All the Lights in the Sky
There are always things you will absolutely despise. Whether it is in the form of a person or thing, matters not. My tether to such hatred, is in a human form. My day usually consists of walking down the same sidewalk, with the same buildings, and the same voices. Nothing ever changes, and soon I came to fear that it never would. Then I feared the change as soon as it occurred.
"Parv, me and the boys are going to hit the cafe, want to come with?" Called an extremely British accent from behind me.
"Nah I think I'm going to continue to breathe in this American air." The one I presumed named Parv answered back sarcastically.
British people are strange in my opinion, I rolled my emerald green eyes and set my hands in my pockets. A tension filled silence ensued as I wondered if this Brit was still behind me or not and I started to dust my cheeks in shame of letting it get to me. I was still curious so I took a left turn into a park instead of treading the same grinding path to work. I wouldn't ever do this on a normal day, or even this one in fact, but I had. I walked over to a nice pond with shady trees so that I could look back to the street, and there he was taking a left into the park.
Why me?
I sat down on the bench behind the giant oak and breathed a heavy sigh and clenched my eyebrows. I waited about thirty seconds before I got fed up with the lingering tension. I got up and swiveled around to see a giant and stupid smile on a man's face.
"Am I sneaky sneaky enough?" He asked as he raised one eyebrow and rested his arms on the backside of the bench. I just stood there frozen in utter shock at the sentence I just heard. Sneaky sneaky enough? Is he a first grader?
"Look I don't know how you guys greet strangers in England but that's pretty freaky here."
"No, sorry I didn't mean it to be freaky, I just didn't want to go into a café with my friends because I needed silence, but I didn't know where to go…" He scratched his head in embarrassment.
"So you picked me to follow as an unknown sightseeing guide?" I asked and put my hands back in my pockets
"Y-yeah I guess, sorry if that bothers you I won't do it anymore."
"Its fine," I sighed, "I decided I'd skip work today anyway, needed a change."
"Could you possibly be my knowing sightseeing guide now please?" He asked with a polite smile
"Yeah I guess, I take it you want to avoid said coffee shop?" I managed a small smirk.
"Yay, and yes thank you!" He jumped up and shouted.
I took him by several good shops and told him to avoid most of the others, I hate to say it but he isn't that bad of a person to take sightseeing. He talks a lot though, usually about himself or his band. I learned practically everything about him, that he cared to share anyway. He is the guitarist in his band Area 11, he currently lives in Bristol, and even how much conditioner he uses on a daily basis. Just as it was about to get dark however, we managed to somehow loop back to the café as his fellow band members were walking out. One of them pointed out Parv and they all ran across the street with coffee and scones in their hands.
"Yo Parvy, did you find yourself a guide?" The ginger one arrived first and put an arm around Parvis and smiled at me.
"Yeah he agreed to show me the ins and the outs of the city." Parv explained.
"Yeah, well it is a bit dark now I think I have to head home." I smiled and waved goodbye and I turned to walk back in the direction of my apartment.
As I walked back to my humble abode, the moon was shining brilliantly at me like I did something right this once. As I strode around the corner of a red brick building, I heard some shouting, but I decided to brush it off as they were making fun of Alex or something. I set my key in the lock and walked into my well-kept room.
"Long and unusual day, it's good to be home." I sighed and headed off to bed
A Year Later…
I raised my head in triumph as I walked over to the giant window of my office building. The Strife Solution tower was at the very center of this city, you can't miss it. I sighed happily, this was my kind of work environment. The head CEO of my own company that I started. Kind of the American dream, rags to riches. I took the elevator down to the ground floor and passed by several workers that seemed glad to see me. I walked out the double doors and passed beautiful greenery and flowers, and plenty of deep red hybrid tea roses. I decided to stop in a park not too far from the building, I simply want to just take in the success. That's when I heard the rustle of the brush behind the bench. It was Alexander Parvis, I certainly wasn't expecting that.
"Long time no see Strifey-kins!" The British voice filled my ears once again, and I smile.
"Oh my God hi Parvis!" I exclaim surprised.
"I haven't gotten to talk to you at all because I forgot to give you at least my phone number." He smiled and ran his hand through his raven black hair.
"To be fair, I forgot to give you mine as well." I shrugged it off and sat down on the bench and Alex followed suit.
We caught up on every single even that we could think of. He told me about his big hits and success with the band, and how all of their fans are seriously dedicated and that makes all of them ecstatic. I shared my own success and he was shocked that he had cause me to lose my last job. The boss basically ranted about how much he was disappointed in me for not showing up or giving a heads up or calling in sick. I was fed up with the job anyway and I just walked back out after saying farewell to all of my friendly co-workers. Parv smirked and agreed with my actions. I followed that up with Strife Solutions and he thought it was a nice and clever name.
"Oh, I was wanting to ask, why were you here in the park?" I raised an eyebrow while I asked.
"Well, you see I really wanted to hang out with you again and I figured the best way to do that was to visit this park again. I was actually kind of shocked to see you walk in here again." His cheeks were a bit dusty as he went on with the story, "I was also hoping you would possibly join me for a drink?"
"Uh yeah, sure why not." I smiled and nodded once.
He took my hand and started skip-running towards our intended destination. I blushed only slightly at the contact and tried to keep up behind him. When we got to the bar it looked clean from the outside, and the inside wasn't so bad either. The bar was in the upper left hand corner with stools and there were plenty of tables. There were some pool tables and dart boards on the other half. It wasn't exactly full, but there were a good amount of people hanging about. I fixed my glasses on my hair and followed Parv over to the barista.
"Two Gin and Tonics please." He smiled at the lady and I continued to survey the bar a bit, I just had a bad feeling is all.
The two of us talked and talked, I wasn't even sure how I had become this fluent in conversing. Parv seemed to really love his alcohol and I made a mental note to be a bit wary. I didn't want to leave him here but I needed to go get the car before he did something absolutely idiotic.
"Parv? Alex?" I shook his shoulder and he looked over, "I'm going to get my car I will be right back okay?"
His words were terribly slurred, "Yeah okay buddy."
I walked out of the doors hastily, thank goodness Strife Solutions isn't far from here at all. The sun was setting as I jogged to the tower, pulled out my keys and got in my Acura NSX(2015). I drove back to the bar and was worried to see several people clearing out quickly. I ran into the bar and saw a huge and threatening man standing over Alex. If that wasn't bad enough,
Parvis had tears in his eyes and was calling for Will.
I don't tend to brag much, but I have some glorious strength. I kicked out the man's knee and punched him in the skull, hopefully rattling sense into his brain. I kneed him in the back of the neck and shoved him to the ground. He sure bled a lot for a sissy.
"Alex are you alright?!" I swung my arms as he wobbled forward.
"I will be now," he hugged my torso tightly, "Thank you Will."
I hugged him and sighed in relief, "Come on let's get out of here."
I picked him up bridal style and set him in the back seat. I got in and drove off towards the outskirts of town and towards the woods. I parked in an area mostly surrounded by trees and parked the car. I got out and got into the backseat with Parv. He rested his head on my shoulder and I'm pretty sure he felt how nervous that made me, but I kept a level head because I was sure he needed someone right now.
"Will?" He sat up and looked me in the eyes as I turned around to face him.
"Yeah Alex?" I gazed into his brown orbs and the world melted away.
As we gazed into each other's eyes a silent message was passed between us and the moon shone down on the car as our lips met. We just held each other as we ignored the entire world.
Except for the gentle glow of the golden fireflies in the distance.
A lot happened in those two years later after we met that second time. Alex and I moved into a nice and large one story house just outside of the city, not too far from those very woods. We learned how the two of us work in just about every setting and every emotional level. He was a bit nervous when he asked me if I wanted to date him, it would have been ludicrous to turn him down. Area 11, his band, just seems to have fans gravitate towards them. The company is worldwide now and the two of us make an unstoppable duo. I wasn't sure when to pop the question, so I carried the ring around wherever we would go. When the two of us were out walking to the woods to relieve stress, I figured that the woods had some sort of magic enchantment cast upon it. When I saw the sun setting and the fire flies starting to come to life I knew that the moment was pretty spot on. He cried and leapt into my arms. We kissed and laid down on the lush greenery as we lost ourselves inside the night sky and each other. I looked at his eyes as he gazed into the stars.
"Alex, when you're happy you shine brighter than all the lights in the sky."