The Storms Of August

Chapter Twenty Four: I'll Leave It All For You

I woke up to bloodless violence against the shoreline outside my cracked window. Sunlight seeped between the bamboo shades that blocked the ball of fire in the sky. I could feel the heat of the day in horizontal lines across my face as I felt around the bed. I found nothing but twisted sheets where my boyfriend used to be. The spot was cold now. Slowly, I cracked my eyelids open like the day and rocked myself upright. Wooziness rocked my body like an earth tremor. I'd say it was a tropical ocean breeze of a hangover, nothing but a mini gust from the umbrella drinks.

 As I made my way down the empty halls, the smell of eggs crept up the staircase and sleepy voices danced along the hardwood. The soft thuds of the balls of my feet sounded heavier than I weighed, like I was carrying something on my shoulders that sent my footsteps down to the ground like principles. 

Scurrying into the kitchen, I found Nick making omelets, only wearing his boxer-briefs, a toothy smile, and a small apron reading "kiss the chef" in a girly font. He looked happy on a shallow end. His eyes were gleaming in the steam of his culinary skills, but I was sure only children and the unaware could not graze their toe along the bottom of his warm emotion. His body bore mountains that rumbled and shook like dormant volcanos, flexed biceps and a hunched back held them as he gasped for breath. 

Seated at the island, a small figure sat with her hair in a messy bun on top of her head wearing black leggings and a graphic gray tank top. Her legs were crossed at the ankles under her, gracefully dangling off the rung of her stool as she swayed to the kick of her own drum. Demi's long, nimble fingers wrapped around her mug like heartbreak as she sipped her coffee with meticulous caution and examined the small plate sitting empty beside her with the exception of a few crumbs. I immediately noticed the elegance was back in her posture and the clarity was polished in her dusty eyes. She looked almost normal. If I was to sleep off last night like my first nightmare I would have been fooled that she was who I knew after midnight. Freckles popped like stars on her face and the only thing crushing her moonlight was the scorching light blasting through the screen door. I hadn't noticed some things in a while - the length of her hair, the thickness of the eyelashes hovering over her intense eyes, the faded crimson nail polish striking her toes. She was gorgeous, and I almost hated it. I despised the way I could roll my eyes down the spine of her back as if it were poetry. I loathed the way I felt when I saw the crinkle in her brow had fled from her face at the crack of dawn. 

They noticed my presence when my heel fell on a squeaky board but a few feet away. Both heads shot up like kids caught with their hands in the candy jar before returning to ease. Nick smiled slightly wider than before, waving his spatula and saying "mornin'" in a lazy but amiable tone before shifting his breakfast in the pan. Demi, on the other hand, watched me. She leaned over the counter with her curled lips just a pout away from kissing her mug as she held in on loose elbows. There it was, the power of a thousand suns burnt through her gaze and sliced holes in my alert demeanor. She seemed like her. Clear, happy, slipping through me like my heart was a corn maze. I even smelled the sugar of honey when my eyes fell upon hers. The smile on her lips grew as the time passed, as I stood in place, daunted by the switch she flipped. As the tap in her foot grew. As the bell tolled in a far away place for the holy spirit to mourn. As we shared this moment with Nick's back turned and the scratches of the past bandaged. We played pretend in frozen thought and word until she bit her lip gently and shot me a wink before returning to her coffee. 

"Where's Joe?" I asked Nick while I kept my eyes on my forbidden temptation, observing the change in expression as my tongue unsheathed a dagger. 

"He was here a bit ago, I think he went for a morning swim." 

I shuffled to the deck and sure enough, I could see a fit young man with jet black hair jogging out of the shallow water, bronze skin igniting my eyes. I turned back and sat beside Demi at the island. I wanted to ask about last night. My curiosity burned to know how she felt waking up this morning; if she remembered being possessed with the demon called Liquor that struck at her character and bombarded her features. I dared not to though. Bringing up bad memories usually means feeling the past, and the sun is too bright and air too warm for a heavy heart today. It was silent for a minute or too. I watched Nick with much more interest than I actually had and pretended I could not feel the scorching hole Demi's eyes were burning in the side of my head.