Loud persistent knocks echoed through the spacious apartment, pulling the green-eyed beauty out of her light slumber. She slowly stumbled across her apartment over to the door, still half asleep. Her mind was so stuck in between the realm of slumber and consciousness, she did not even question why some one was knocking on her door at six in the morning; let alone who was knocking on her door.
Out of the two years she lived in that apartment, not once did some one knock on her door. She had created her own little world inside the four walls. It was here that everyone left her alone and let her be; where her imagination flowed untamed by her demons and lived beyond the walls that confined her in the apartment. But due to her current overwhelming state of drowsiness she did not even notice this initial intrusion into her little sanctuary.
"Comin'," she shouted to the door, trying to stop the unremitting knocking, that was not only depriving her of sleep but also giving her a headache from the loud steady beats. She reached the door and fumbled with the locks, her eyes were still half shut.
She opened the door. "Can Ah--" she stopped when she saw the man standing in front of her. The very man that she wanted to avoid. The man that plagued her thoughts and dreams. She continued to stand dumbfounded. Her mouth and eyes were now wide open.
The two stood staring into each other's eyes. Her breathing stopped, while his chest was rapidly rising and falling, trying to regain his breath.
Finally she spoke, "How did yah find me?"
"Y' left enough clues behind. Figured dat y' wanted me t' find y'."
"But...why are yah here?" she asked timorously.
He opened his mouth to answer her question but decided his actions would speak louder than his words. He took two steps towards her, and held her face with his hands. He leaned down until his lips caressed hers, melting the shock and confusion away from her until it was no more.
His kiss brought her to life.
Passion overwhelmed all her senses. She responded to his kiss, and slightly parted her lips, hungering for more. Her hands were now weaving through his long auburn hair, while they explored each other's mouths. He lifted her up to deepen the kiss, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer to her. He slowly backed her into the door; his knees were weakened from the kiss, he needed something to help support the two of them.
They broke apart from each other, gasping for air. He rested his forehead on hers and gazed into her eyes, "Y' don' know how much I have wanted t' do dat."
"Probably as much as Ah wanted yah to do that," she responded breathlessly.
"Oh, mon amour," he kissed her forehead, "Mon amour," he kissed her forehead again, "Please tell me y' won't leave me again. Please."
Marie sighed as she continued to stare at the computer screen; it was now almost seven months since her New Orleans visit and she was still writing, or as she more affectionately referred to it as "spewing" about him. And what was even more pathetic was that she had some how written herself into the plot, but she would never admit that she turned herself into one of her characters.
She rubbed her forehead as she re-read what she just wrote. Something irked her. It was probably because she was writing about Remy and herself as if it some form of way to continue their relationship. Writing about him somehow made her feel like he was around her again. But she didn't want to deal with that right now and held something else responsible for her uneasy feeling.
"Horrible writing," she blamed aloud to no one. She highlighted the passages she wrote and tapped the delete button; erasing all her work.
She forced a sigh of relief, rocked back in her chair, and stared at the blank screen on her computer. "That's better," she murmured.
Denial was a beautiful thing.
She stood up from her chair and stretched out her tight muscles. It was so hard to forget about Remy when she was writing about him. And it didn't help that she was infatuated with him. Of course, she blamed this infatuation on turning him into the main character in her novel and she often felt this way before about the characters in her previous novels. This was why she believed her novels were so popular; she became absorbed in her work, the characters became apart of her and her life. But as soon as the novel was finished they would fade into the background, and Remy would be no different.
She needed to distract herself from everything and escape the pressure of restarting/finishing the novel; it was time for her daily visit with her one and only friend.
----------
"Good morning," greeted a middle-aged woman from behind a counter.
"Mornin'," Marie failed to match the cheerfulness in the other woman's voice, "Is he around.."
"Yea, you know him, he's wandering around somewhere outback," she nodded towards the glass doors behind her, "Just follow the noise."
"Thanks," Marie nodded and walked over to the door.
"Oh wait! You forgot to sign in!" she called after Marie but Marie closed the glass door behind herself, drowning out the order from the nurse.
She walked down the wooden stairs, which supplied a song of creaks with each step. A roar of laughter warmed the brisk autumn air causing Marie to look back at the source of it and smile. A group of elderly men were sitting around a large table; the cards in their hands were forgotten as they shared stories of their pasts.
Marie looked towards her left. Two women were animatedly chatting amongst themselves as they tossed a hearty breakfast of broken crackers to a few pigeons. She then looked towards the deck that overlooked the small oasis and frowned at an elderly woman. It was the same woman she saw every time she came. No matter what day or time, there she was, same place, same clothes, same heartbreaking look on her face and always alone.
Marie had given her the nickname of "Violet", not a clever one since the woman wore a large violet hat, the type of hat that Marie remembered old southern women would wear to church on Easter. Violet was donned with her usual pearls and beige dress that was once white but became the victim of time, wear, and neglect.
Her white gloved hands were folded on her lap as if she was waiting for some one. Was she silently waiting for her child, a family member, a friend, or former lover to visit her? Marie didn't know. But she did know that no one ever came to visit Violet. She would sit waiting for an arrival that never came. And Marie's heart ached for her.
Marie wrapped her arms around herself and continued down the brick path, noticing that a few bricks were deteriorating; a reminder that even the most indestructible things could not resist against time.
Marie headed towards a man sitting alone on a bench surrounded by a cloud of smoke. She sat down next to him, he continued to stare at a small cluster of leaves that were being blown about by a small gust of wind but he acknowledge her presence, "Mornin' darling," he greeted while chewing on his cigar. His voice sounded the way sand paper looked, husky and gruff; but like sand paper over time, his voice lost most of its original roughness.
"Morning Logan," she smiled at him.
He looked good today, but then again he looked good everyday. He was what the doctor's called a walking miracle; in perfect health despite his smoking and drinking, in good condition--he only had an old war injury, his bum knee that caused him to slightly limp when he walked, his few wrinkles and a full head of wild gray hair betrayed his ripe old age of 76. To put it simply, he was still the manifestation of masculinity.
"Yah know," Marie watched him take another puff of his cigar, "Yah evaded cancer thus far but Ah wouldn't go pushing yahr luck." This was their daily routine. Marie would try a different approach each day to get him to stop smoking and each day she was rewarded with his smart-ass responses.
"You think after all these years of smoking that I would be worried about cancer?" he puffed once more on his cigar, "And as for luck, just look around me, if I had any luck I wouldn't be stuck in a hell hole like this."
"Yah're so positive in the morning," she retorted.
"Look who's talking, I can just smell the negativity you emit," he grinned at her.
"Oh, come on, Ah'm not that bad," she laughed.
"Course not, darling." He then returned his gaze to the wind leading the leaves in a final dance. A crimson leaf fluttered down to join, causing the ginger, golden, and scarlet leaves to change partners to welcome the newly fallen leaf. The leaves gracefully danced as they gently drifted down to the ground creating a carpet of red, orange, and yellow leaves.
"I guess some things are hopeless," he sighed.
"Yea," Marie nodded in agreement, "And some things aren't."
"Hm," muttered Logan, lost in contemplation.
"Um, Ah bought yah some of the essentials," Marie finally spoke after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence. "Just try not tah go through it all in one day," she handed the white paper bag to him.
He looked in side the bag and chuckled. "You know if I didn't have to be careful with my new hip replacement, I would give you a run for your money."
"What are yah talking about? Yah don't have or need a hip replacement."
"Yea well," he crumbled the top of the white paper bag down, "What's the point of being old if I can't use it as sympathy to get a pretty girl's attention?"
Marie laughed, "Oh, Ah have seen yah work it. Believe me, yah don't need sympathy tah get the ladies." She heard him scoff. "Just look at what's her name over there. She's making eyes at yah," she pointed to the old woman who was staring at Logan to further prove her point.
"What?" He turned around to look, "Oh, she always looks like that. She doesn't have her glasses on; she's blind as a bat without them, probably doesn't know what she's looking at." He waved at her, and she stood motionless still staring at him, "See? Can't even see me waving."
"Oh, so what? Why don't yah go over there and say hello?"
"I'm not interested in anyone who thinks playing shuffleboard sober is a fun pastime."
"Oh, that's just yah way of saying yah can't be with anyone who receives a social security check."
"That too," he smiled, "Hate to break it to you darlin, but you ain't exactly qualified to hand out relationship advice."
"Hey!" she protested.
"Look at you, you spend the mornings and most of the afternoons with me. Girls your age should be out partying and livin it up. Not spending time with an old man like me."
"Well," Marie sighed, "What can Ah say, Ah enjoy yahr company."
"No one enjoys my company," he pointed out.
Marie laughed, "That's true. But like they say, misery loves company."
Logan chuckled, "Truer words were never spoken."
Marie watched him inhale deeply on his cigar and decided pestering him once a day about quitting wasn't enough. "Why can't yah just stop smoking? Ah can get yah some of those patches, it would make it a lot easier for yah. Yah wouldn't even miss it."
"People regret things they don't do, not things they do," he responded as if he didn't hear her question.
"Exactly, that's why yah'll regret it if yah don't stop smoking," she smiled triumphantly.
"I wasn't talking about me or my smoking habits, darlin."
Marie's eyebrows burrowed in puzzlement; she turned to face him to ask him to clarify his remark. But with one look in his eyes she knew exactly what he was referring to.
"Oh," escaped her lips as realization sunk in.
Satisfied that she understood what he meant, he decided it was time to move things along. "Come on," he stood up, "We've spent too much time here already." He waited for Marie to stand up and together they walked around the large building to the front iron gate.
"Where do you think you're going?" a tall young man looked at Marie but his question was directed towards Logan.
"Out," Logan growled and tossed the bag to the man who quickly unfolded his arms to catch it, "Put this in my room, bub."
The man was about to argue with Logan but was stopped when he saw Logan's ice blue eyes piercing right into his and heard Logan's growl as if daring the man to challenge him. The man wasn't stupid; he heard stories about what happened to those who tried to stop him from going out and he did not want to be on the receiving end. He nodded and scurried away, leaving Logan with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Yah didn't have tah intimidate him, he was just doing his job," Marie stopped.
"I ain't someone's job to do," he turned and faced Marie, "Besides, some one has to teach him to respect his elders."
"Well job well done, Ah think he went to go change his pants," she smiled, "Don't let anyone ever tell yah, yah've gone soft in yahr old age."
Logan chuckled, "Damn straight."
"So where are we going?"
"To a bar or is it too early?"
Marie glanced down at her watch, "It's 11 o'clock."
"You're right, it's never too early."
"Alright but it's gonna be mah treat this time."
"Darlin, as long as you're out with me, it'll never be your treat."
"Ah take it back, yah have gotten soft in yahr old age," she teased.
"Shh...it'll be our little secret," he whispered to Marie who pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. "But you didn't let me finish, it'll never be your treat if we keep going to my place. They can't exactly charge me there."
"Yea, well," she hooked her arm around his. Logan gave her a questioning look. "Ah twisted mah ankle the other day. It's giving me a little trouble, but Ah'll be fine if we take it a little slow," she lied.
He was just too damn stubborn to use any type of assistance or even a cane to help relieve the stress on his bad knee. He considered it was a weakness he would flaunt if he used any support. Do not show anyone your weakness, for they will only use it against you; it was one of the many beliefs the army implanted in him. As if, he believed an old man limping didn't display vulnerablity. Atleast with a cane he would have more of a chance to defend himself and at the same time alleviate the stress and pain in his leg. But, of course, that wouldn't be as important as keeping his male ego intact.
"Come on, we gotta lot of things tah do today," she tugged his arm, stopping him from asking any questions.
"That's if you can keep up with me, darling," he challenged while they walked through the gate.
"Well, it's worth a try," Marie smiled as they lost themselves in the crowded streets.
So here's the thing, I know I said there were only two or three more chapters left for this story but once I wrote out the chapters, they kinda sucked, it was sorta like an the ending for a movie where you sit there and turn to the person next to you and say "that was it!?" and then you have to fight back the urge to argue to get your money back you wasted paying for the movie. So yea I just wanted to avoid that scene, and as a result I added some things to the plot and next thing I know, I have a senior citizen Logan in the story, yea I still don't know how that came about.
This story is winding down. If this story was compared to the days of the week, we would be at Wednesday, "the hump day" if you can just get through the day, the weekend's right around the corner. Yea, so we'll just pretend this little rambling is a direct result from lack of sleep. Anyway, I don't want to promise or say how many chapters are left because I always break the promises, or realize that I had no idea what I was saying (which happens pretty often). But this story is only going to have around 20 chapters total, I just hope you keep reading and reviewing them.
I enjoyed Logan so much that he'll be making more appearances and it will explain more about how him and Marie met and all that good stuff in the later chapters.
I really can't thank you guys enough for reading and reviewing. It's the little things in life that make me happy, so please review and tell me what you thought about this chapter!