Thus Rises the Moon (A Gatsby Fanfiction)

Chapter 1-Part 2

Upon being done with our delicacies, we moved inside. I believe we were waiting for something but I was more focused on the delicate and shiny things that I couldn't even begin to imagine how expensive they were. I never understood why a person needs to flaunt their wealth with "interesting" pieces of artwork that at the slightest touch could shatter and then be worth nothing. But the rich wouldn't care. They've got money and time, all the things that I, as a simple man, do not.

"What do you think?" Tom leaned over my shoulder with his hands held behind his back. I was about to say something about what I was looking at but I couldn't quite figure out where to start.

"I think it's nice." I lied.
"Really?" he said.
"Yes."
"You don't seem too sure."
"It's, well... it's, um—"
"It's abysmal, isn't it?"
While I then put a finger to my chin and thought about what he said, I had to agree. I then asked him where he got it from and he told me he couldn't even remember. Daisy turned to us.

"That? Oh, yes! We got that in France." she said with enthusiasm.

"You went to France?" I asked. "When was this? I had no idea you had gone there."
Just then I watched both Tom and Daisy's faces change that of an inexplicable expression. I saw how she helplessly tried to bring words to her mouth, to make some sort of sentence in answer.
"Oh," she said at last, giving a breath of air like a laugh. "Well I thought I—"

Tom put a hand out and up towards her direction, his palm face to face with her. He shook his head a little and returned to his assertive stance, like that of a soldier.
"Even if you were told that we went," he started, "it wasn't anything special. We weren't even there for a whole year. We came back after—"

There was the sound of a phone. Tom cleared his throat and waved his hand trying to return his train of thought to the track it rode crookedly across.

"Um... yes, we came back after a lot of thought. Missed our home and—"

Another ring.

"Excuse me," Tom said faintly. He rushed out of the room and through a set of doors with glass set in the frame. I watched as a butler moved about and brought him to the phone, disappearing behind a corner and away from view. Daisy looked disheartened and stared towards her feet, her knees touching each other and her hands held loosely together. I watched her as she stared at the silver ring around her finger, a title given to her that I was curious if she even wanted.

She was married to Tom. I couldn't attend their wedding due to my return to classes after my time in the war. Tom had graduated before I did and, as far as I knew, wasn't drafted. However, him being married to Daisy felt... strange. There was a weird absence in their relationship, like the love of a married couple was missing. They did not hate each other but they did not seem to love each other either.

I took a short breath before I spoke.
"What's—"
Jordan quickly shushed me.
"Quiet, I want to hear."

I immediately became absent in my noise. I waited and listened along with Jordan. Even still, all I could hear was the very faint words of Tom from the other room. Unable to hear, and tired of trying to, I turned back to her and whispered.

"Who's on the phone?"

She looked at me and tilted her sunglasses down so I could finally see her eyes. They were a beautiful earthy brown color but still able to strike whomever looked upon them with a particular emotion of ferocity and kindness mixed into one like that of an ugly bouquet. It was nice nonetheless to see her eyes, finally noting to me a unique bond of friendliness that they, in fact, had a soul.
The corners of her mouth quirked up slightly in an eagerness of mischief.

"You mean you don't know?" she almost laughed. "I thought everybody knew."
I shook my head and said that I had no idea. I found myself leaning forward in fervent curiosity, my hands shoved into my pockets.