Quicksand

05|| Daydream Delusion

5

DAYDREAM DELUSION

EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH, Blu dragged Amara to a party or an event with her rich friends. They would spend all night drinking and dancing.

In their evening get-up, in the early hours, they would have breakfast in their favourite restaurant in the city square. Soule's bohemian yet chic decor - colourful pillows, golden accents, and hand-painted doors - was the only thing that cheered Blu up after spending all night being the adored 'it' girl. Was loneliness the culprit of her decision to keep this routine?

Blu stared into the obscure horizon wistfully. There was something beautifully haunting about her. A wave upon her iris spilt through as if lonely thoughts occupied and swirled inside her head.

"Can you believe that I'm almost thirty-one?" she asked. "It seems like yesterday when I crawled down my mother's womb drenched in blood and covered with nakedness. Now, I'm planning my thirty first birthday?"

"Do you dread it?" Amara asked.

"Sometimes. I remember how eager I used to be to leave home. How much I hated our small town. How I desperately sought ways to dilute the trappings of rural isolations." She sighed. "I think those were the best days of my life and I didn't even realize it."

"Are you okay?"

Blu's smile started to bloom again into its ethereal form like a paradise that had just been found. "I'm fine."

A waiter approached their table. "Are you ready to order?"

"Not yet..." Blu responded. "We're waiting for someone."

"We are?" Amara asked.

"Eric. He wanted to join us for breakfast before he left for a business trip in the evening. We're trying to spend as much time together before he leaves. He'll be gone for a week."

"Okay."

The sky was as hushed as the breath of a bee and the world was bathed in shades of pink and purple. The first rays of sun-warmed Amara's shoulders. The crisp air stroked her cheeks. She took a breath and felt that she too was replenishing.

"Here, baby," Blu called, standing.

Eric appeared beside Amara and wrapped Blu tightly in his arms as if they hadn't seen each other for an eternity. He whispered something in her ear, and they chuckled together like lovesick teenagers.

"Amara." He finally acknowledged her. "How are you?"

She assessed him from his green polo shirt to his white khakis and bare feet. His expensive cologne wafted in the air as he greeted her with a broad, captivating smile. She wouldn't have guessed he was fifty. He didn't seem a day over forty.

"Good. Yourself?"

"Can't complain."

"Sit," Blu instructed. "I'm starving."

Eric took a glance backwards. "I invited a friend to join us. I hope you don't mind."

Mr X, the stranger Amara kissed at the flea market, approached their table. She caught his smile as he advanced which stopped her breathing. She couldn't tell if it was a mirage or a hoax; couldn't tell facts from fiction.

"This is my business partner, Mr Andrew Fahad," Eric introduced. "Andrew, this is my beautiful wife, Blu, and her cousin Amara."

Andrew offered her a greeting. Amara didn't know what she replied, all thoughts were now fleeting as she was still tangled in his eyes. They sat. None of them mentioned that they had already met. It was their little secret.