We walked the three miles to the old cathedral. It was roofless but it's statues were still intact and it looked magnificent. Music, faint and almost inaudible pulsed up through the ground into our bones. It's beat was demanding and constant. It wanted us dancing to it. I almost did.
"So, interesting place to put a club?" her old confident self from before I let her ink me was back, but it wasn't cruel. "Yeah, come on."
I pulled her through a side door and jogged down the spiralling stone steps. Our laughter filled the empty halls and corridors. The pull of the music led us to the entrance. The bouncer was talking quite sternly to another person. We snuck past him and into the basement. "Interesting decoration." She shouted directly into my ear. The music pounded us more insistent than ever. "Yeah, it used to be a government base." I yelled at her.
I had finished searching the crowd for the pair eyes I wanted. "Come on!" I tugged her through the crowd. The bodies pressed up close, hot and sticky. I was laughing and Sky was shoulder shuffling. The music covered our noise and the people we bumped into didn't even notice us. They thought we were other dancers.
I pulled Sky out of the main mass of writhing bodies. We collapsed onto the floor: me on top of Sky. I jumped up and pulled her up with me. "Hey, nice to see you."
"Yeah, Luke who you bought with you?" Jordan asked, inquisitive as ever behind his intimidating exterior. His hair was tied back and he wore a denim jacket over his bare chest. He wore black tight jeans and had his leather boots on. They held the story of when we stole them off a Snatcher. They had done their 10 year sweep and were camping in the forest. The three of us, Jordan, Leo and I had crept into the camp and had taken them.
"This is Sky. Shes-" She cut me off.
"I'm an inker. And I'll ink you for 5. It's a special deal." She winked at me.
"I take you've already done Luke then."
"Yeah, and now I can ink you."
"Sure, here." Jordan handed Sky 5 bills.
While Jordan and all his mates got inked I sat back and watched her. When she had been tattooing me I hadn't had the chance to observe. Now I did and I sat back. She held the pen in her right hand. I imagined her a goddess, standing tall and proud, holding her weapon in her hand. But she held it too sure for it to be a weapon. She tilted her head to the side to get a better view and I was captivated by the curve of her neck. Like a dancer, a ballerina. Beautiful. Her hair fell over her eyes often and she became so frustrated in the interruption that she paused to tie it up. She twisted it into a knot. Again I was bought back to her as the goddess. I will have to paint her, even if I never see her again.
She was putting her pen back in its case as she walked up to me. "While were here, you wanna dance?"
I laughed at the absurdity of the question. "Yeah, why not?"
She pulled me into the mass and we danced for what seemed like forever. I lost my self in the music, pounding through my blood, pulling my strings like I was a puppet. It crashed me against rocks and held me captive and I fought for control. It was always like this. I usually revelled in it but tonight I wanted to be awake and remember Sky. She had lost her coat and was dancing in a pair of low rise jeans that hugged her hips. Her shift was floaty and almost transparent. Underneath I could see the ripple and movement of muscles. Her arms flung up and swayed with the music. I could have sworn she didnt stop moving. Her hair came down and was sweaty like mine and plastered to her temples.
She came closer to me and danced around me. I joined her and soon we were playing an elaborate game of cat and mouse across the hall. I would always catch fleeting glances of her. Her hair flying out. The distinctive clash and spark of the heels of her boots on the cool stone floor. Her jeans turned luminous by the flashing lights. She was imprinted on the back of my eyelids and I was overcome with gratefulness. I was so glad I had been recklessness enough to let her brand me.
I finally caught her and we danced again. She was my enchantress and I was her enchanted. I knew it and I welcomed it. I had never understood the appeal of losing all your control but know I did. It was beautiful and wild and untamed and I was hopelessly in love with her.
We stumbled out of the club, drunk on our dancing highs, into the cool darkness of the early morning. The cold sobered us quickly and we pulled our jackets around us. Instead of heading home I bought her to the river that would eventually trail into my village. We sat on the hill and laid back. I draped my arm casually around her shoulders and rolled onto my side. I watched her watch the stars.
"The stars are like us, don't you think?"
"How?" she had caught me off guard with her question.
"The stars burn as brightly as they can but die quicker if they do." Silence and my confession was out of mouth before I could stop it.
"Sky, tonight you burned brighter than the sun and you will forever burn bright on the back of my eyelids. Before I met you, I thought the dawn of a new day was the most beautiful thing in existence. And I sit here with the sun coming up and I look at it and I think it is a dull oil painting compared to your beauty. I could not ever be so lucky to look at you. You are a goddess and I must paint you. Your hair, tarnished but brighter than any titanium I ever knew. Your lips, soft and pale and ordinary but because they belong to you they are beautiful. Your eyes, blue like the ocean. Sky I look at your eyes and I see the world's oceans through them and I see you free and wild where you belong. You are not anyone's and you will survive longer than me because you are strong and unbreakable."
"Luke..." a tear trickled down her cheek.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry. Please forgive me-" She pressed a finger to my lips.
"Luke, that was easily the most beautiful and perfect thing that anyone has ever said to me. I am crying because it is beautiful. I am crying because I love you and I am surprised by myself."
"What do you mean?"
"All my life I have been unwanted and shunned in society because my parents weren't good enough because of what they looked like. I am sick and tired of it. Of being judged because of what I look like. I am surprised because I always go unnoticed and people never look at me but through me because they dont want to see me. I am surprised that you would think that of me. I am surprised at how you make me feel. Tonight was the night of my, no, of our lives. And I am hopelessly in love with you."
And with that I leant down and brushed my lips against hers. Careful at first and sensitive to her every reaction but slowly harder and more demanding. The spark grew into a flame which grew into a raging forest fire.
"Sky..." my breath was ragged and I could see my eyes were black with desire in the reflection of hers. Her hair lay tangled and her lips were swollen from kissing.
"I trust you Luke."
