His Muse

εννέα (9)| miscere

"Well, we have this in common don't we?" he said.

"What? That life hit us with full force? Yeah, there's a lot more of us in this world" I laughed, I could feel my eyes glazing over with alcohol. It was a woozy, warm feeling.

He nodded thoughtfully, "can I take you somewhere else?"

I hesitated, "I need to go home actually, I have a shift tomorrow and..."

"I promise to have you home by 12:30am, you have my word" Theo reassured me, leaning back in his chair as though he already knew that I'd accept his offer.

"Fine, only because if I'm exhausted, then I just might sleep very deeply today" I added.

He called for Ireland and paid for the meal with cash and then dropped a hefty tip.

"If I wasn't so secure, I would think you're some sort of drug dealer with all this cash"

"Who's to say I'm not?" he said, manoeuvring me through the tables and into the car.

I texted Nalani back, snapchatted the drive and then relaxed into the chair. But barely minutes after, the car slowed to a halt.

"We're here but we have to do the rest by foot, it's not far, I assure you" he said, "besides we both have trainers on so it will be comfortable" he continued, gesturing to his black Huaraches. We briskly walked up a footpath, concealed by overshadowing trees, in silence. Our minds thinking of anything and nothing while our feet trudged on.

We turned a dark corner before the footpath ended and the way opened to the casual breeze and an overlook of the city.

I gasped, my hands over my mouth, I always thought this kind of thing was daft and no city was that beautiful enough for this but it was honestly breathtaking. As the sun sank lower, the sky had turned a turquoise hue imbued with lilac, confusing the perfect symmetry . Lower down, hidden behind the matte dark skyscrapers with dots of artificial light adorning them, the horizon seemed dipped in peach cotton candy. Silhouettes of birds corrupted the vignette, before they were absorbed into the noisy trees. I looked over at Theo, his face was aglow with the vanilla- whiteness of the moon, peeking through the coloured dust in the sky.

We stood there in silence, taking it in and exhaling all the pent up polluted air.

"How did you find this place?" I said as I sat down on the sandy ground, stretching my legs out and crossing my ankles, my palms flat out holding my posture.

"When I heard my parents died, I literally ran away. Just took off" he laughed, remembering the memory, "didn't know where I was going but I ended up here, and I stayed here for like three days. I didn't eat anything and didn't sleep"

"For three days?!"

"Yeah, Magda and Grace dragged me back home, washed and fed me. I was forced to go back to school the next day, and through all those trials, I got my degree in Wealth Management" he said, as he sighed.

The crickets were whispering loudly, our omniscient artist painting the sky with magenta and blanketing the colored dust with velvety bleakness. We slipped back into silence for a little over ten minutes, I guess we were so caught up in taking mental pictures of the horizon that the thought of disrupting our sacred vigil with our voices was enough to keep us silent.

That was the one thing about Theo, silence was never unwelcome or awkward, we both enjoyed the comfort of our ticking minds.

"I had a boyfriend until like 3 months ago" I began, drawing swirls in the ground, "we had been together for two and a half years and initially, it was this cosmic, magnetic, intense relationship. But then, things slowed down when sex didn't join the relationship - I just wasn't ready - and then my mother and sister died...and he didn't call, didn't come to the funeral. I did it, broke it off, I didn't want to be in something that I got nothing from"

If only he knew.

"I've never told anyone about my parents"

"Me too" I replied, as I laid down on the ground, "thank you very much for this, the day, the people at my house"

"You're very welcome" he said, abruptly getting up and dusting his jeans.

"Home?"

He nodded, stretching his hand out to help me up. I was so tired, that by the time he put the radio on, I was out like a light bulb.

I sauntered into my house and crashed on the bed with all my garments still on.

I did not dream that night.

------------------

"Noah said you didn't call last night, he called me thinking I was working with you" Mandy said as she dispensed coffee for a customer.

"No I went out" I answered back, "I told him I'd call him but I totally forgot"

"Who were you out with?"

"Theo"

"Wh-"

"Don't start with this bullshit today Mandy"

"I was going to say, what did you guys do?"

"Nothing important" I replied, reluctant to disclose any extra information "I got the job at the law firm yesterday by the way"

"Did you? Oh my gawd, congratulations" she squealed, clapping her hands, "is this week is your last week then?"

"Yeah, I've already discussed it with Mr Grumpy and he's okay with it. Maybe, you should come and sleep over, my best friend is coming to town as well"

"Nalani?"

"Yeah" I replied.

"I would love to but um, I already have something planned"

"Damn it, well, too bad, pizza and Ben&Jerry's would have been on the cards" I shrugged, as I re-fed the receipt paper.

"Maybe we can hit the gym on Saturday?"

"Company gym, sorry" I replied, as she sighed.

"We'll figure out something, maybe lunch one day" she concluded, patting my shoulders and she passed me.

"Yeah sure" I acquiesced, her hands feeling like weights on my shoulders as she walked away.