Lustrous

Chapter 33: Oppurtuinities

We walked into the Cellar below the main building of the retreat. The dim lights did little to illuminate the endless rows of wine bottles let alone the wooden stair-case pressed up against the stone walls. It was cold down here and I momentarily cursed myself for not grabbing a cardigan on my way out of our hut.

Our flight left in only a few hours and our bags were already loaded in the car while the driver waited to take us to the small airport. We decided to sit down and have some wine before we boarded to take the edge off the tremor in my body at the mention of being trapped in the air tight metal box that flew far too high above the ground for my liking.

All though, let's face it, anything above the second step of a ladder is too high above my comfort zone.

As I stepped off the last step I felt Anthony's hand slip into mine. "It's dark down here." He said as if to justify his reasons for taking my hand. We wandered through the shelves of old vintage wines. Anthony seemed it searching for something in particular, a favourite of his.

He let go of my hand and scanned the rack. "He we go!" He picked up a bottle and turned it in his hands. It was a white wine to my surprise.

"I'm not a fan of whites."

"Trust me you'll like this one." He spoke excitedly as he opened the bottle and poured us a glass each, filling it a little too high to be considered just one glass. "This cost about a hundred dollars a bottle."

My mouth dropped open. "Dear god, what is wrong with people?" I stared into the glass. Was it lined with gold or something?

Anthony chuckled. "My parents had a bottle they were given on their wedding day that they kept down in the cellar under lock and key. When I turned sixteen, I decided to celebrate by picking out a bottle and getting my first taste."

"Oh you didn't?" I put my hand over my mouth thinking about just how those events unfolded.

"Oh I did. The gold ring around the top of the bottle and the fact that it sat alone in a case all by itself just looked so inviting." He chuckled at his own memory. "I downed the whole bottle in an hour. My parents came down to the cellar and found me passed out on the floor. I woke up to a killer hangover that lasted for two days and my parents wrath that lasted until I turned eighteen."

"Throwing up on seafood, sculling expensive bottles of wine. You were terrible youth." I started to laugh.

He shrugged. "I'm an only child, I had to make up for it." He joined in my laughter. "Come on, I bet you were a pain."

I pressed my lips together thinking of my childhood. "Not really. I liked my own company and I wasn't a troublemaker - Well, at least not typically. I mean I did accidentally burn my stepmothers wedding dress, I nearly blew up the kitchen after I put a non-microwavable container in the microwave. Oh and there was this one time I forgot to put the handbrake on the car when I first got my license and it rolled into the pool."

Now it was Anthony's turn to laugh.

"They were accidents!" I defended myself.

"That's what makes it so funny!" His laughter got louder.

I rolled my eyes at him and tried to suppress my smile, raising my wine glass to my lips and taking a long sip. It was a subtle flavour at first, very fruity and sweet that tickled my tongue as I tasted the wine. The after taste how ever anything but sweet with a bitter sting that only made me thirsty for more. I could easily see how many get drunk off such a drink.

"Good isn't it?" Anthony asked taking a small sip of his own glass.

I nodded in answer.

"Nothing will ever taste as sweet." His voice dropped to a husky tone. "Well," he turned his head slightly, still keeping eye contact. "At least nothing in a glass."