Disappear: Into Shadow

- CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE -

Entwined, two bodies moved together. Insistent, passionate, becoming one, the lovers were oblivious to the outside world, their only focus was each other. Afterwards, the man reached for a glass of water on the bedside table. From the other side of the bed a whisper from her floated through the semi darkness. "What are you thinking?"

The man rolled, moaning softly with equal parts fatigue and pleasure. Wrapping his arms around the whisperer, he buried his face in the nape of her neck and inhaled her scent. He kissed her deeply. "I was thinking about you. How right this feels."

"Mmmmm, I like that." She replied, arching her back as he pressed himself against her.

He continued kissing her neck, working his way down her shoulders. She moaned quietly, reaching a hand back to run her fingers through his hair. They remained in their embrace, pressed tight against each other, touching, kissing and loving each other.

Burning away the darkness of the night, the sun had begun to sneak its way into the eastern horizon. Wishing for an eternity in this dark room, both of them knew morning would bring hard questions that neither wanted to ask.

She asked him, "What do we tell them?"

Flat on his back, the man stared at the ceiling, tracing the cracks in the plaster. Hoping to lose himself in their little details, he wanted to avoid the question. Fat chance of that, he thought. Sliding an arm beneath her, he pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest.

"Your heart's pounding." She observed.

"We tell them nothing." He said.

"You're probably right."

"It would be social suicide. Too many friends would get hurt taking sides."

"We could just run away somewhere. Where would you run to?"

The two lovers held each other close. Speaking of far away places they would like to visit and impossible dreams, the first slivers of daylight crawled higher into the sky. Light seeped through the bedroom's curtains and shadows began to form.

"Those two are going to be a couple of tired puppies at work today," Simon said, looking down at the rumpled covers that hid the lovers. He was standing in a far corner of the room and had been rooted there most of the night.

Dagan had found the couple earlier that night. The lovers had been out on the town with a group of their friends. Neither of their respective 'partners' had come out with them. The neowatchers watched the subtle flirtation and stolen looks throughout the evening. The muted courtship evolved from a joke, a subtle touch of the foot, a brushing pass of the other's hand into small, hidden touches that lingered for moments beyond propriety.

Simon and Dagan saw how each moment, no matter how brief, made everyone about the couple disappear from their perceptions. Simon could feel their attraction. He heard their thoughts and their yearnings. There was a love shared between these two friends but there was a gap between them. The maw of that chasm was framed by their respective current boyfriend and girlfriend. As the night continued, the significance of those others faded. Not because of the drinks downed or their inhibitions being forgotten, but because each was realizing what the other truly meant to them. Simon missed those feelings and the sensations. That passion, that deep hunger inside never to be satisfied with just one touch, one love making, even one night. Those lucky, lucky bastards, he thought.