Antipodes

Six

Zoe rolled on the other side of the bed and found it cold and empty. She sighed and looked at the digital clock on the bedside. It was way too early for anybody to be up. Anyhow, she managed to get up and found some clothes on the floor. Ryan's t-shirt and her panties. She put them on and opened the window that lead to the large balcony.

She found him there, sitting on the floor. He was holding a book in one hand and his cigarette in the other one. He didn't seem to notice her presence. He was too focused on whatever he was reading. She totally forgot about his obsession for books. He was always holding a book in his hands, that was the way they met the first. But it was still five in the morning.

"Hello handsome", she said sleepy.

"Morning, Moonlight", he replied turning to her.

"What are you up to at five AM?"

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?", he asked in a low voice.

"No", she said in a low voice mocking him. "I was worry you disappeared somewhere".

"I think that's my t-shirt", he commented smiling. "Do you remember when I used to read you stuff?", he asked.

"Like Tolstoy? Oh yes I remember!" she smiled. "Good old times".

"Okay then, sit down", he commanded her patting on the floor beside him.

She sat down and put her head on his naked shoulder. She crossed her arms, the morning breeze was so fresh that she shivered. He began reading with his warm yet sometimes so cold voice that she loved. This voice which was so worn out by all the cigarettes he smoked made her shiver again.

"What is great in the man, it is that he is a bridge and not a purpose; what we can love in the man, it is that he is a passage and a decline.

...I love the one who lives to know and who wants to know so that someday lives the superman. Because and so, he wants his own decline.

... I love the one who throws his golden words in front of his works and who always keeps more than he promises, because he wants his decline.

 I love the one whose soul is deep, even in wound. The one that a small adventure can kill: because so, without hesitation, he will cross the bridge."

Then he stopped reading, closed the book and looked at her. 

"Who wrote that?", she asked.

"You like it? It's Friedrich Nietzsche", he replied smiling.

"Wow", she said after a long silence. "This is absolutely beautiful. I thought he wrote very complex stuff that no one ever understood?"

"He usually does, but not this time. This is why this book -he said shaking the actual book in his hands- is my favourite book of all time".

"You're smiling a lot today", she commented. "Is it because of the book?"

"It's actually you who make me smile", he said leaning forward and kissing her. "And it's only five in the morning, I might not be smiling by the end of the day", he added joking.

"Breakfast in bed?", she asked kissing him back and pulling on his hair.

"Don't you have work?"

"Did you forget that I work for your father?"

 "Okay, let's piss him off", he replied while kissing her again.

She loved the way he made love to her. Like after all these years, he still remembered how every inch of her skin reacted to his touches and kisses. He was so gentle yet so manly being gentle. And at this very moment, she loved him. She loved him more than anything in the entire universe. They smoked a cigarette in silence.

By the time they were done, he fell asleep ever so slowly that she could actually watch his dreams taking him away. He looked so peaceful and so beautiful. She put her head on his chest listening to the music of his heart beat. And with her fingertips, she traced every single line of his tattoos. From the feathers on his shoulders to the the multiple tiny symbols on his arms. From the quotes on his wrists to the Sun and Moon above each one of his elbows. He told her that the sun was meant for Roxy, his Sunshine. While the moon was for her, his Moonlight. 

She kissed him tenderly on the cheek. She was madly in love with every part of him. But she had to go to work. She kissed him one last time, dressed and left him asleep.