An unlikely meeting

So I have had a week off from my little space, it wasn’t planned, just life got in the way. I have however been writing up a storm recently, bits and pieces for various things, and I wanted to share with you one of the pieces that I have been working on. It’s a bit longer than what I usually post up here but I really enjoyed doing it and I need to practice putting things out there, instead of having them hide in my notebooks.

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They saw one another from across the park, his immediate reaction was to turn the other way, he had been enjoying the relative solitude, getting reacquainted with his city and wasn’t in the mood for a conversation, this one in particular. She had seen him though, had put her hand up in a half wave of acknowledgement, and they were both headed toward the same set of paths at the same speed.

As she got closer she took stock of what he looked like, not much had changed he still looked as if he had no direction, that’s probably why he was back in town, hanging about for the months between jobs. Same leather jacket, same dark jeans, same long hair, probably the same outlook on life, as if he was younger than his years, not wanting or caring for any responsibility. She was glad of that, it made her happy that he didn’t look like he’d grown in any way.

It was the dress that caught his eye and made him feel like he was suddenly carrying a stone around in his stomach. He simultaneously saw sunshine, music, laughter and adventure in that dress, she brought despair and disappointment through wearing it. The exuberance of the bright blue flowers like a patchwork on the white, with movement that any salsa dancer would be proud of, looked all wrong on her, like a wolf in sheep’s skin.

The necessity of their meeting a thing of the past, when they got close enough that they could speak to each other without shouting, they started an awkward dance trying to figure out what was appropriate. Each waiting for the other to move in an indicative manner which resulted in unsure arms, bodies leaning towards each other but also trying not to touch, a half pat on the back as their shoulders eventually bumped together and their faces close enough that they can hear each other breathing.

“It’s nice to see you.” The formalities over they break apart as if their limbs burned on contact and fell into an uneasy step.

“You heading…” His hand waved in the direction that he was going hoping that she was taking one of the other paths on this crossroad.

“Yeah” she smiled with a friendliness that didn’t reach her eyes. As they followed their shared path they started the ritual of old acquaintances and cram a few years worth of life into as short a snippet as possible, glossing over the negative and exaggerating the highlight reel.

The more she talks the more animated she becomes her hands telling the stories almost better than her mouth does, he remembered that about her that you could never get a word in. Every time he thinks that she is going to reach the one thing that they have in common, she veers off on a tangent. That would be too easy.

They round the bend, the end is in sight, he fills in his blanks as they pick their way through the people, playing dodgems with the teenagers who rush by at speeds, coming down ramps and rails and overshooting the boundary. They reach the gate and as she starts to move in the opposite direction he has to decide in a split second whether to expose himself, the stage is a little grander here than in the seclusion of the warren like walkways. As she starts to march off the words slip out of his mouth before his brain catches up to them.

“How is your sister?” The only chink in his armour punctuated by the slightest crack in his voice.

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So yeah it’s kind of scary opening this up to the world but there you have it.

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