the ceremony.

“Guess it’s starting,” Carlos smiled as he craned his head towards the aisle.

Victoria smiled in response, and she felt her body automatically straighten as she folded her hands neatly in her lap. Her eyes scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar face amongst the rows of white fold-out chairs. Aside from Kendall, the only people she knew at the wedding were Autum, Kandi’s best friend, and Kaci, one of their mutual friends from college.

The rest of the faces were strangers, but Victoria quickly turned her attention back to the ceremony.

The procession was short; Kandi wasn’t big on the whole bridesmaids thing, so it was just her mother followed by her older brother giving her away.

As Victoria watched the minister say a few words and the couple exchange vows, she couldn’t help but feel envy nagging at the back of her mind. As much as she wanted to be completely happy for her friend, she couldn’t deny that she wanted that, wanted so badly to be marrying someone she loved. The only guy she’d ever really fallen for turned out to be someone completely different than she thought he was.

Her eyes shifted from Kandi and Logan to Kendall’s date in her sequined aquamarine dress. She’d find out eventually that Kendall wasn’t the amazing guy he built himself up to be, and Victoria almost felt sorry for the poor girl. Almost.

After the ceremony was over, they all had a quick dinner, and everyone grew even more anxious for the party.

Victoria stood towards the edge of the dance floor, her arms crossed against her stomach as she watched Logan and Kandi share their first dance. She tried to hide the tears that seeped from the corner of her chocolate brown eyes. Everything was just so beautiful, so perfect for her friend, that she felt a little swept away.

All she wanted was to be in love, but she wasn’t sure she was able to let anyone in again.

She could see Autum standing across the floor from her, looking perfectly content in the arms of her boyfriend James. Kandi had set them up, and they had stuck together, unlike Kendall and Victoria.

It was like she was surrounded by love, but she could never have it for herself.

The song ended, and other couples began to trickle onto the dance floor. Victoria felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Would you like to dance?” She was greeted by Carlos’s cheerful grin.

“Sure,” she replied with a smile before following him out onto the dance floor.

The first song was upbeat and quick-paced, and the two of them stepped and bopped to the rhythm. Victoria was taken aback by Carlos’s dance moves. For a guy, he was a pretty good dancer. He didn’t step around awkwardly with his eyes focused on the walls like most nice guys did, but he wasn’t like the cocky guys that only kept their eyes fixed on her body as they tried to grind on her. Carlos just loved to dance. He wasn’t trying to be someone he wasn’t, and he wasn’t trying to fuck her on the dance floor. It was refreshing.

The catchy pop tune awkwardly transitioned into a slow love song, and Victoria wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to continue dancing with Carlos, but she didn’t want him to think that she wanted anything more than that. Hell, he could have had a girlfriend back home for all she knew, but she had to admit that he was really cute and his positive energy was just infectious.

All of the tension seemed to fall away as Carlos gently placed his hands on her waist. Victoria slipped her arms around his neck as they swayed in time with the music. She couldn’t keep her thoughts from drifting back to the days of awkward middle school dances, even though she wouldn’t classify this dance with Carlos as awkward. In a strange way, it almost felt right.

After that song faded into the next, just as Victoria began to walk back towards her table, Carlos grabbed her hand, causing her to stop. She watched as he pulled a pen from his pocket as scribbled down numbers on a napkin.

“Just in case you get bored,” he said with a smile as he placed the napkin in her hand.

Victoria smiled to herself as she wandered through the crowd. Maybe attending this wedding hadn’t been such a bad idea.