All for the Plot

f i f t y (part three)

Cirus' POV:

The sun was sinking low, casting a golden glow over the water as we sat on the old dock, passing the spliff back and forth. The smoke curled around us, thick and sweet, wrapping everything in a haze that made the world seem softer, warmer, like it was holding us in a gentle embrace. The water rippled beneath us, reflecting the colors of the sky in a way that almost felt magical, like the earth itself was high along with us.

I took a drag, letting the smoke fill my lungs before I passed it to Vittoria. She was leaning back on her hands, her legs stretched out in front of her, eyes half-closed as she watched the sky. Her hair caught in the last rays of sunlight, turning it into a halo of soft gold. She looked peaceful, like all the baggage she usually carried had slipped off her shoulders and plopped into the lake's deep.

"I think I want to write music," I said, breaking the comfortable silence. My voice felt slow, like the words had to swim through the haze before they reached my mouth. "Like my grandpa did. He was good at it, y'know? Could make you feel things with just a few notes. I want to do that."

Vittoria opened her eyes and turned to look at me, a small smile playing on her lips. "You'd be good at it," she said, her voice soft and dreamy. "I can tell, already."

I nodded, staring out at the water. "I want to stay here, too. At least until Niobe leaves. I don't want to leave her like the rest of her family did. She's been alone too long."

There was a sadness to my words that I couldn't quite shake. The thought of Niobe, alone in that cabin after all she'd given to me, it gnawed at me. I didn't want to be another person to walk away.

I'd even made her a promise. Sometime last year, she taught me how to return people to the earth. How to conduct the offering. Since she had no other visitors besides me, I promised her I would return her. To the same spot her forefathers lay. To put her to rest until she comes back as a little butterfly, or a deer, or an ox.

Vittoria took another hit, holding the smoke in her lungs before exhaling slowly. She leaned back, her head tipping toward the sky. "I don't know what I want," she admitted, her voice carrying that lazy, thoughtful tone that always came when we smoked together. "I just want to live. No rules, no regulations, no boundaries. Just... be. Fully, wholly, and wonderfully me without excuse or exempt."

Her words hung in the air, and I watched her, feeling a strange mix of admiration and envy. Vittoria had this way of knowing herself, or being unapologetically who she was, even when the world tried to box her in. It was something I loved about her, something I wished I could do too.

Without thinking, I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of her, leaning back against the dock, her hair wild, her face relaxed, her eyes lost in the sky. She turned to look at me, her brows raising in suspicion.

"What're you doing?" she asked, a laugh in her voice.

"Just... capturing a moment," I said, trying to play it off, but I could feel the warmth spreading across my cheeks.

Vittoria smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners, and in that moment, everything felt perfect, like nothing else mattered except for this. The high made everything sharper and yet softer at the same time--the way the light hit her face, the way her smile curled up at the edges. It was all so beautiful, so perfect, that I couldn't help myself.

I leaned in, closing the space between us, and pressed my lips to hers. The world tilted, just for a second, and all I could feel was her--soft, warm, and real, grounding me in a wya nothing else could. The kiss was slow, lingering, like we were trying to pout everything we felt into that single moment. It was the kind of kiss that made time stop, the kind that felt you feeling like you could stay there forever, wrapped up in each other, with the rest of the world fading into the background.

When we finally pulled away, the air around us felt electric, charged with something we couldn't name but could feel deep in our bones. I looked at her, and she looked back, and there was this understanding between us, something unspoken but clear as day.

We didn't say the words, just stood up and started walking, taking a detour through the side of the woods that landed us on the street. The world around us was still quiet, the sky still bright, midday.

And then, just like Niobe had warned, it started to rain. First just a few drops, then a full-on downpour, the kind that soaked you to the bone in seconds. But neither of us cared. We just looked at each other and laughed, that easy, carefree laugh that came from being young and high and in love with the world.

Vittoria grabbed my hand and pulled me into the middle of the road, where we danced under the rain, our clothes sticking to our skin, our hair plastered to our faces. Everything was a blur--the wet asphalt under our feet, the drops of rain hitting our faces, the feeling of being so utterly and completely alive.

And then, we lay down on the road, side by side, staring up at the sky as the rain fell on our faces. The world felt far away, like we were the only two people left in it, floating in a bubble of our own making. The high made everything feel more intense, more real, but also dreamlike, like we were in a world of our own creation, where nothing else mattered except for us.

I turned my head to look at Vittoria, her face soft and relaxed, her eyes closed as she soaked in the moment. And in that moment, I knew--this was where I wanted to be. With her, like this, letting the world wash over us without a care in the world.