Chapter 3 #2
“Don’t you look wildly out of place here,” a smooth voice rattles me out of my head.
My eyes open to light acorn brown ones with a remarkable ring of silver around the iris, and messy moonlight blond hair attached to a very well dressed male in a dark blue fitted suit.
Well, he would be well dressed, but his tie is skewed to the side and the top two buttons of his shirt are undone.
There is but one thing a suit in this city usually means: a night at the overpriced hotel and a story that never makes it past the city sign.
He holds out a match, which I realize is meant for me.
I quickly light my cigarette and thank him.
Not putting it to my lips right away and letting the smoke linger up, as I take a deep inhale through my nostrils.
The aromatic smell is what I really buy them for, anyway.
The semi clean shaven man glances sideways at me like he is realizing this secret truth.
High above, his hand presses on the wall.
His acorn eyes slowly look me up and down, which must have made a crimson blush crawl up my neck and appear on my cheeks.
He is looking at me like a rose in bloom needing to be plucked.
His pouty bottom lip and thick sharp eyebrows are a strong contrast to his almost white blond hair.
It’s clear to anyone with eyes that his allure in this moment is undeniable, and I have a feeling he knows it.
He smirks a lopsided grin at me, studying my face to the point I think I may need to turn away.
On any other day, I might indulge myself and take this further.
He is just my type, and I will not deny how the streetlight hits the angles on his face in just the right way, leaving an almost shimmer along his jawline.
He’s too pretty for his own good, a problem I’m seeing clear as the cloudless night sky.
And that grin—crooked and smug and nothing I can move my eyes away from—hooks me harder than I want to admit, making me wonder how he might use it against my skin.
But today has already been a lot for my mind to sort through. The events have brought my anxiety to its highest peak. I know I won’t be taking this anywhere tonight, but I linger longer on his lips for the sake of looking. Three heartbeats pass, and I finally find my boldness to address him.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I need to find my friend. Thank you for the light and the very unsettling stare-down.” I announce. Being that his arm is still braced against the wall, I have to squeeze in between it and him. He doesn’t show any sign of adjusting to let me by.
As I shimmy my way through, I keep my eyes pinned to his, biting my lip on instinct. He flicks his gaze from my eyes to my mouth and then back up. His pupils now growing to the size of acorns.
There is hunger in his stare, and it scares me.
I’ve seen this look from the men Lollie unintentionally seduces, although she never reciprocates it.
It’s an animalistic look that must link back to a time when primal urges were all we were.
It’s been so long since I’ve kissed anyone, and he seems like the best candidate in this situation—in any situation for that matter.
Our gazes don’t waver. He licks his lips, and for a moment I almost lean forward.
My hands brace the brick wall of the bar behind me.
The moon-colored rings around his irises shimmer.
It’s a bewitching reaction, and it does the trick to pull me out of whatever is happening between me and this stranger.
I manage to get my wits about me and put some space between us.
“What’s your name?” I ask. He brushes his knuckle to his nose, then flashes a smile that is full of secrecy, his eyes darting to the bar door. My eyes follow.
“What the hell are you doing out here, Jade? You’ve been gone forever.” Lollie asks and grabs my tense hand with her relaxed one.
“I thought you were following me out, and so I was just talking to…” I look around, but there is no one. The man had just been right in front of me. A frustrated sigh escapes my mouth, realizing what has just happened. One of my overly imaginative daydreams—again.
I've been cursed with them since childhood.
Most I can brush off, but some, like the one that just occurred, set me back quite a bit, and I have a hard time regrouping myself after.
Never has one involved an actual face, though.
A face that seemed to look right into my darkest desires and blur the lines of reality and dreams.
Most would think he ducked into the bar when they weren’t looking, but I know it wasn’t reality. A man has never shown me so much as an ounce of interest, not because of the way I look, but because of my fuck-off demeanor. Except, I have now found myself questioning that mindset twice today.
I look at Lollie and open my mouth to speak, still a bit in shock. It must be close to one in the morning by now. The street that stood desolate just mere moments before is filled with bar goers walking along the sidewalks. Confusion sets deep in my bones, but I do my best to ignore it.
Whenever I get these types of unexpected visions, I think of the line from that one Fleetwood Mac song about keeping them to myself, and that is just what I do. I shove them into a locked part of my mind, hoping they will never see the light of day again.
“I’m ready to go home,” Lollie says. I look back at her, my head spinning and more than happy to hear those words from my dear friend. Linking my arm in Lollie’s, we set our sights on a cab.
“Yeah, me too,” I breathe out, looking forward to the comfort of my bed.
The cab ride seems to drag on forever. The temptation to spill every detail to Lollie about both men from today is weighing like a bag of bricks over my head. Both having no names, and one quite possibly being a figment of my imagination.
I thank my heavy tongue for staying quiet as we both make our way out of the cab. An added benefit of living just a block away from each other. My mind is fuzzy and tired, thinking only of curling up in my queen-sized bed and pulling my periwinkle blue comforter up to my chin.
I walk Lollie to her door, my embrace squeezing her sides a little longer than normal. There is a lot to be said about a hug that is meaningful, and the ones between Lollie and me always are.
“I’m glad you came out tonight, Jade. Oh, and just so you know, I’ll be over banging on your door in the morning with muffins from the corner shop.
You can thank me now.” She says the last bit with an exaggeration that makes me giggle.
I truly hope she isn’t drunk talking because a warm blueberry muffin from our favorite morning cafe sounds too good to be true right about now.
“I’m counting on it. But not too early,” I squint at her. She sticks her tongue out at me and walks into her small Tudor home.
Once I hear the click of her lock, I make my way across the street, passing the small magnolia tree Lollie planted when she first moved in.
The glow from the streetlights is a strange comfort I’ll never get bored with.
Casting off shadows in the distance that would normally send a young woman the other way.
My eyes bend the shadows to meld giant outlines of men with tree branches bursting from their temples and roots for hands. Anyone in their right mind would quicken their step to a faster speed, but I walk on at a wobbly ease.
Being on the second floor has its perks, but I don’t see any of those right now as I lean against the railing and slowly make my way up.
I applaud myself once I am finally past the front door of my apartment, peel off my shoes and fill a glass of water three times before I feel hydrated enough to make it to my bed.
I don’t even bother taking off my makeup as I crawl longingly under its lush comforter.
Between the walls moving around me from the alcohol, and the overthinking going on in my mind from one of the strangest days of my life thus far, hot sweats take over my skin making my heart beat rapidly in my chest. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, having this unknowing of what my life is about to become.
Caught between what I’ve known and what I will.
My thoughts reach into the depths of the memory of my mother, hoping she can guide me in the right direction.
But she is no longer here, so it is a pointless hope.
When my heart does finally calm, and I think I might make it through to see this day end, I can’t seem to shake the feeling of foreboding.
My only thought being that today has opened a world of trouble, starting with the moment the jade willow tree shattered.
Leaving me with a ring, a house, and a gravely gorgeous man whose face I can’t seem to get out of my mind.