Night 2

I woke up feeling a little fuzzy in the head; Scary Mary was showing it's after effects. My eyes scanned the room as my blurry vision was becoming clearer. Ezra was sound asleep in his bed. I have no recollection of what had happened after I heard the thunder. I am known for my 'Thunderophoebia'( I am sure that's not even a word) and I wouldn't be surprised if I had collapsed right there on the road. I looked at the huge mantle clock to check if I had some more time to sleep. Relieved at the knowledge that there was still some time left for dawn, I pulled my comforter over me and curled into a ball.

Turned out that at Atherford, I did not need an alarm clock. It started with a mild chirping of birds which then turned into a loud crowing of a rooster.

'Arrrghhhhh... You have got to be kidding me.' My head emerged from under my comforter.

'Pleasing sounds of nature too disturbing for you Aria?' Ezra teased, standing by the window.

'Go Away, Byron!' I went inside my comforter once again.

'I prefer Shelley, you know'.

I threw my comforter away, giving up on the possibility on any further sleep and sat up.

'You are annoying, you know that?'

He smiled and turned to look at me.

'Good morning to you too. You're not a ball of sunshine either.'

We both walked to the bathroom at the same time, annoyingly bumping at each other and grabbed our tooth brushes.

'Are you sure he is your type?' He asked looking at me through the mirror as he brushed his teeth vigorously.

I was busy carefully going over every tooth, smoothly with my brush. I took my time to answer.

'Who's my type? Oh Andy? Well... you did see him last night, didn't you? Dark eyes, messy hair, very tall, muscular frame, stubble look; did i mention the messy hair already? he is everyone's type and he is a great storyteller. Besides, I am not getting married to him.'

'Interesting, you seem to have put quite a bit of thought into it.'

'Oh yeah... between collapsing on the road after the thunder struck and waking up this morning all groggy and cranky, I had a lot of time thinking about Andy, the barman.' I rinsed my mouth, placed my brush on the stand and walked into the bathtub and pulled the shower curtain.

'What do I say? You have a very active unconscious.'

'I expect to have a Freud free bath time. So, if you could please let yourself out. Oh and my bathrobe is hanging on the coat stand, it would be great if you could hang it next to the wash basin.'

I heard a loud thud of the door and smiled to myself at successfully annoying him.

'Go with green, brings attention to your hair.' Ezra said as I was trying to decide between two of my favourite sweaters.

I turned and smiled at him 'Thank you!'

He nodded with a smile and disappeared into the bathroom.

I wore my sweater and combed my hair in such a way that it fell over my shoulders in the front. I remembered wishing for my hair to be slightly wavy sometimes. But today, looking at it in contrast with the green sweater, I couldn't have asked more than the silky, straight dark hair.

The smell of freshly baking bread started to float in the air. The aroma was too inviting to ignore. I knocked on the bathroom door and heard an annoyed 'What?'

'Should I wear a blue scarf or grey?' I asked trying to hide my giggle.

'Grey...Now leave me alone.'

I laughed and left the room, whistling, hopping and semi dancing my way to the kitchen, following the scent all the way to the wooden oven from which Ms. Skarsgard was taking out what seemed to be her first batch of loaves for the day. The eager eyes of James were following her every move carefully.

'Good morning Aria. Do you want me to fix you breakfast?' James asked with a warm smile.

'Nah... I just need some coffee. It's still early for breakfast.' I helped myself to a cup of coffee from the coffee maker. Ms. Skarsgard said nothing but her smile and the way she carried on with her work, explaining every little detail to James as she cooked, not minding my presence, made me feel included. I sat across the two of them, at the Kitchen Island; relishing every sip of my coffee as a cold morning breeze from the windows swept my hair gently. It was like a tender, loving touch. I closed my eyes, giving in to the sensation, my hands still cupping the warm mug of coffee. Suddenly I felt a different touch on my cheek and opened my eyes.

'Still sleeping?' Ezra had touched my cheek on his way to grab coffee.

I decided not to respond and buried my face in the coffee mug. He grabbed his coffee and walked past me. I wondered where he was going and followed him outside the house. He went around the house and found a seat in the backyard. The backyard had a beautiful garden with many different flowering plants and herbs out which I only recognized tulips and sage. There was clear view of the mountain ranges from where I stood. I stood there dumbstruck at the beauty that surrounded me.

'I won't bark if you came and sat here, you know. Unlike you, I enjoy company of strangers and friends alike.'

'You are calling me a dog?' I sat next to him, not taking my eyes off the mountains.

He didn't respond. We sat there for a long time, not talking, not moving and not taking our eyes off the peaks that stood still in front of us. As strange as it might sound, it seemed like we were having an intimate conversation with the mountains, like the mountains were telling us their ancient tales. After sometime, Michael joined us too.

'Never gets old. This view never gets old. 30 years yet every morning it's as fresh as dew and as striking as ever.' It was as though the three of us were in a trance. I heard a loud sound of a church bell tolling and woke up from my trance. I walked back into the house slowly, reminding myself how lucky I was to have had the opportunity to be there.

I went into the kitchen to wash my mug. Ms. Skarsgard was giving instructions to the rest of the housekeeping crew on cleaning our rooms. After she dispensed the crowd, she stood next to me as I was washing the mug slowly, looking outside the window. I looked into her eyes that were trying to convey something. I looked down, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

She put her hand over my shoulder and said 'It's the most beautiful thing, what you are feeling now, the confusion, the fear, the exhilarating thrill of being in a land far away from home. Its not very often a soul is bestowed with such overwhelming emotions. Embrace it.'

I wanted to thank her but I just nodded with a smile and two drops of tears rolled down my cheek which I am sure meant more to her than words.

I went up to my room to grab my laptop, my most valuable writing instrument. I settled in my favourite seat by the living room fireplace. I had a clear view of the lawn outside where Ezra and Ayana were walking together (or were they flirting?) and Igor was happily enjoying a swift ride in the small wooden swing that hung between two trees. I turned away and focused my attention inwards, not looking for words but scanning my head for plenitude of emotions I felt. It was like surfing TV channels at an insane speed, yet knowing what was running on each channel, the only goal being stumbling upon something interesting to pick and write on. And finally, my inner sensor picked up a signal and I started to write:

'I'm not looking for the Sunrise,

As the brisk mornings come and go;

I am looking for the Sunset,

And the Silver moonlight beams,

Where the sound of darkness

Will break into my soul and set me free,

In the land that knows no sunrise,

Nor it's harsh, blinding light.'

It was good but somehow not satisfying; I wasn't satisfied with the words 'Sunrise' and 'Sunset' in the first two lines. I wanted something more, something subtle yet sublime. I gave up after thinking for more than half hour. I looked around. The room was deserted. The silence was creepy and my inspiration for writing was lost for the moment. It was funny how before I came to Atherford, my every thought was about writing and now writing was starting to become one of the things I HAD to do during the day. The power of structure and a formal setting to kill the desire to pursue any creative task had ceased to surprise me in the past few years. I thought of my days before college, when all I wanted to do was read novels, plays, poems and talk about them to people all day long but when I took literature as an academic course, all the books in the reading list started to appear to me as 'SYLLABUS' and the great conversations that I had the opportunity to have with my teachers were disguised as 'LECTURES'.

'What are you all smiley about?' Ayana pulled me back to reality as she took a seat next to me.

'Nothing... Just thinking about life, in general. So, how did it go with Ezra?' I teased.

'Well... I got myself a date this evening.' She beamed.

'Oh! You don't waste any time at all, do you?'

'With just 7 more days left in this place, I don't I have much choice.' I turned my head to look at the lawn once more and Igor was still on the swing.

'He seems very happy, doesn't he?'

'Yeah... he is nice kid.'

'I wonder how his parents sent him alone all this way.'

'He doesn't have parents.' She spoke as she took a portion of my hair in her hand and started to braid it.

'What do you mean?'

'He is an Orphan, from Bulgaria. He is an avid reader and an excellent writer. Every year, The Gilbert Foundation sponsors one person to attend the Writer's Retreat for free. He wrote an absolutely wonderful application that won over the entire jury that they decided to make an exception for him and award him the scholarship this year because they usually don't sponsor international applicants.'

'Wow... I must talk to that kid sometime. And what's with the 'Gilbert Foundation'?

'This foundation was started after the death of Grayson Gilbert, by his family and friends and they donated this house to be put to better use for future writers. Hence, the reasonable pricing, flexible rules, etc etc. The foundation is doing a great job with the little support it is receiving. They lack in manpower. Not a lot of people are ready to volunteer and commit.'

'Wait... you said Grayson Gilbert... You mean 'the Grayson Gilbert'?

'Yes, Aria, the Grayson Gilbert, the confessional poetry fame.'

'Wow...And I am sitting at his house right now? I think my heart rate is rising a bit.'

'Here, its done.' She said, pointing to the braid.

'Thanks. But I want something like yours. I always wanted to have fringe braid running across my forehead. Very 11th centurish, you know?'

'Yeah... I will do it for you sometime.' She laughed.

'Hey, by the way, how did you know all this?'

'I stayed up late last night, talking to Michael and Ms. Skarsgard.'

'I see.'

'Is this girl time or I can join too?' without waiting for a response Ezra crashed on the sofa between me and Ayana.

'Definitely not girl time but I am famished. I am gonna grab some lunch.' Ayana left us and walked to the kitchen.

'Lunch? What time is it?'

'It's almost 1 Aria. Did you eat anything at all, the entire day?'

'No...I didn't realize it was this late. I was writing and...'

'Want some?' he offered to share his fries and I ate from his plate shamelessly and asked him to get the next serving of something more lunch ish than fries as I was in no mood to get up from my seat.

After lunch and wandering in the lawn and back yard for a while, I was in no mood to write more. James and Lydia were having some kind of a lovers' spat, it was yoga time for Ayana and she was doing a beautiful headstand in the garden, Igor had finally stopped swinging and had gone back to his room for writing, Ezra and Michael sat in the living room and it looked like they were having some kind of serious conversation. I walked up to my room, put my earphones on and started to dance. Occasionally, I stopped, went out of the room to check no one was watching and then continued. At around 3, I was completely exhausted and decided to take a nap.

'Wake up sleepy head; you have a date to go to.'

'You have a date to go to. Not me!'

'Oh, you know about that, huh? Such a gossip monger you are. Wake up and get dressed now.'

I hesitantly emerged out of my comforter and walked to the bathroom to splash some water on my face.

'I don't understand why you are more eager about this Andy guy than I am.'

'Let's just say, I am interested in being a creator and audience of this romantic drama. Something to keep me entertained.' He spoke as he opened my wardrobe and started to reject the dresses one by one.

'Okay, here you go. You'll wear this leather skirt, and this white top and... this red, deep, V neck cardigan and of course, these knee length boots.'

'Don't you have a date to get to?' I asked annoyingly as I grabbed my dresses from his hands and went into the bathroom to change.

'Yes but not for another two hours...'

'I am ready...' I emerged out of the bathroom. 'You know you are wasting awful lot of time in something that's not gonna work Ezra. Did you look at him? He is gorgeous and not to mention quite famous among the townsfolk, he is cheerful and friendly. Why would he want me?'

He grabbed me by my shoulder and made me stand in front of the mirror, and then he pushed my hair over my shoulder and hooked my favourite necklace (with my favourite pendant) on to my neck.

'Because, you are beautiful, smart and probably the only girl who was interested in having a real conversation with a barman who is otherwise the classic sex symbol of the town.' He said looking into my eyes through the mirror.

'Hmmm... I am beautiful, aren't I?' I pulled the edges of my skirt further down.

'Well... let's not push it. Now, go wait downstairs, I will be there in 10 minutes.'

I noticed for the first time how good-looking he was as I watched him come downstairs. He wore a pair of black jeans that hugged his long, firm legs and mustard coloured, full sleeve T shirt that failed to conceal his broad shoulders and wide chest. He cast his crooked smile at Ayana as he gracefully scuttled down the stairs.

'Going somewhere?' Ms Skarsgard asked us as he took my hand in his.

'Yeah... I am going to set this beautiful lady up on a date.'

The room filled with laughter and I faked a shy smile.

'Who is the lucky man?' enquired Ayana.

'Its Andy, the hot barman.'

'He is a nice guy Aria.' gave her approval and proceeded to the kitchen to help Igor with making dinner.

'You didn't have to announce it in public.' I said between my clenched teeth and shoulder bumped him hard.

'Ouch. What? It was fun. They enjoyed it plus what do you have to hide?'

'I don't like looking like a pathetic, desperate, girl in need of a date.'

'Alright, I am sorry. I'll make it upto you, okay?'

'Whatever'

Before entering the bar, he grabbed me by my elbow and said

'Listen to me carefully... We are going to enter the bar and you are not gonna look at him right away. We are gonna pretend to be having a laugh about something.'

'Alright... You know I don't know if I am doing this to be with Andy or to see you make a fool out of yourself. Either way, it's a win win for me Ezra.'

'Hmmm... We will see about that.' He gave his fake-Oh you think you are so clever-smile and we stepped inside.

I did as he instructed. He then led me to the dance floor and extended his hand.

'What? I am not dancing with you.'

'Oh come on! Get off from your high and mighty throne for a while.'

He put his hand on my waist and pulled me closer and we started to dance for Rouge Wave's Everyday.

'Now, since you are facing him and I am sorta blocking your view, crane your neck and act as though you are trying very hard to look at him but I am not letting you.'

'You are crazy! Let's go back already. We have been here for 10 mins, if he wanted to make a move, he would have.'

'You are such a bore, Aria. He is working and he needs to know he is wanted for him to ignore his customers and come look for you. Just play along, alright?'

I did as he said and he gave a very good impression of distracting me from my object of desire.

'Did he look at you trying to look at him?'

'Yes, he did.'

'Good, now keep talking to me while your eyes wander in his direction every 2 minutes.'

'I can't do this. Seriously!'

'We're so close. Don't give up now. Oh and when he asks you about me later; give him a non committal answer. Don't refuse anything outright.'

'You're so full of crap Ezra. You should use your talents in directing a movie. You might have better luck.'

'Oh believe me, that's exactly what I am doing now.'

The song was about to end and I heard someone asking,

'May I have the next dance please? If you don't mind?' Andy was standing next to us.

'Sure, she is all yours.' Ezra handed me over to Andy and walked in the direction of the seating area.

'Hi...' he said winking his eyes.

'Hi...' I bit my lips, feeling a little shy as he took me in his arms.

'Don't you have to work?' I asked after half the song was over.

'I do. But who is to say I can't take a break to dance with the most beautiful girl on the dance floor? How did you sleep last night? Had a bad hangover?' He sounded concerned and apologetic.

'I slept like a log. I felt a little fuzzy this morning but nothing caffeine couldn't fix.'

'Alcohol, caffeine, not very health conscious, are you?'

'Not particularly.'

'So, what's the deal with you and your professor? I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend.'

'He isn't. Actually, I am about to do something really stupid. He was just putting on the whole act so that you'd come over and make a move on me. There, I said it. You can hate me now.'

He threw his head backward and laughed.

'Well, I am glad he took the effort. But he didn't have to. I was gonna come look for you in the house tomorrow, if you didn't turn up today, of course with the excuse of delivering some grocery to Ms. Skarsgard, but he made my job easy.'

'You are lying.' I said dropping my head and looking down.

'Would you believe me, if I swore on Scary Mary?'

'Ha ha... fine... I believe you.'

I looked up, he bent down and laughed. As our foreheads touched a brand new sensation spread all over my body.

'I would like to dance all night but...' his voice trailed and he looked in the direction of the bar.

'I am sorry for keeping you away from work. I didn't realize we had been dancing for this long.' I apologized earnestly after looking at the time.

'Don't be. It was my pleasure. Let's go.'

He took my hand and walked to the bar. I was surprised that he wasn't bored by now and wanted to spend more time with me. He took his station, taking orders, chatting with his clients and making drinks. I sat across him, questioning him on cocktail recipes and town gossips.

It was past 10 when I had realized that I had missed Igor's dinner back at the Gilbert Residence. I was disappointed with myself for forgetting about it. I wondered if Ezra and Ayana attended the dinner, considering they were on a date. I decided to make it up to Igor somehow in the following days.

'You have gone awfully quite.' Andy remarked as he started to clean up the place for closing up.

'How come the place is deserted already?' I was curious considering it wasn't this desolate a little close to midnight the previous night.

'Tomorrow is Monday. Our townsfolk are very keen on having an early day during the week. All the fun is reserved for Saturday night.'

'I see.'

'So, I was thinking, I could take you out for Breakfast tomorrow, if you don't think it's too soon, that is.' He asked nervously, not smiling, not looking up at me. I could sense that he was worried about my reaction; a possible rejection or worse shock on my part.

I prolonged his anticipation and waited till he looked up at me. I held his glance for a second and then put my hand on his.

'I thought you would never ask.' I smiled, not taking my hand off his.

He laughed, shaking his head several times, in relief.

'I will pick you up at 7.'

I nodded in agreement.

'Ready to go home Aria?'

I heard Ezra's voice as I felt his hand on my shoulder. It was around 11 now. I got off the barstool and waved goodbye to Andy.

'Thanks Mr. Winston, for setting us up.' Andy said with a mischievous smile as he wiped the glasses dry.

'You outed me? Unbelievable Aria! Ezra shot a shocking glass in my direction. We left the bar after they exchanged pleasantries.

'So, how was your date?' I asked lingering on the word 'Date' longer than the other words.

He rolled his eyes at me and spoke after a while.

'It was date like. Nothing unusual. We flirted, had some drinks, talked pretending to want to get to know each other better only to prolong the inevitable and then ended up in her bed. It got better after that though.'

'What?' I stared at him in shock.

'What?'

'I thought she really liked you.'

'She did. That's why I ended up in her bed Aria.'

'No... I mean...I thought this was more than...' my voice trailed.

'Oh come on. We have got 8 days in this place. How could it be anything more?'

My face fell which he didn't fail to notice.

'Hey... your story could be entirely different from mine. Cheer up. Has he asked you out yet?'

'Yes. He is taking me out for breakfast tomorrow.'

'That's nice. Dinner was amazing today by the way. Igor entertained us all with stories of his town. You would have liked it.'

'I feel so bad for missing it. I lost track of time, I would've rushed back if I hadn't.'

'That's alright. You can make it up to him tomorrow.'

We walked in silence till we reached the house. I realized that Andy wasn't joking about the townsfolk being very particular about their sleep routine. It seemed like Mrs. Skarsgard and Michael had already retired to bed. All the lights were turned off except for the ones in the porch and the kitchen.

'Are you sleepy?' Ezra asked as I was about to step into the house.

'Ummm... not really... why? What do you have in mind?'

'I was thinking about sitting in the garden and having a couple of drinks.'

'Oh... I am in. But where do we get the drinks from?'

'I have a bottle of Bourbon in my room. I'll get it. Get some ice and glasses.' He ordered and hurried into the house.

We sat in the garden staring at the cold mountains that stood far away from us, silently gulping down few shots of Bourbon. It went down my throat like liquid fire but the mild heat it spread in my body felt good. My mind started to relax a bit and my inhibitions began to dissolve.

'How did you sleep with her and then leave her alone? You are such a dick! You should have at least cuddled till morning.' I scolded him as I hit him with my elbow.

'Excuse me? Did you just call me a dick?'

'I most certainly did.'

'We had a great time in bed and it didn't seem like she expected me to be all lovey dovey and neither did I feel the need to pretend.'

'Hmmm...'

Another spell of silence passed between us.

'What do you want to write about Aria?'

'Well...When I brush my teeth every morning, I look at a building that's right in front of my balcony. It's a dry cleaning warehouse of some sort. I see a man pressing clothes there. I have never seen his face. I only see him from waist down. But those few minutes when I watch him, I am overcome by a strong emotion. It's not a pleasure of being a voyeur. I think about how his life must be, what hardships he must go through each day and I wish he has a happy life despite knowing that his mundane life filled with no excitement. I mean... what excitement could a guy who presses clothes day in and day out have in his life? But I keep hoping and I want to transform that strong surge of emotion I feel at the moment into words.'

I stopped and looked at him. His eyes were intently staring at me. I realized he had been staring at me the whole time.

'What do you want to write about?' I asked, trying to push away the air of awkwardness that enveloped me.

'Doesn't matter. I got my wish today.' He said, not taking his eyes of me.

'What is that?' I asked confused and surprised.

'This is how my date was supposed be. This was how my every date was supposed to be.' He smashed his glass against the well that stood across us and turned to me.

For a moment there, I was lost in his eyes, the frustration and relief they displayed simultaneously. Our faces inched closer. He closed his eyes for a split second and I fell out of the trance.

'No...' we both said in unison.

'We can't do this.'

'Nope. We can't.' He agreed and turned his head away.

'I am not that girl you know who...'

'I get it Aria. You should go to bed.'

I didn't want to leave him alone but I didn't have a choice. His face had turned stone cold. He kept staring at the mountains like there was no one around him, like I wasn't around him. I stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do next. Then I made up my mind, placed a tender kiss on his cheek and whispered 'I am sorry' before leaving him.