I'm back, but taking a break from Faerie Lights due to the prompt. You can follow Faerie Lights/Glimmer on www.raynanoire.weebly.com
Today's snippet is taken from a short story called The Cosmic Waltz, which takes place in the 1980's. Lola loses control of her small car in a torrential downpour and is almost hit by a young trucker named Brett. The excerpt starts after they'd met and Brent drives her off the highway to a drugstore parking lot.
The truck grill was the last thing she saw before her car spun out of control on the rain drenched highway.
Brett twisted off the ignition and opened the car door. “I made the mistake of complaining how boring the run was,” he said then swatted the hanging compass. He grabbed it, looked at it then looked at her. An odd expression danced across his features, transforming them briefly, but not long enough for her to identify the emotion displayed in the depths of his clear-water blue eyes.
“It’s a compass. A friend gave it to me because I have no sense of direction.”
He cradled the compass in his large hand, staring at it. “Your friend cared about you, but’s it not doing you any good swinging wildly. It needs a base to anchor it and be able to direct you.”
Brett had no clue how right his words were. A missing base could be the solution to more than the compass. “I’ll have to get a base. I could glue it to the dashboard. Is there anything I can do to thank you?” An earlier search in her purse, before she decided to go on a sales call revealed four dollars and seventy-five cents, a full pack of Certs breath mints, and her half pack of cigarettes. Not exactly a treasure to offer the man who didn’t kill her.
His long legs had already swung out of the car with his scuffed cowboy boots resting on the pavement. He turned at the waist resting one arm on her bucket seat. “Mmm, a thank you for my superior handling of the big rig and not crunching your import like a beetle. Let me see.” His eyes rolled up as he pretended to ponder the situation.
Lola didn’t expect him to ask for anything. He would probably put two fingers to his head in a salute and say, “All in day’s work, ma’am.”
The corner of his lips twitched up as he held up one finger. “I do have one request if you don’t mind.”
If you don’t mind? Would she be able to say no, seeing as he hadn’t run her over? He had to be a good driver since he hadn’t hit her or any other cars and didn’t roll the truck. “Tell me.”
“Okay.” He lifted his eyebrows. “I want a kiss.”
“Is that all?” She didn’t expect something so simple and readily given. She leaned toward him with her cheek prominently displayed expecting a quick peck and he’d be off, leaving her with a romantic tale.
No kiss. She drew back disappointed only to find Brett’s mouth twisted to the side as he tried not to laugh. Her temper flared. Men. They made no sense at all. She poked her pink frosted index finger nail into his KISS t-shirt and hard muscular chest underneath. “You ask for a kiss. Then you don’t take it. No wonder women don’t understand men.”
Brett’s laughter surprised her as much as his entangling his fingers with hers sending some of his personal energy into her body. His laughter died down as he released her hand. “I’m sorry, Lola.” His fingers touched her furrowed brow bestowing more of his grade-A alpha energy. “The way you presented your cheek to me as if we were both in second grade and out on the playground. You might as well have said, ‘Yes, Brett Mayers, you can kiss my cheek now.’”
It sounded bad the way he described it. Made her sound like some spoiled princess doing a commoner a favor. “Okay. Help me out here. Make me understand.”
He pulled his legs back into the car. A promising sign as he took her hand in both of his. “Lola, sweetheart, I know you don’t know me from Adam. No real reason for you to trust me, or anything. All I wanted was to feel like I mattered to someone. Being a truck driver is a lonely life. I guess I wanted you to kiss me. To make me feel like I mattered to someone even if it was pretend. Stupid, I know. I’ll go.” He was at the edge of the parking lot before she sprang into action.
“Wait, Brett. Stop.” She ran as fast as her stacked heel slides would carry her. Brett spun around and opened his arms. She flew into them without thought. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her off the ground.
Their lips touched gently at first. His moved and she mirrored the motion, deepening and prolonging the kiss, easing into a familiarity she never dreamed possible. Her fingers drifted to his head feeling a slight bristle under her fingertips.
Before she could investigate further, her heels touched the ground.
“Very nice. You did make me feel special. Important. You have a way of making dreams come true.”
“Yeah.” She agreed, rather breathlessly. What a kiss! Um, yeah. Say something else. Be cool. “Just call me dream spinner. “
“All right, dream spinner.” He looked back at the highway. “I need to get back to my truck.”
She nodded, not sure what to say after such an encounter. “Drive safe.” Her comment made him grin as he jogged toward the exit ramp.
For Pete’s sake, she sounded like her grandmother. Why not, see you later, sexy?
Once inside the car, she grabbed her keys and purse, clutching them to her chest. Safe. Everything secure, she peered through the window for any sign of Brett. Nothing. No doubt, he’d already reached the highway with those long legs of his. Her shoulders drooped as she slumped back into the driver seat. Strange day, near death experience, a romantic interlude, but over now. Several heartbeats thudded as she replayed the last minutes of her life. Thank goodness, the police didn’t make her stay since she still had a sales appointment.
Had it been twenty minutes? In some ways, it felt like a lifetime full of lights and colors she’d never experienced before. Then in another way, it felt more like a blink, a hiccup in her ordinary life. Something unusual never to happen again. Who was Brett Mayers? Did it matter since she’d never see him again?
A cigarette later, she decided to call into work using the payphone outside of the drugstore to give them the details of the incident then call her appointment. With any luck, they’d cancel.
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