Honey Whiskey

Burgundy Dress

The sun was already long gone by the time Maybelle got on the streetcar, replaced by hundreds of stars softly glistening against the navy sky. She told Jonah that she would meet him at the bakery on Bourbon Street. A drunken man was propped against the door of the busy streetcar, Maybelle had to hurl insults towards the man in order to get him to stagger from the exit as she was trying to get off at the next stop. As soon as her sandals touched the sidewalk, Maybelle glanced at the small leather watch tightly clasped around her wrist. Noticing she was already running behind a few minutes, she hurriedly began making her way toward the bakery. She decided to wear her breathy sundress since the humid Louisiana air was unusually stuffy this evening. After briefly walking to the destination, she began to sweat and she could feel her dress stick to her skin. As she began to approach the bakery, she glanced around while looking for the man who was supposed to accompany her to the party. She could see his fingers nervously tapping his right leg before shifting to rub the back of his neck, right where his curly hair stopped. Jonah was waiting patiently outside, his back resting against the wall to not be in anybody's way. Holding on to a paper bag filled with what seemed to be the precious beignet she asked him to pick up on his way there, as a snack for the party. Maybelle rushed towards him, walking in between honking cars that were held up in traffic. Finally stepping onto the sidewalk, her face lit up with a slight smile. She grabbed Jonah's hand before he gazed at the young woman quite happily.

"Jonah.", she mumbled, finally capturing his eyes into hers.

Jonah smiled, making the world a little bit brighter and his nervousness began to fade away; in return, Maybelle winked at him. Her eyes were studying every inch of his face. His red curly hair was tucked behind his ears. Dust-colored hair was sparsely strewn throughout to complete his unruly look. His tired grey eyes seemed to remain painfully open, she could clearly see he had had a long day. His slim body looked translucent from the absence of sunlight in his daily whereabouts. Due to the lack of physical activity, his muscles weren't as defined as they once were. Jonah's beard was always scruffy and appeared poorly washed. Maybelle could see glue stains trailing down the side of his neck left behind while working at his shoe store. She thought about how he probably didn't have time to take a shower before he got here. Even after years of being friends with Jonah, she was still in awe every time she laid eyes on him. Gazing at Jonah for what seemed like several minutes, she licked her slightly chapped lips and began to talk.

"I didn't think you would've actually waited for me.", Maybelle explained, transfixed on Jonah.

"Why wouldn't I have waited?", his voice deepened. She slowly nodded unsure of what to say, accepting the fact that he had no reason to leave without her.

"I did ask a lot of you when I demanded you to come with me to the party. Also, I happen to be late and you are surprisingly still here."

"I mean, I was a little bit anxious but now that you're here everything is fine.", grasped the brown paper bag more steadily into his palm as his breath was getting heavier and heavier. Jonah brought his face closer to hers while paying attention to what she was saying.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I was mostly scared that you weren't going to show up and I would have been stuck alone to go to the party. I didn't want to go to this, I prefer spending my evening with Miss Elliot watching stupid shows on tv.", He didn't want to upset Maybelle, he loved to spend time with her but not at events where many peoples were present. She slid her hand onto the back of his neck to caress his little curly hair, drawing invisible shapes to calm him down after seeing the anxiety creeping back into his eyes. The man pushed his forehead onto hers calmly while his eyes were closed.

"If you don't feel well later, tell me and we will leave. You don't have to stay all night.", she softly whispered to him.

"Thank you but I will be fine. I need to put up with it for once.", He opened his eyes and spoke, the wrinkles on the corner of his eyes appeared as he smiled, seemingly trying to reassure her.