Heart shots

A BIKE (Part 21)

I was tense as I walked. I wanted to ask her something, but doing so reminded me of the walk earlier, and my mood was already ruined. Yet the urge to clarify was too strong.

The silence was growing heavier, the air thin, and at that point, he knew if he didn't ask her, he would never be able to, so he gained some courage and coughed to break the silence, awkwardness at its peak, "Hey, you know, don't mind Brezzy, she sometimes just blurt out in curiosity."

"Ohh, I don't mind it, really."

"Yeah, I'm glad."                                                                                                                                                                       "Anyways, how do you know Drave?"

"Ohh, it's quite interesting, we were friends earlier."

"That's hurting."

"Yeah, quite."

"How did you become friends?"

She looked at him, taken aback by his sudden question, feeling her gaze, he blurted, "No, I was just curious, don't answer if you are-- " "We are family friends." "I get it."

This raises the awkwardness. Carson felt that he crossed the line, but fortunately, they reached the parking, and Blyana caught up her pace, grabbed the helmet, and handed it to Carson.

"Hey, you are driving, wear it." "Either way you are sitting behind me, what if you fall?" "I won't, and you know, honestly, you drove the car earlier, and now it's my turn." "Hey, that's not how it wor---" cutting her sentence in between, he grabbed the helmet and put it on her head, and the kind of butterflies she felt were amazing.

He sat on the bike, starting it, but Blyana removed the helmet from her head, rebelling, so he accelerated a little, almost panicking her. She is usually calm, not panicking; she does not get worked up in any situation or with any person but him. But he was too in love to understand this.

Carson accelerated and stopped; she somewhat ran behind him, and looked at him, but he gradually said, "This is a good bike, heavy and smooth, I can consider it one of my options." "Hey, get off." "Nahh, but sure you can hop on." "What?" he found teasing her surprisingly peaceful, and the way she was playing along, not being seriously offended, was somehow cool for him, but eventually she sat on the back.

He was waiting for her to settle in comfortably when he felt something on his head. She put the helmet on his head, leaving him dumbfounded and said, "I am gonna trust you with your driving skills." He felt like he should make her wear the helmet rather than him, but maybe he should just drive safely.

He again accelerated, testing it's pick up strength, but when he accelerated, it also jerked Blyana to lean on him and grab him due to friction, so she suddenly grabbed his waist tight to balance herself, giving him chills through his spine. 

The bike hummed under them, a shared heartbeat that didn't demand anything, yet offered everything in return. He kept his eyes on the road, but a slow, unguarded smile crept in at the corners of his mouth. He couldn't tell if it was relief or invitation or the beginning of something neither of them was ready to name yet.

A dog barked somewhere nearby, and Blyana shifted slightly, the motion drawing him closer without a word. For a moment, the city fell away, leaving just two people on a bike and a night that held its breath.

The wind tugged at Blyana's hair and swept cool air across the back of his neck. She sat rigidly still for a heartbeat, then loosened only enough to rest her cheek against the helmet's edge, eyes trained on the road ahead. No smile, no teasing—just a distant, almost clinical clarity that contrasted with the tremor he felt in his own chest.

Understanding her movements, he asked her if she was cold. She nodded once, touching his shoulder slightly. He was rigid due to her small, hot breath on his shoulder. He slowed down the bike so it's lesser cold, making her plea, almost a murmur, "Don't slow down, we're almost there," but disregarding her, he drove slowly, knowing he'll always remember this ride.

He turned, entering the society gate slowly as the engine purred.

The security guard stopped them for identification, the moment didn't break. It only shifted.

Carson slowed as they entered the familiar lane, the buildings rising around them like quiet witnesses. No questions, no interruptions—just the soft hum of the engine easing into silence as he pulled up near their block.

He killed the ignition.

The sudden quiet felt louder than the ride.

For a second, neither of them moved.

Blyana's hands had already left his waist, but the ghost of her touch lingered, stubborn and warm, like it refused to be dismissed so easily.

Carson got off the bike after her and thanked her for the ride, for a moment their was a quiet awkward silence between them, they stayed their and just no one wanted to move, but it was quite late so Blyana bid him off first grabbing the helmet and driving off to her building, he stayed just to see her driving, reaching her end of the area.

He finally reached his apartment, and unexpectedly he chuckled, hard as if he had held for long enough that he would've almost passed out if didn't let it out, but something shifts he realizes, however beautiful this might seem now, love always brings pain, and the pain has not found his way yet, but that is just a part, he is sure he can take that pain for her, and for now, he can be happy.

His eyelids grew heavy, not from tiredness, but from the slow, warm weight of her name settling behind his ribs — a quiet anchor, already holding him steady against the tide he knew would come.

Sighing with a huge smile on his face, she made him forget all his daily night routine and made him doze off to a fairy sleep.

The engine's hum vibrated through her palms as she pulled away from Carson's building, but the seat behind her felt suddenly, sharply cold. She had spent the last fifteen minutes anchored to him, her hands at his waist and her head tucked against his shoulder, but now she was the one at the handles, steering her bike through the empty, midnight streets. The wind that had felt like a romantic blur earlier now felt biting, trying to wash away the lingering warmth he'd left on her skin. but somehow it was suddenly peaceful, earlier her heart won't stop thumping, however still wanted that feeling to last a while longer.

By the time she reached her own building and killed the ignition, the silence of the garage felt heavy. She sat there for a beat, the helmet still snug against her ears, listening to the rhythmic tick-tick-tick of the cooling metal. Her waist felt strangely sensitive, as if the phantom weight of the ride had permanently altered her.

Stepping into her apartment, she didn't bother with the lights. She moved through the shadows of her room in total silence, the weight of the evening finally pressing down on her. There was no laughter, only a quiet, breath-stealing stillness as she processed the shift in the air between them.

As she sat on the edge of her bed, the high began to shift. She knew this feeling; she knew that something this beautiful usually came with a hidden price, a pain that hadn't found its way to her door just yet. The reality that love eventually brings a crash hovered at the edge of her mind, dark and persistent.