SYNCHRONICITY (Dream Walker) 🖋

Penance

They spoke briefly about dinner as he stood behind her, their hands clenched together so tightly over her slender shoulder, that their knuckles were white. They left the kitchen, having agreed to purchase a few steaks to grill instead of  the roast that Judy had planned on making.

She stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to face him. "Kiss me."

"What? Here? Right now?"

"No, tomorrow at the airport. Yes, right now...I want to see if you're what...who I think I remember..."

He reached his hands  toward her face, cradling her pink cheeks tenderly and lowering his face  to hers, he feathered a tender kiss upon her lips. She yielded to him  instantly, memories filling her mind as he emerged to the apartment on  El Paso...the one that was just next door to the unit that she had  formerly occupied. "And?"

Her eyes fluttered as  she momentarily reeled herself in and Sebastian smiled...apparently, she  still didn't care for the process of emergence. Still she nodded as she  blew out a puff of air, inflating her cheeks. "Oh yeah," she replied  breathily. Sebastian watched her carefully, realizing that the next  minutes could make or break them. She took a few moments to look around  the room. "Oh my god. I know where we are," she said as she pulled away and looked toward the back door to see the large red monolith dwarfing  the tiny back yard. "I used to live next door."

Sebastian stiffened. "Yes, I know," he replied with quiet guilt.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the one who had you evicted," he said sorrowfully.

She looked up into his green eyes with shock and disbelief. "That was you,"  she whispered as she walked backwards, putting a few feet of distance between them knowing full well that his exceptional auditory capabilities allowed him to hear her as if she'd been right up on him speaking at a normal volume. She could see the sorrow in his eyes as he nodded. "Why?"

"I wanted to get a meeting with the tenant and I...I didn't know it was you, Alison...you...I'd never..."

She breathed in deeply, her expression turning cold as ice for only a split second at having seen his expression; still, she was going to let him have it. "It shouldn't have mattered if it was me or not! Those men were horrible!"

Sebastian clenched his eyes tightly as he nodded. "I know," he whispered, as a single tear threatened to slide down his cheek.

"I had to quit Vet school because I ran out of money..."

"They told me that you were in the process of filing..."

She nodded. "I was. Like I said, I ran out of money." She turned around and headed back toward  the door and he darted after her. She'd realized that he had amped up his guilt factor for years...it was a taboo topic as far as he was concerned and she quickly changed the subject. "Sparsely furnished. Reminds me of a den."

He breathed a sigh of relief realizing that she'd caught on quickly. "That's the idea."

She nodded as she turned around and smiled. "It suits you. I like it." She held out her hands for his and he stared at them for a moment and took them in his. "I made  peace with that little unpleasant chapter in my life. You should too."

He looked away, over her head at the nearly bare walls and shook his head.

"My beautiful Bast...still kicking your own ass..." She smiled and it quickly turned into a wicked grin.

He waved his arms in the air. "Well, you know me?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't." She walked through the tiny apartment, noting the sparseness  of it as if it was starting to bother her. "Not any more."