Pieces Part 1

Dream

Another dream? Laden with fatigue, I slowly worked myself upright to discern my surroundings. Maroon leather cushioned my elbows as I gripped onto the handlebars of a car.

I was in a car.

By this point, I'd been whirred through enough dreams not to be jolted by where I lay. But I'd seriously had to have been taken hostage by the worst kidnappers to move so freely in the back of this vehicle. I wasn't even straitjacketed. We were parked on a long, leaf-canopied road, but I could probably trace my way back to safety...

Unless I wasn't being kidnapped at all.

I listened closely to the voices. One person was in the car, the other by the righthand window. Whoever was driving decided to make a stop. I was surprised but not surprised all the same. There was something familiar about how the two people spoke—the way one's grunt dipped an octave too low. At the same time, the other seemed to talk in the perpetual merriness.

I squinted to glimpse the people's faces through the rearview mirror. The car was grey and chromatic inside, clearly, the sleek build that'd be spotlighted in dealerships. I barely craned to look in the mirror when auburn tufts of hair poked out from the driver's window.

I'd seen those tresses before.

"Oh My Gosh! I'm so happy you finally told your dad. We can finally be a family! YAY!" The overly chirpy one squealed. His name languished somewhere in the recesses of my memory.

Name forgotten; he was met with a dry mumble from whom I quickly identified as Mario. "Yeah..." He trailed off. He kept his hands on the window ledge, dragging his focus to the forest.

His boyfriend knit his eyebrows. "Wait, why aren't you happy?

There was a slight pause on Mario's end. He stuffed a blazing cigar between his lips and exhaled after some shuffling, a cigarette lighter being plucked from his pocket—after what felt like an eternity.

"Hey...I'm sorry."

"Why? For what?"

I couldn't see much of his boyfriend's face apart from his profile, but he was anxious. His cheery rambles hadn't got this stilted when we first interacted. He cared about Mario. But Mario was the eldest heir to the Hnazant name—if he'd ever been a nova of emotions, his father had reared it out of him.

Eyes still locked on his window, Mario drew on his cigarette. "I lied to you; my sister told my dad... I...I gotta go do one more thing before we can be together."

His boyfriend cleared his throat. "I think I understand..." I jerked back in my seat when he glanced at me. "Is that why you made me bring him?"

"Yes. I need him."

The minute Mario lowered his cigar, his boyfriend swiped it between his fingertips and began smoking. "Well... this isn't the first time you made me wait. And our Anniversary is tomorrow."

Yikes. I couldn't have imagined worse timing than this. Mario's eyes fell to the console, where he stared absently and consumedly. Another turn wouldn't be cropping up for miles. All there was to distract him was silence.

His boyfriend watched intensely from the other side. Then, he slowly reached for his chin, tipping it to meet his hazel gaze. "Well, who is keeping track? I'll give up any day to spend an eternity with you." With a smirk, he blew his cigar smoke into Mario's face.