From Here To The Moon

3J restaurant...

"Hello, you're welcome to 3J restaurant. May I have your orders, please?" The waitress beamed and welcomed the two ladies as they made themselves comfortable at one corner of the restaurant, their usual spot, near the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that gave a view of the bright, busy midday world.

"Okay, I'll have chicken sandwich and orange juice, please", Janet said, her eyes still glued to the menu in her hand.

"Mushroom risotto for me, please", Miriam ordered. "And cranberry juice" She added and the waitress left immediately.

"Don't you get tired of that?" Janet said, finally lifting her head from the menu. She was trying to check on the other dishes to know which one to try the next time they visited the restaurant. "You order that almost every time. Don't you want to try something else?" She asked Miriam, who was reading a novel at hand. 'Bookworm', she sighed inwardly.

"Then how would you know that's my favourite? That's why we choose a favourite. I don't get tired of eating it. I can have it for breakfast, lunch, supper, snack, whatever" Miriam shrugged without lifting her head. "Plus this is the only restaurant here that makes it better apart from myself, so..."

"Tsk, tsk, so conceited. And must you read everywhere?" Janet asked with a frown when she realised she wouldn't even look up.

Miriam sighed and rolled those big, attractive eyes of hers and looked up.

"I have to finish reading and return it to the library on our way back. You know I couldn't finish it because of the project I had to do." Janet opened her mouth to say something but Miriam beat her to it."Don't worry, just a few pages to go. I'm on the last chapter." she said with smile, gesturing with one hand for Janet to calm down.

Janet sighed defeatedly. She knew nothing she said right now would change anything. How did she even choose a bookworm as a friend in the first place?

"Here's your order, please. Enjoy your meal." the waitress came with a trolley containing their food and arranged it on the table. She bowed slightly and left. The two best friends enjoyed their meal, talking about random stuff and laughing along their jokes.

----

Miriam Hammond and Janet Hamilton were inseparable. They were worlds apart in terms of social class, but they vibed in so many ways. Janet was from a rich family, a lone child who didn't know the use of money and spent anyhow just because she had the money to spend. Well, in Miriam's case, she was from a middle class family, who had a strict budget to follow everyday.

Unlike Janet, whose parents were making it big in the business world, Miriam's mom was a cook in one of the mansions in the estates. Her father also worked at the packaging unit in a beverage company. Both their jobs weren't very high-fetching, but they were able to cater for the whole family's needs, making sure both Miriam and her kid brother never lacked basic necessities in life, especially when it came to their education.

Miriam was two years older than Lordy, but he had outgrown her, was about 5.9 inches taller than Miriam, who was about 5.6 inches, and his smartness and eagerness to make his family proud had made him seem older than Miriam. He had the notion that he was the man of the house, and he was supposed to take care of them. He was very protective of his family, especially his elder sister.

Miriam and Lordy were two years apart in education as well. During Lordy's final year at high school, he decided to compromise and wait till her sister completed university since the financial strength of the family to cater for the both of them was very weak. Miriam was getting to her second year by then. Lordy decided to wait after completion of high school till her sister was done with university, and promised to do part-time jobs to earn money on that regard.

However, after high school, Lordy blew up with tremendous results which earned him a full-time scholarship to study in the university. He had no hard time gaining admission to study Art Education and minor in photography, as he was fond of art and painting.

Miriam was studying Food and Hospitality, as she was planning to open a restaurant or hotel and manage it with her mum, and probably put her father in charge of something. She really loved cooking, just like her mom, and didn't like eating out, but that changed when she met Janet at the university. She was the outing type and had convinced Miriam on so many occasions to eat out with her.

Miriam's life was quite boring. It was just reading, cooking, listening to music, and nothing else. She didn't even like watching movies. Tsk! Such a bore, Janet would usually say whenever she refused to go out or watch a movie with her.

"This is just the same as watching a movie. The story is amazing," Miriam would usually say to refute Janet's taunts. To her, movie directors base on stories like what she read to shoot movies. But they had come to understand each other.

Miriam would always try her hands on a new recipe she comes up with, and Janet would try it out and tell her what she thinks about it. Miriam was putting together some recipes which she planned on using in her restaurant once it came to reality. When she got a thumbs up from Janet, she would then invite some course mates, neighbours or friends to try it too, just to be sure Janet wasn't just exaggerating. She would always go overboard with her praises, at least that was what she thought. She used to do same to her mother and she was being given the same treatment. She now understood why her mother would always tell her to stop exaggerating when she actually meant what she said. Janet would then convinced her into watching some movies after that. They both enjoyed each other's company.

----

They left the restaurant soon enough and headed back to their apartment. It was a small two-bedroom house, each having its own washroom, with a single kitchen and a living room. They both agreed on renting it since they got to know they would be in the same university. They had attended the same basic school, different high schools, and now they got the same university. Even in different high schools, they got in touch with each other regularly. They had been friends for that long.

Miriam's simple lifestyle had had an impact on Janet, as she wasn't living her life as a spoilt rich heiress anymore. She had minimized the way she spent money and was now somewhat responsible as compared to how she used to be. If not for the fact that Miriam did not want to be a burden to her and not let Janet buy all her stuffs like she always wanted to, she would have been living a smooth life too. But Miriam did not want to be treated as a charity case. She didn't want to become dependent on anyone, for anyone to look down on her because they helped her one way or the other. Which is why she applied for a job at one of the restaurants nearby as an assistant to a line cook. She was the prep cook for her immediate boss, the line cook. And so she took it upon herself to provide groceries for both of them.

Janet had no option than to comply, although she thought it wasn't necessary. With the money she got from the job, Miriam managed to buy kitchen equipment and utensils which helped her in her trials at home.

...

"I have to return the book. Let's go together. I promise I won't take long." Miriam beckoned Janet as they sauntered across the street.

Janet mock-glared at her and rolled her eyes. "Like it's the truth." she murmured.

"Seriously. I'll just return it." Miriam said with her gaze fix on Janet. "I won't borrow any book today. You will have me all by yourself today." she said the last part with a broad smile as she bumped her shoulder on hers lightly and winked at her.

"It better be the truth or I'll just drag you out and..." She was interrupted by her phone ringing. She scrummed through her bag and fetched it.

"Hello...Irene? Yes...Oh, too bad... um, don't worry, I'll be on my way now... yes... bye." she ended the called and turned to look at Miriam. Before she could even speak...

"Irene? Is she Okay? What wrong? What happened?" Miriam started bombarding her with unending questions with a worried countenance. Irene was their neighbour, and she wondered what was wrong with her.

"Hey, easy." Janet said and chuckled. She didn't know why Miriam had to be worried when she didn't even know what they had talked about. "She just lost her key. And she gave me a spare one some time ago to keep it safe for her. Looks like she knew she would misplace one someday." Janet explained and smiled.

"I won't be able to go with you to the library. I'm so sorry I have to..."

"It's okay go ahead." Miriam interjected her. "Poor Irene, she must have been waiting for a long time. Don't worry I'll be fine. I'll just return it and I'll be back before you know it."

She patted her shoulder lightly and saw her run off to her car.

Well yes, Janet had a car. But they were in faculties which took directly different routes. So Miriam always took a taxi for lectures while Janet drove in her car for hers. Janet wasn't really comfortable at first, but after much coaxing from Miriam, she gave up the idea of dropping her everyday before going back for her own lectures. Not before making a condition that she would pick her up whenever she closed before her, or when she wanted them to eat or watch movies outside. Miriam had to agree when it looked like Janet wasn't ready to take no for an answer.

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Hello, lovely readers. Thank you so much for stopping by and welcome to my first work. Please add this to your library and don't forget to vote, comment and leave a review. Please pardon me for unnecessary mistakes and grammatical errors, as this is my first time writing, but don't hesitate to point out any mistakes and errors. I would love to know how well or how bad I'm doing. So please, try as much as possible to leave a comment or a review. Thanks a lot and happy reading! Lots of love!!

Juu

As soon as she saw Janet's car speed off, she made her way to the library.

"Good morning, Mr. Stewart." She greeted with a sunny smile. Mr. Stewart looked up from the big book he was scribbling something into. A broad smile broke onto his face at the contagious smile of Miriam, as he took off his reading glasses.

"Hey, my dear. It's been ages." he said as he put the pen down to give his full concentration. Miriam was like a daughter to him. Well, that's a giving since his only daughter who died of cancer years ago was also called Miriam. He saw his daughter in her.

"Its been just three days, Mr. Stewart." Miriam chuckled. Okay she used to come there everyday, but now she had to focus on some projects, including putting together some ideas on some recipes. Speaking of, she had a recipe in mind to try. She needed to hurry back home to get it done.

"Well, it feels like ages. I missed you already." He said.

"I missed you too." she smiled broadly. "I had to do some stuff. I couldn't finish the book on time. I had to start yesterday and I just finished reading it. It's a really nice book though." Miriam said, looking down at the book once more. She really enjoyed it, she must say.

"Oh, that's a first. You always finish your books in a day. Well, I hope your 'stuff' went well." He stressed on the 'stuff', raising his hands up and gesturing the quotation sign and they both chortled.

"It was actually a project I had to work on. I'm still on it, though, but I'm almost done, just a little shaping here and there." She explained since she saw the teasing smile on Mr. Stewart's face. She gave him a mock-glare and he chuckled. She didn't know exactly what was going on in his mind, but she was sure it was something naughty.

"I'll be going out now, Mr. Stewart. Have a good day."

"Okay, Mimie, take care."

"Alright, you too. Bye."

Miriam finally turned to leave but paused on her tracks and turned when she heard her name.

"Um... Mimie. You didn't take a book with you today? I just realised."

"I actually have something to do tonight and bringing a book with me is not a good idea." She remembered telling her roommate she would not bring any book with her today. Not like she was afraid of her or anything, but Janet was the nagging type and would make a fuss about anything. She didn't want that tonight. And she also had plans on trying out a new recipe she had penned down. "I think I'll pass this time. I'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh come on, you're going to love this one," he said, sauntering towards one of the shelves nearby and picking a book. "You can start tomorrow or whenever you are free" He pressed on. It was always like that, he would always give her a book when she returned one. It was nothing new to Miriam as well.

She groaned inwardly, looking at the book in Mr. Stewart's hand stretched out towards her. She sighed and took the book. As a matter of fact, all his recommendations were awesome. And she couldn't say no to this man right here in front of him. He was like a father to her.

"Okay, thanks a lot. I may return it a bit later this time," she mumbled the latter part but audible enough for Mr. Stewart to hear, and he chuckled.

"Anytime, sweetheart. Now go ahead."

"Okay." And she left.

She made her way to the roadside to get a taxi home. She absentmindedly opened her bag to put the book inside and she didn't notice she dropped something very important. She dropped her pen drive and her credit card.

Just in time, a gentleman was just about to alight from his car when he saw a lady drop something. Looking at the distance between them, he knew calling her would be useless. He got out of the car and sauntered across the street to where she dropped her stuff. He saw a pen drive and credit card. 'How can you be so careless? Such important stuff?' He thought as he bent to pick them up. He turned to the direction where the lady went and made his way towards the dainty figure not far off who by now was trying to get her ringing phone from her bag. He was just a few feet away from her when he heard her talk over the phone while still making her way to the roadside.

"Hey mom, I was just about to...wait, what?" He saw her pause on her tracks. She had her back facing him, but he could deduce from her posture that she had tensed up from whatever news she had received. He also paused and listened to her. Well, he didn't really mean to eavesdrop. He just happened to be there at the moment.

"Dad? What happened to him?...Is he okay?...which hospital are you at right now?...Home?... Don't worry I'll be right there." The call ended, but the lady seemed to be lost in thought. Few seconds later she recomposed herself and started walking, but was slightly startled by a voice from behind. She turned abruptly and saw a gentleman standing just about 3 steps away, looking at her intently.

Their gazes were locked on each other for some few seconds. He looked familiar to her, but she couldn't really put her mind to it where exactly. Similar thoughts were going through the guy's mind. He seemed to find this lady standing before her quite familiar, but the more he tried to find out where, the more he thought he was mistaking her for someone else. He was pulled back to reality when Miriam spoke.

"Excuse me?"

"Uh... sorry, but you dropped these," he said with his right hand stretched out towards her with a card and a pen drive.

Miriam lowered her gaze to his outstretched hand, and to his face again, then back to his hand. She slowly stretched her hands and took the card and the pen drive.

"Thanks," she said as she looked at her stuffs and back to his face. That face. She badly wanted to ask if they've met before but...

"Have we...met before?" The guy beat her to it. He couldn't help but ask. He was keenly looking at her, straight into her eyes, trying to read her every expression.

"I...I don't know... I don't think so." She stuttered under his gaze. This looked so familiar. She was about to say she was thinking same, but what's with this gaze on her? She was feeling so uncomfortable with such an intense gaze on her. "I have to go now. Thanks again for...these," she managed to say and turned to leave. Her father needed her help right now and wasting time was never an option.

"Wait," Miriam heard and turned sharply to look at him, looking quite annoyed. She held the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"I can drop you. Get in the car, I'll just drop you..." he paused when he saw she had a questioning gaze on him "...that is, if you don't mind." He added awkwardly after some few seconds.

Miriam wanted to refuse, giving that he was a stranger, but looking at the scotching heat emanating from the sun and the unpredictable time she may have to wait to get a taxi home, she decided to go with him. And at this crucial moment, she couldn't think of anything but getting home right on time to see how her father was doing. So after a few moment of contemplation, she nodded.

She followed him as he made a beeline to a blue-black Lexus LX parked some few metres away from them. Miriam gasped in disbelief. 'This is Lordy's dream car!' She exclaimed inwardly, but quickly composed herself and put up a straight face so as not to embarrass herself. Had it been a normal day, she would have been super excited and would probably take pictures around and inside the car to tease her brother. Right now, all she could think of was that his father was not doing well and she had to focus on that.

The guy opened the door to the pasenger seat for Miriam, but did not wait to close it for her and sauntered towards the driver's side and sat. After both of them settled in the car, he spoke.

"Fasten your seatbelt." He said, as he did his own and looked towards Miriam as she did hers. "Where are we going?"

"Huh?" Miriam asked, confused.

"I mean, where are you going? Um...Where am I supposed to drop you?"

"Oh, yeah. Drop me off at..." she gave him the address to her home and they hit the road immediately.

Miriam, at this point got the chance to admire the interior of the car. She couldn't stop her eyes from sweeping across the swoopy yet elegant leather interior. And as if her hand had a mind on its own, she stretched out and touched the dashboard, feeling the classy leather as she brushed her fingers across it with a smile on her face. She couldn't help it. Her brother talked about this car a lot. And he always wished to own one someday. She couldn't wait to flaunt it to him, she inwardly laughed.

"You like it?" A masculine voice with a tint of laughter pulled her from her daydream. She quickly retracted her hand as if it was never there and bit her lower lip, her face all red from embarrassment. The guy chuckled at her childishness.

"I'm so sorry." She said with her head low. The guy chuckled again, which deepened Miriam's embarrassment even more. She just wished she could vanish from there. Was she just caught goggling? She mentally slapped herself for being so silly. She couldn't bring herself to look at the guy.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" He asked, a little bit confused, because he didn't see the need for an apology.

"I mean, I was just caught staring, which is rude..."

"What? No! Come on, I mean its beautiful. I can't get over it myself. I do that all day." He said as he briefly turned to look at her before focussing on the road again.

This eased her mind a little bit. At least he also admitted he did that all the time.

"That's my brother's dream car." Miriam said with a meek smile. She turned briefly to look at him. He had his eyes fixed on the road and smile on his face, nodding to what Miriam said. She turned away and continued. "He could literally die for this car. He talks about it all the time. He has even carved a miniature version of it with wood. Let me show you..." She took out her phone and went to the gallery to check the picture she took of the miniature car his brother had carved to show it to him. He slowed down a bit and turned his eyes briefly towards the phone to peek at it.

"Whoa! Hold on." He quickly looked back and seeing it was safe, turned on the right turn signal and parked the car. He was thankful he wasn't driving on a highway. He took the phone from her and had a good look. Miriam cursed inwardly for being such a worrywart. How could she show something to someone who was driving? Now he seemed so focused on the picture and had even forgotten to continue the journey. After what seemed like hours, but few minutes later, the guy recovered from whichever state of mind he was in, and lifted his eyes to Miriam.

"Your brother... He did this?"

"Uhh...yeah. It's nice, huh?" She asked with a proud smile on her face. Her brother was that good. She patted her chest inwardly for having such an amazing brother.

"Are you kidding me? This is amazing!!" He said turning his gaze back to the phone to look at the picture well. He was just too amazed. He didn't know at which angle to look at it properly. He kept zooming here and there, in the process he unintentionally scrolled to the next picture, which was a pencil art of the same car, and he couldn't help but smile. "Wow!" This came out as a whisper, but loud enough. "He's really good at this."

"Yup, that's my brother." Miriam replied proudly. Her head was about to burst from so much joy and pride. "There's more, you keep scrolling. He has arts of all the family." she said with a smile. She had even forgotten about her dad.

She just got along so well with this stranger without her knowing, which was unlike her. He was the only guy she had been comfortable with enough to sit in his car and sustain a conversation with. She had this strange tranquil feeling around this guy and his deep and strangely calming masculine voice seemed to have hypnotized her without her realizing she had forgotten her mother's call about her dad being sick. She didn't even know his name.

"Wow!" He exclaimed with eyes wide opened and mouth agape. He couldn't help but give it to the boy. He was damn good at pencil art and crafts. There were videos of him at work and so many pictures of his artefacts. "This could make up for a museum in your home for a tourist attraction, you know," he said and they both laughed.

"We all say that at home. We tell him to keep all his artefacts in one room. And dad specifically gave him a room for that purpose. Dad is especially proud of..." She paused as it donned on her where they were at that moment. The mention of dad brought her back to reality. Her Dad!! What was she still doing there for Pete's sake?? "Oh no!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. "Please let's get going now. I need to get home now."

"Oh, my bad. I'm so sorry." He returned the phone and immediately zoomed off. Luckily, they were just some few minutes from her home and so they got there in no time.

"Thank you so much for the ride, um..."

"Maxwell. My name is Maxwell." he said when he thought she wanted to mention his name.

Miriam's heart skipped a beat. Maxwell... That was the name of her long lost best friend and childhood crush. She was pulled out of her thought when he spoke once again with a card in his hand.

"Here's my card. We can arrange a surprise for your brother if he wants a ride in this car." He paused for some time, gauging her reaction, then continued. "I mean you mentioned he loves this brand and I happen to have one, so..." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"That sounds swell." She smiled. "He sure would love such a surprise. Thanks once again. I'm sorry for the inconvenience of having to drive me all the way here." She added, feeling a bit guilty. It was about a 45-minute drive from their campus to her home. She should have insisted on not coming with him so as not to bother him. But it was already done and all she could do was to apologise.

"There's no need to apologise. I had a great time. I wouldn't have met the beautiful sister of an amazing artist," he said with his killer smile. Miriam lowered her head, her long hair covering part of her face to hide her blush.

She cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Still, I have to thank you for the ride. I really appreciate your help."

"Okay, I guess I should say thank you, then."

"Yeah." There was some few seconds of silence before she finally decided to leave. She turned briefly to look at him and said, "I have to go in now, Maxwell. Please drive safely on your way," and without waiting for a second more, she opened the door, stepped out and closed it behind her, forgetting about the card. Maxwell himself was lost in staring at her that he didn't notice the card was still with him. It was until he saw her enter the house that he came back to his senses and realised she didn't take the card.

"Damn!" He cursed. "I didn't even ask for her name."

He stood there for some few minutes before he finally decided to drive back. He had a lot to do, and he didn't even know how he got distracted by the lady right now. Something pulled him towards this lady, and he seemed to want to spend more time with her. Well, at least, he knew her house, he thought. He would one day pass by to visit. With that assurance, he drove back to the university.