From Sunrise To Sunset

Test

Jonathan

After Margaret said yes to coming to the art exhibition with me, we spent every morning after that watching the sunrise with her in my arms. Those moments were my first real moments of sheer bliss. I loved being in her company even when our moments were spent together in silence.

It was Friday night, only two nights before the exhibition. I thought about calling Margaret's house and asking her to join me for dinner but decided against it and chose not to be selfish. She needed to spend as much time as she could with her dying mother and I didn't want to take away from their time. I had already been stealing a few minutes at the lighthouse every morning, and though it could not suffice it was all the time I could have with her, for now.

I left my house around 7:00 pm and drove down to a pub called 'Roaring Aussie Tavern', where Marcus and I always met for drinks on Friday nights. It was something we did since we moved back to Byron Bay after finishing university. Marcus and I both lived in Ewingsdale but we never saw much of each other during the week since I spent most of my time painting and he spent most of his time downtown selling cars at his family's automobile shop.

I entered the pub and found it filled with half-drunk men and tipsy women, which was how it usually was on Friday nights. There was soft jazz music playing in the back, clouds of cigarette smoke in the air, and roars of laughter coming from every corner. Marcus was seated in our usual spot at the counter on one of the stools lining it. The stool on his left was empty. He had placed his black fedora hat on it to reserve it for me. He was wearing a dark green suit and a pair of black oxfords.

"Hey, Mate," I said, tapping him on the shoulder.

"John," he said, looking at me.

He removed his hat from the stool and placed it on the counter. I removed my hat and did the same as I took a sit on the stool. I was wearing a navy blue suit that night with a black Fedora hat and a pair of black oxfords.

Marcus signaled the barman. "Two whiskies," he said. "Neat."

The barman quickly poured us two glasses of whiskies and then moved on to serve the next customers.

"Cheers to eight more years of living carelessly!" Marcus said and raised his glass.

Marcus and I had planned to live life carelessly through our twenties and at least half of our thirties before we settled down. We were both twenty-seven at the time which meant that we still had eight more years of fooling around...at least he did. I hadn't yet told Marcus about Margaret or how I felt about her.

I knocked glasses with him then set the glass of whiskey down on the counter. Marcus took a sip of his whiskey.

"So, how was the week, mate?" I asked, hoping he hadn't noticed that I had set the glass down without sipping the whiskey.

"It was great," he said, setting his glass down and looking at me. "This woman came into the shop two days ago. A real good-looking Sheila. She bought one of our most expensive cars and she invited me to have drinks with her. After we had drinks I took her to a hotel and you won't believe the kind of things she can do with her tongue, mate! I never had a Sheila that could do anything like that before." He grinned as he brought his glass of whiskey up to his mouth and took another sip. "I gave her my phone number so she could call me because I was hoping we could meet again but she never called. I think maybe she's married...So, what about you mate?" he asked, setting the glass back down.

I had not been paying much attention to what he was saying and almost forgot that we were conversing. My thoughts had turned into thoughts of Margaret. I had just remembered that she had asked me if she could bring her best friend Jasmine to the exhibition and I had laughed before telling her that it was open to the public which meant that everyone was invited. I wondered if Jasmine was anything like Margaret and if she'd be a perfect fit for Marcus. Getting Marcus to fall in love or commit to a woman would be extremely difficult. Marcus was a very handsome fellow and he knew it. He had light brown skin, jet-black hair, and green eyes. Women always threw themselves at him and he enjoyed every moment of it. He didn't have to make any effort to charm them he just had to be present.