Homecoming (Sequel)

V. Judas Kiss

I had been waiting for an hour, swinging my feet back and forth as they failed to reach the ground whilst I was sat on the dirty, cigarette-stain-ridden bench of Rodeoʼs only bus stop. The bus would not come for at least another fifteen minutes, and I knew, as I had read and re-read the time schedule plastered on the boothʼs window over and over to pass the time, and even though I was growing more stir crazy by the second, I remained seated, waiting impatiently until it would finally come to a screeching halt in front of us. Us being myself, an ancient lady named Ursula who lived three blocks down the road from me and seemed to have an endless supply of chocolate ready and waiting to be handed out to me – as she continuously did –, and a young man, who had introduced himself as Theo but I doubted that was really his name, as he continued to introduce himself to us, using a different first name each time around. Theo, John, Tony, Finn, I wouldnʼt even have cared if his name had been Adolf Hitler, I just appreciated that I didnʼt even had to bother to try and make conversation, because Theo spoke as if he were the embodiment of a crowd of ten thousand strong. The way he spoke, it was clear he wasnʼt lucid at all, as he rambled on and on with an inhumanly speed, and the absence of lucidity was quickly explained as I saw the puncture wounds scattered across the expanse of his forearms.
While Theo spoke about something I didnʼt comprehend and I was sure that I didnʼt even want to understand, and Ursula was getting ready to bend down to grab another piece of chocolate to share with us, my ears were pointed attentively and my eyes were trained upon the road, staring far off into the distance, so I would know immediately when a large metallic bison would come heading for the town border. Even though I knew the bus wouldnʼt come for a while, I still came and sat down an hour too early, so there would be no chance for me to miss this buss, or to miss seeing one of its occupants. After four months, it was finally time for him to come home, just in time for Winter to turn into Spring.

But before the clock could strike fifteen minutes later, the mass of metal already doomed up in my vision, and before it could disappear again as only just a phantom, it halted right in front of the bus stop, puffing loudly as the doors opened. A man stepped out first, then another man, then a woman, another woman, and so on, until I was sure the bus couldnʼt have contained more people and would be empty, meaning he hadnʼt even been on it in the first place. Ursula and Theo left me alone on the bench to leave Rodeo on this buss. Then, as the bussʼ door again made a puffing noise, signaling it was about to close its doors to any further passengers, two soiled Converses landed on the tarmac, and at the first sight of them, I had already jumped up from the bench and was heading for their owner. He was standing there, holding his guitar case and packed as if he had been away for two years, and looking around in this mass of people for my plum hair to pop up out of the blue. And just as it did, in the split second he had before my body had clung itself to his like a human koala, he dropped his bags and awaited the impending collision.
Just as our bodies mashed together, our lips did too, with a force of unseen measures, hungry as we had both starved for each otherʼs intimacy. His mouth was still as soft as it had felt the last time we kissed, before he left, his lips tasting still as sweet, his tongue still as warm as he caressed me so. His breath betrayed a fancy for a cigarette or two on the way here, but as it mixed with a minty taste, it tasted just as it had always done.
When our lips were satisfied, rid of their hunger, our eyes had at it, examining every minor change in each otherʼs faces that had occurred over the course of four months as we resided in each otherʼs arms. Whereas my freckles had returned slowly with the return of the sunʼs rays, his face had lost the last amount of childish allure, making way for a manly physiognomy, decorated with the same slight layer of stubble, just how I fancied it.

"Ciao, bella, la mia bella principessa, mi sei mancata, ti amo così incredibilmente molto del vostro," he whispered hotly, his mouth moving further towards my ear with every syllable he spoke, tickling me with his warm breath.
"Where have ya learned all them fancy words, like?" I mused, my voice drowning in amorous happiness. "I divvinʼ remember ya whisperinʼ them to us between the sheets..."
"I will whisper them to you when weʼre alone..." he huskily spoke, before pressing a featherlight kiss right below my ear.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes, itʼs been four months...Iʼm so horny, if you were only to move to touch me there, I would already be wetting myself with all of my love juice."
"Is that a challenge, my love?" A devilishly smug smirk crept upon my lips as he cherished my neck with his lips, setting my body on fire with only the merest touch. However, at my words, he moved to face me once more, his eyes burning up with desire right before me, a sight yet so familiar. "Are you willing to accept it?"
"Wey-aye," I whispered to him, right before I wrapped my arms around his neck, laying my head in the crook, basking in the scent that radiated out of his pores, one that Iʼd had to miss for months. "But first, I wannu hold ya and never let ya gan, ever ʻgain. I missed you loads..."
My heart swelled out of its natural prohibitions when his arms tightened around my waist, pressing me against his torso as close as possible. I could feel his beat steadily in his chest, speaking to me without using words – for the brain used words, but the heart could not speak.
"I missed you too," he spoke softly, as if only I were allowed to hear him. "I missed everything about you: your voice, your eyes, your lips, your jokes, everything."
"Hearinʼ yer voice owa the phone didnʼt suffice, atʼall."
"No," he agreed. "Over the phone, I couldnʼt see how beautiful you are."
Granted, in light of today, my eyes had received a special touch to enhance the heated, feline stare they held, to try and mesmerize him, and see what he had been missing. Shallow maybe, but something had to make the wait worthwhile; having a sort waiting for you at home, ready to be with you totally whenever you came back, that had to be something.
"Ti amo," I voiced, veering out of the crook of his neck to peck him sweetly on his plush lips. "Ti adoro."
He answered my peck thoroughly, with another one of his deep kisses of which he knew that it would make me feel as alive as I could possibly be. "I love you too, darlinʼ," he smiled boyishly, suspiciously playfully. "So much, that Iʼve had something done for you."
"Eh?" I chorused perplexedly.
His smile morphed into an entirely giddy, slightly smug grin. "Iʼve had myself prodded and poked artistically for you."
"A tattoo? You got tatted for us?" I was not able to hide the slight sense of absolute excitement in my voice.
"Yeah," he nodded happily as he laid his hand on the base of my jaw, brushing my cheek with his thumb as he glanced into my eyes. "Of course. Why wouldnʼt I do that for you?"
A chorus of reasons popped up into my mind, one being that no relationship could be expected to last for an eternity, and thus getting a tattoo for your partner in love would be a bit irresponsible, but I wisely muted that wise part of my brain, as the excitement of this novelty overshadowed everything.
"Well, what are ya waitinʼ for? Show us then."