when you met me

intertwined

Intertwined

Mara swirled her hand around the patch of sunlight that was stretched above her. The dust particles scattered for less than a second before returning back to their random floating positions. Or maybe they’d never left, maybe Mara was just too busy watching her hand to notice. She smiled as she watched the sunlight, the dust dancing about in it, free as ever.

She wondered if it were possible to be jealous of dust. Not that Mara had any reason to be jealous, she was, after all, lying on a real bed. Mara lulled her head over to look at the bed across from her. Beth whistled a tune that Mara couldn’t place and continued to paint her nails for ‘work practice’.

Dud frowned at the sunlight. It showcased how much dust was in his house, and he could never seem to get rid of it. Since leaving home, he took pride in keeping what was his neat and clean. He imagined Mara would have something poetic to say about dust, and his frown twitched into a smile momentarily.

His phone buzzed and he picked up. “D- Ash Dudley here.” He said officially. “Uh, I was actually… Fine, I’ll come.” He groaned as he put the phone down. He enjoyed going out with his mates, but some days off he just wanted to be alone.

Mara couldn’t believe that she was living in an actual ‘legal’ flat. She almost wanted to find Dud just to laugh in his stupid face. She’d saved most of the money, but Beth still almost paid half of the rent. They lived on the eleventh floor, in a one bedroom flat with electricity and a bedroom big enough to split (barely) but it was still better.

She cracked open her book of poems again for inspiration for writing a song. Cole had told her the night before that if they had a song ready, they were sure to be signed within the next six months. He then smiled a smile he must have worked on his whole life to melt hearts, but Mara didn’t care that he wanted to shirk his responsibilities.

She wanted to be the one who wrote their first song, all she needed to do was pick a theme. Mara listened to song upon song, knowing she needed to pick a mood. Songs had moods. On a good day, she’d write something, and on a bad day, she’d grimace and rub it out.

A poem suddenly caught her eye, and she read a few lines over and over, knowing what she needed to write. Mara shot up out of bed, without Beth even noticing, and grabbed her book and a pen.

Remember me? Remember me?

Well that’s okay.

If you remember us,

Then I’m okay.

I’m always okay.

One day I won’t need you,

One day you won’t need me.

Because I know how you think,

Yes I know you, too.

You want to know what I think,

And I wish I could tell you.

Remember to smile, darling.

You have a great smile.

I can’t stand to think about,

How I won’t see you for a while.

Because I know how you think,

Yes I know you, too.

You want to know what I think,

How I wish I could tell you.

One day I won’t need you.

One day you won’t need me.

One day is someday,

I wish it were today.

Mara rubbed her hands and looked at the outpouring on the sheet of paper. Her brow crinkled in realization. She had done it. She had written a song! Mara’s cheeks glowed with excitement as she jumped up and down, not taking the time to think about what she had just written. She now knew that she had the capability of writing a song.

Dud stretched and thought about Mara. Again. It was strange, because in all honesty, Mara was everything. She was family, she was his best friend, and she was the girl he loved. He yawned and stretched his arms out dramatically to pretend to be tired for a way out of this bar that was playing very depressing music.

Before he could lie, Jack came back to the table with another round of beer and two girls. The girls nervously smiled at Dud and Jim, who in turn nervously smiled at each other. “This is Mel and Beth, they were at the bar alone so I said they could join us for the game, should be starting soon.” He smiled and Jim gulped at the beautiful girls as they scooted into the booth and sat next to him.

“Except Mel supports Liverpool!” Jack cackled and Jim nervously laughed as well, unsure how to act around girls. Dud just wanted to leave, but didn’t feel nervous, having been around a girl his whole life. It wasn’t like he was interested in them at all. Beth, with her long, straight blonde hair and loud gum chewing, smiled at Dud, “What’s your name?” She asked.

“Asher.” He replied, now familiar with his name. She nodded and smiled, obviously liking his name. Dud tried to think of a new excuse to leave. She was about to make more conversation, when her phone rang. She picked up, rolling her eyes. “I’m at the bar. M, that’s great, but can it wait until- fine, I’ll be there in a minute.” Groaning, Beth pocketed her phone and stood up.

“Sorry fellas, my flatmate started a band and they just came up with the music for the lyrics she wrote or something? I don’t know, but she won’t stop ‘til I get there. Mel, I’ll call you later babes.” Mel waved, and Dud suddenly snapped to attention as Beth walked away. Didn’t Mara talk about her friend Beth? Dud tried to shrug it off as a coincidence, but with a racing heart, he couldn’t help but feel he had just returned to Mara’s life for a split second.