Spotlights

Chapter 1: There's nothing to hurt me anymore

"And then", Cleo nearly chocked on her laughter trying to talk, "That guy seriously asked me if you were my boyfriend! As if there was no other explanation, why I wouldn't go home with him!"
David grinned at her. "Why didn't you? I mean, he was looking pretty hot.", he wiggled with his eyebrows. Cleo, who has just tried catching her breath, failed miserably and burst out laughing again. That damn alcohol, she thought, being drunk made everything seem a hundred times funnier. Her chest was hurting. "Maybe you should have hit on him then?"
"Oh, I don't know, he looked pretty straight to me."
"Unlucky you then."

They kept joking while they were slowly walking away from the club. Slowly, Cleo calmed down, the concentration she needed to not break her ankles in her dancing shoes while walking on the cobblestones sobered her up a little. Eventually they reached the small city park. Cleo let her body fall on the first park bench she found and breathed in the cool night air.
"Honestly David, I have no idea how you're still standing. My feet might as well just fall off."
David shrugged and pointed to his shoes, black dancing shoes without heels.
"Male privilege?" Cleo could hear the grin in his voice without looking at him. He was probably sticking out his tongue to her right now, but she put her head back and stared at the sky instead. The stars seemed to move.

They had just come out of a Latin American dance club, after spending the entire evening – and night – dancing. Until two years ago they had been participating in smaller competitions, mainly dancing cha-cha and rumba, but lately David was having less and less time, as his computer science degree got more and more demanding. While they were still going out to dance every other weekend, Cleo honestly missed to dance in competitions – but after the partner she hat after David quitted had confessed his love to her, everything had gotten awkward. Since then, Cleo hadn't made another attempt to replace David.

"And you are sure it was a good idea, to drink this much? I mean, u got the interview with the new flat tomorrow."
David was sitting down beside her, grabbed a bottle of water from his back and offered it to her. Cleo too it, giving him a grateful smile, and took a few sips.
"I'm not this drunk." David was raising an eyebrow, and Cleo shrugged while watching a group of teenagers sitting on the grass in the distance. "Well, I've been worse, haven't I?", she said, earning another half playful, half concerned glance from David.
The truth was that she wasn't too worried about tomorrow's interview. A former classmate had given Cleo the hint that a few friends of his were searching for a new roommate, and to Cleo's knowledge, they just wanted to find someone normal without a lot of fuss. Cleo wasn't the only women going to dance parties in her early twenties, and it wasn't like she was going to be absolutely wrecked tomorrow. Nothing a few painkillers couldn't fix. She'd be home before long anyways.

One of the teenagers seemed to have brought a jukebox, because just in that moment the silence was disrupted by the sounds of an e-guitar, and suddenly the warm wind of the summer night grew cold. For a few seconds Cleo's brain didn't processed why. What had gone wrong? She just stared at the group of people whose silhouettes she could barely see, and shivers ran over her body. Then the e-guitar was joined by the angelic voice of a woman, and Cleo recognized the Song.

Super Psycho Love, originally sung by Simon Curtis. Covered by Elizabeth Bougue.
Oh, was everything that Cleo thought.

It was as if something had put Cleo under a spell. Maybe, probably, it had been the mental image of Liz, how she was standing alone on the stage, wearing a suit, singing and playing the guitar. The picture was colorful and detailed, as if it was a memory, and Cleo could see every single thing - How Liz was breathing fast between the verses, how the red tie hung loosely around her neck, how the sweat glittered on her skin.

"Cleo? Is something wrong?", David asked, and just like that the spell broke, and suddenly Cleo noticed that David was finished with putting the bottle of water in his bag and was looking directly at her. She was still shivering. Staring up to the sky revealed that the stars had lost their magic as well, and suddenly Cleo wished for nothing but the evening to just end. "Oh, no, don't worry, I'm just tired.", she answered while flashing her best fake smile at David, praying he would believe her. But if there was a god, he didn't feel like answering to her prayers today, because David turned his head in the direction of the music, closed his eyes, and Cleo could see his eyebrows rise the second he recognized Liz as well.
"Oh.", David said, "It's her, right?"
"Yeah. Surprised me a little bit, I guess? I haven't heard her in the radio for quite a while."
Cleo swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. Now, after she regained control of herself, she found the way she had just shut down for a few moments highly embarrassing.
"And that's all? You know, you were hurting for a while -", David said, but Cleo shook her head vigorously.
"It's really okay, David. That was a long time ago. I'm just drunk and hearing her in a random park kind of got me ... off guard? She disappeared out of all of our lives so suddenly and hearing her voice, knowing she won't talk to us ever again, will never bring happy memories, but it's nothing more."
David sighed and gave her a look that probably meant 'If you say so', but he didn't press further. Cleo nearly felt offended at the accusation of not being over Liz, but she was to tired and drunk to say so, so she just stood up from the park bench, ignoring the stinging pain in her feet. The music had just proceeded to the next song, another cover sung by Liz, and Cleo didn't want to spend another second in the park.