Midnight Love

The Lady In Red

Stars. Thousands of them. Little bulbs of light in a pitch black sky, all different yet all so mesmerizingly beautiful. Trees. Neatly placed around cycle paths and lawns. Protecting giant mansions and small suburban houses from the sun in the summer and from the snow in the winter. Nature's own greatest protectors. The flowers in the grass, white, pink, purple, yellow, and yet all seemingly the same shade of gray in the dark. When shone upon with a flashlight they reveal once again their gorgeous colors, their uniqueness, their beauty. The rain coming down from the sky, invisible, yet so undeniably there. Our umbrellas are out, doing the protection the trees cannot offer us this time. Our hands. Locked together, fingers intertwined. Gripping each other just a little tighter whenever the road ahead gets a little slippery of the fallen rain. Laughter. Filling the empty, dark void around us. Nobody else in sight, everyone safe inside their homes. Warm, cozy, curled up with a blanket and a cat, a warm cup of tea or milk to keep the warmth inside of their hands.

We met in the snow. Fourty centimeters of tall white, crispy snow. Us barely able to place one foot in front of the other. Horses and cows were brought inside, it was too cold for them to play outside. The children of our village did not seem to mind the cold. They played together, they had snowball fights and made snowangels wherever they could. I was sitting on my porch, i wore a scarf, two sweaters, my thickest gloves and cap to protect my ears from getting too cold. My eyes were watery and my nose as red as the roses that bloom in my yard every summer. My cats were purring at my feet, but were quick to run away when a freezing ball of snow came flying towards my face. I remember screaming and dropping the hot chocolate milk i was holding to keep my hands warm. When i looked up I saw an unfamiliar face with the biggest grin i had ever seen in my life looking up at me. "Oops?" Pretending to be sorry. I was quick to send him a snowball back. Hit him right in the face. "Oh, now it's on!" is what he told me. I duck behind a bush that had already lost it's green, as i collected an arsenal of cripsy, frozen waterballs to throw at the dark haired and quite goodlooking stranger who just started a war with me.

We played for a couple of hours. Forced to stop when a snowball hit me on my nose just a little bit too hard. My handsome and worthy snowball-opponent insisted to take care of me and my nosebleed, so I invited him into my house. I only then learned his name. Charles, simple and beautiful, it fit him well. With tissues still in my nose to catch all the blood coming out of my face, I made us hot chocolate milk, with five tiny marshmallows in each of our cups. We had to imagine the whipped cream on top, I had used the last of that on the chocolate milk i had dropped earlier on the porch when our snowball fight started. It became dark outside the longer we sat on my couch, talking about small things, getting to know each other. The stars were out. Small and bright, helping the moon bring out it's full potential. Streets lit up warmly by lantarns and christmas decorations on the houses of the neighbourhood. Soon enough it was eleven o'clock. I walked Charles to his car. "Call me, please", I said to him. His blue eyes with stars of their own inside of them looked at me as he gave me a soft smile. He hugged me, and then we said goodbye.

I remember dreaming of him that night. His broad shoulders, large manly hands and muscular ams, wrapping around me in the night. His eyes were the sky, blue and bright and beautiful. Not a speck of grey to be found, a perfectly sunny day. He smelled like heaven from a bottle. Bleu De Chanel or Sauvage by Dior, manly and expensive. Charming, just like Johnny Depp. His voice low and raspy, but unable to hide any form of enthusiasm. Honest and straightforward. The world was him that night. Everywhere I looked, I saw him, everything I heard was his voice, everything I touched was his face. His body, his hands. I woke up alone that morning. More so than ever. I craved his touch, unkown if I would ever even seen him again.

I met him again two weeks later, on the first day of Christmas. He had called me earlier, only once but I missed it and I was too scared to call him back. The spokespeople of the village had arranged a prom for all adults of the neighbourhood to attend to. I wore my red dress. Sparkling, hugging my waist and flowing at the bottom. Quite a few heads turned around to look at me, looking for a little romance. I wasn't interested in any of them. Getting drunk, I was at the bar to get myself another drink. 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' started playing through the speakers. I got my drink and turned around. My heart stopped. As if it were magic the crowd parted. There he was, black smoking, buttons loose just a little bit too low, exposing a piece of his chest. Hair messy, yet styled. Falling over his forehead. Our eyes met and a smile formed on his face. Tipsy and shocked, I couldn't move a muscle. Had I not been dreaming of this moment for weeks now? 

"Hello, you". Two words you spoke to me. The song on the speakers telling my thoughts perfectly, as if I had written the song and it was just for Charles to hear. "The first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes. And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave to the dark and the endless skies, my love." "You never called me back". Charles' hand went up to my face, stroking my cheek. Gentle. Enchanting. The moment his fingers touched my face I just knew that we would never be apart again. He was forever. We were for always. "In my dreams I called you every day", I put my drink aside, he took my hands and we danced. We danced and danced, cheek to cheek, until people started to leave the room. We were full of love that night. The kind that makes devils cry. Our first kiss we shared under the mistletoe. 

Rain. Coming down from the pitchblack sky like sparkling liquid crystals in the light of the moon and its stars. Screaming and laughing as we ran to my car to get us an umbrella. We got in the backseat. Hands on each other, Charles kissing me. Passion. Heat. Fireworks. Foggy carwindows, pouring rain outside. Fellow couples and lovers running past us, frantically trying to cover their heads, protecting their hair from the rain. Lights being turned on outside. A village lit up by December decorations. Trees filled with christmas lights desperately trying to win the battle from the hard wind. Smiling faces, dripping clothes.  

Midnight. We got out of the car, our umbrellas are out, protecting us from the rain. Our hands. Locked together, holding each other tightly so we don't slip on the wet stones of the road ahead. My head against his shoulder. High heels in my free hand, too painful to walk on. Our laughter filling the night. Nobody else in sight. A kiss in the rain. Me and Charles, strangers in the night. We let our clothes absorb the rain. So cold, and yet we had never been warmer than right in this moment. Becoming one, him and I. The million stars and the moon in the sky, the only witnesses of my forever midnight love.