Story 11
The swinging melodies of the live music blasting out of speakers echoing off the low ceilings of the annex bathed in soft amber light. The jaunty dancing of several couples rocking on the dance floor in the middle of the room, ties loosened, collars unbuttoned, heels off. The smell of beer and wine mixing with aromatic dinner as a smokiness wafts in through the agape windows from the two figures outside sharing a cigarette.
“She seems really happy. I’ve never seen someone so overwhelmed with love before,” he said as he took the smoldering cigarette from her hand.
“And she looks so beautiful in her dress. I’m happy for them,” she returned staring out across the lake, cool moonlight reflecting off the choppy waves in the cold late autumn breeze.
A set change, the clatter of the musicians adjusting their equipment, a thumpy strum as the bassist tunes her guitar. Reverebed through the wall, the singer began an upbeat 50s love song as the chatter of the crowd rose to match.
The two stood in silence, their misty exhales diffusing out, the transient vapor dissipating into the dark night. He put out his arm, wrapping it around her shoulder, the suit jacket he had draped over her wrinkled as he pulled her closer. Turning to look up at his smiling face she closed her eyes and rested her head against him.
Out in the water, waves lapping against the rusted beams, a derelict husk of a vessel rested in disarray. The tree line stretched along the far shore, the jagged shadows against the clear star speck’d sky.
“It’s so pretty,” she said softly, taking a puff.
“It is,” he concurred turning to look at her, a lock of hair pushed behind her ear.
Within the venue, the lights changed from a hazy yellow to a deep pink, the poppy electric guitar giving way to the slower chords of a love song; the singer holding the notes, filling the room with a claustrophobic comfort.
Squeezing her closer, he turned his body and grabbed her hand. She smiled up at him as they began to dance slowly to the muffled song.
Their soft deliberately motions, the heat of their bodies, the melodies filling their ears. Feeling her lips on his as he leaned down and embraced her. His hand rising to cradle her head, their silhouette against the reflection of the moon in the lake.
An infinity, a moment, everything, alone together.
Humming filled the air, the tires rolling over the empty road winding through a forest. Heat blasting out of the vents as a rock song played from the speakers. Cutting through the thick darkness, the headlights beamed out over the rushing road, the stream of overhanging evergreens.
“It sucks you have to go back,” she expressed, eyes staring forwards.
“I know. I wish I didn’t have to leave.”
“Well, what if you stay,” she said turning to him as her hand found his leg, “at least for tonight?”
“The flight is already booked though.”
“Couldn’t you just get the next one?”
He inhaled, exhaled, a small cloud of smoke whipping out of his mouth to the small opening at the top of the window.
“I’d like that,” he said, turning a quick glance to her.
She smiled as she slid her leg under her. Eyes closed, face blanketed in hot air, she leaned back, the rumbling of the road under them.
