Sunset. Yes, the sun was heading down and the hills were swallowing it up for the night time to approach. And where was I? At my residence... sitting on the patio that was right outside my room. I wasn't doing much of anything, since all of my work was done for today anyway. Might as well take the time for myself and that's exactly what I did. I was sat out there, smoking a cigarette and listening to music.
Sacrifice by The Weeknd.
Sometimes I was a Weeknd type of guy. I'd be laid back like I am now, with my eyes closed... relaxing and blasting those vibes in my ears. And I took a long drag from that cigarette and even sometimes while I did this, I thought about Salomé whenever she wasn't here. But I get it, it's always nice to have a bit of space and let her feel comfort where she sees fits. She'll always be my darling, that's for sure.
Though in the midst of my thoughts... something came over me. Something that told me there was a presence around here somewhere. It was weird... because I could usually detect if someone I didn't know stepped foot on this property and maybe that's what made me open my eyes and I sat up looking around me. I didn't see anything... but it felt awfully close.
Was I afraid? Not necessarily... but more so wondering who the hell was watching me. That made me put my cigarette out in the ash tray in front of me and no sooner did I do that, someone grabbed my shoulder and I quickly turned to punched them straight in the face for sneaking up on me like that, only to realize...
"Nero?!? The /fuck/ would you even do this for???"
Of course I yelled at him because he caught me way off guard. Damn him. I forgot he could even do such things. Damn poltergeists... and what did he do? He laughed. Of course he did.
"Why the sour face? Scared or something? And here I thought you were the most dangerous man in Rome. Out here scared of some ghost."
An eye roll from me.
"Seriously? /You/ snuck up on me. Dude- I could've knocked you the fuck out, really. What are you doing here anyway?"
Because of course I was curious. Why was he here? I never expected him to randomly show up after I've only seen him what? Maybe months ago?
"I came here because... I missed my best friend? Is that so bad? Like yeah, yeah. I know we had issues in the past but... it was stupid. Like after that conversation we had some time ago, it wasn't worth it-"
Here I am, listening to this and I just stared at him for a moment, shaking my head.
"It took you how long to realize this? Like, I'm not even mad anymore but..."
A slight grin crept across my face and I looked at him, he looked at me and well, I held my hand out to him and he grabbed mine. Firmly we held one other's hand, pulling each other into a quick embrace.
"You idiot man... I thought I'd never hear from you again. We just lost so much time and we have so much catching up to do."
I told him, now looking him in the eyes and Nero nodded in agreement. At least we /could/ agree on that much.
"You're telling me... why don't we ride out? It's cool outside and the night's just settled in. Maybe we can see what the hell we can get into tonight. Stupid little things like we used to do?"
Did I really want to go out now, riding and wandering around town and what not? Well... at first I would've said no, but after more thought, I gave a simple head nod to Nero and stood up from where I was sitting.
"I don't see why not. I got two bikes out front. Helmet's waiting for you and I even got some flashlights and whatever. Just in case. It's all part of the gear, you know that."
