Salt And Pepper

His: Cest La Vie

Paris. They're dragging me to Paris now. Isn't that just wonderful?!
As Bryce discusses the details of our trip with that annoying woman, I slowly slip away into my room.

As I silently close the door behind me I hear someone chuckling. Clenching my fists, I turn towards the source of the sound, "Quit it, Mickey!"

He stops laughing and just silently looks at me. "You know you have to stop running, someday, right?" I turn my eyes away from his hard glare and look at the floor. "That day doesnt have to be today."

I plonk onto the bed with a sigh, never once looking up. "I havent been there since..her. The last time I was there, I had held her hand through every second of it. I remember this one night. We'd been really drunk. We were returning from an auction at which one of my paintings had been given away. She was shamelessly and with utter disregard for my delicate ears, shouting out the lyrics of 'Hey Jude'."

I look up at Mickey with a small smile and continue. "It sounded NOTHING like the actual song. But I didnt tell her that. I looked at her and all I could see was one of the most carefree and loving persons I had ever met swaying and dancing on the streets of Paris. The moonlight softened her features and made her hair glow."

The beauty of the memory forces me to close my eyes.

"I can still picture her face, Mickey. She was perfect. And she was mine."
Opening my eyes once again, I look up at him and say, "I can't go back there without her. I can't take all this..pain and go back there. It'll taint one of the only happy memories I have left of her."

Mickey looks at me with sympathy in his eyes and says, "Give Pepper a chance, Salt."

My eyes harden. "There's nothing she can do."

Mickey smiles ruefully and suddenly starts singing, "Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her under your skin. Then you'll begin to make it better. "

And with a wink, he vanishes.