A canopy of stars stretched overhead, muted and dulled by the city lights that glowed from all around, threatening to snuff them out. Humidity held fast, a blanket of heat on my bare arms and legs, my nightgown wispy and thin, though it didn’t do a whole lot to give relief from the heat.
Thing was, I’d always felt at home in this weather. Something about the weight of the mugginess made me feel grounded.
Familiar and right.
I trained my attention above, staring steadily into the endless sky.
Right into infinity. Deeper and deeper until a cascade of stars made themselves known.
That was the beauty of looking at the twilight.
It was always there.
Hidden but waiting to share its light.
There for anyone ready to witness its beauty. Wish upon it. Cast up their beliefs and ambitions and dreams, and hope like crazy that someone or something might actually be listening.
There were few things in this world that made you feel so small as looking upon the vastness of the heavens.
It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor. Famous or inconspicuous. Royalty or pauper. Somewhere in between.
Everyone felt insignificant when gazing upon the infinite.
A strain of a guitar broke into my senses, and I craned my ear, drawn toward the subdued melody. Barefoot, I shuffled over to the edge of my balcony, feeling like a creeper, but unable to resist my curiosity.
Plucks of guitar strings climbed into the air.
It sounded of imprisoned passion.
Bottled suffering.
My senses were hit with the dampened scent of cigarettes.
Cedar and sex.
Chest heaving with awareness, I pressed my back to the wall that butted up against the next room, and I peeked through the wispy, dancing shadows that crawled through the vacant night.
I tried to muffle the gasp that raked up my throat when I finally made out the lone figure sitting at the far side of the balcony attached to mine. He had his face upturned to the sky, as if he’d been drawn to the vastness as well, although his eyes were pinched closed, his expression marred in a grief and despair so profound I felt it like a punch to my gut.
He was shirtless, all of that ambiguous ink exposed though hidden, the man with his hand wrapped around the neck of the guitar that rested on his lap. The fingertips of his right hand slowly plucked at the strings as he moved through the progression, the pawns tattooed on his fingers moving on the frets.
My heart shivered, and I was sure it was gonna leap right out of my chest.
The lyrics I’d found under my door spun through my mind.
He played.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem like that much of a surprise.
Like it perfectly fit.
His melody shifted, the strains mournful, a rapturous cry I could feel winding around my body.
Morbidly alluring.
I felt fettered to it, my spirit in chains, and I carefully climbed onto the metal chair set up at the pony wall and started to crawl up so I could get to the other side.
Foolish and careless.
Reckless.
He’d kept turning me away, and somehow, I kept crawling right back.
I was halfway over when the chord fumbled and the guitar clanked. I jerked my attention up in time to catch the flash of inky eyes.
“Emily. What do you think you’re doing? You shouldn’t be out here.”
Based on the greed that flashed and pulsed? The energy that licked like the kiss of a hot breeze?
I knew he was right.
But for the first time in my life, I didn’t care.
I wanted to wade into his black waters.
I wanted to slip under.
Get swallowed whole.
Let him invade.
I was tired of playing it safe.
Look what that had gotten me.TwelveRoyceI stared at where she froze halfway over the short wall that separated our balconies. Girl wearing a flimsy white nightgown that was just this side of see-through, thin straps on her delicate shoulders, fabric the barest caress over her tits, long legs a milky glow under the moon.
What the hell was she doing?
Every time I tried to push her away, she managed to get closer.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” I repeated over the landslide of jagged rocks scraping my throat. Nothing but a lie considering the only thing I wanted was for her to stay.
“Why is that?” she asked in that drawl, and fuck me, I couldn’t come up with a good reason.
All except for the ones where I was about five seconds from going to her. Five seconds from throwing her over my shoulder. Taking her inside and laying her on my bed and giving into this thing going on between us that was becoming impossible to resist.
“It seems we’re both havin’ trouble sleeping, and I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being alone.”
She slipped the rest of the way over, hitting my balcony floor on her bare feet.
She pushed up to standing. Those waves of blonde were bound up in a messy knot on top of her head, and her face was clear, barren of makeup, just like last night. Somehow, that made her all the more appealing.