Ok, I'm starting to write again. I'm hoping to finish this and other unfinished stories, before starting something new. With any luck, I still have something to say, you will still read them.
I remember you. The heart stopping moment of impact as you walked through the door. I don't know what it is, but my body always comes alive knowing you are near even before my eyes see you. I watched you stop, heat rising in your cheeks and ears and chest like the last of the wine spilled out across alabaster. I remember the shock in your eyes, a lightning bolt in the blue as you noticed me too. And I remember the way you walk as you made your approach, the swagger and glide in your step, that unconscious grace should make music envious and cats seem clumsy. And then you stopped directly before me.
"You're back." You said as I watched your shoulders sag slightly and the walls come up in your eyes.
"I'm back." Was all I could muster, given I had forgotten how to breathe.
"Oh." Was all you said, twisting your lips into a sad grimace, as you looked down at the floor.
"Can we talk?" I remember asking.
"I'll just leave you two alone." Traci said as got up to go.
"Really Holly, what is there to talk about." Came your bitter reply. "You left."
"I asked you to come with me!" I sputtered, and just then Lisa came over and dragged me away by my wrist.
I remember your eyes cloud over sadly for just one split second, the tilt of your head as you sat down and grabbed Traci's half empty glass, and swallowed it in one desperate gulp.
I don't remember the next bar, or the next as Lisa tried to convince me to drink and forget you. I do remember leaving with Rachael at my heels. The taxi ride back to the Black Penny, the panic when there was no sign of you. I remember the nights when I would put you to bed in my guest room with a glass of water and an aspirin, just as Rachel has put me to bed now.
Your number is still the same. I thought you would have changed it but you didn't. And I didn't leave a message, my liquid courage left me alone to stare at the ceiling and ran down my cheeks and pooled in my ears, burning a wet trail into my hair as the uninvited silent tears refused to stop.