I watched her as she got up and looked for her clothes; God! She was exquisite! She stood there struggling with her strap; I went over and hooked it on for her. It was purple. She smiled at me mischievously. Wasn’t it red when I took it off the previous night?
I was at the airport, waiting for Jessica, when I first saw her. She walked up to me just as I set my eyes on her. “Hye”, she said, “My bags are too heavy and I am dreadfully late. Can you please help me with them; I just can’t find a trolley”. She talked rapidly and had an almost indecipherable accent. I wanted to ask her a million things. What was her name? Where was she from? Where was she going? Why was she so beautiful? But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to take in anything but that image of her biting her lips and tucking her hair behind her ears as she tugged at her luggage. Jessica walked towards me as I loaded the luggage onto a trolley. I watched her hurrying along to catch her flight just as I hugged Jessica and wished that the girl walking away from me wasn’t so beautiful.
The next time I saw her was at Jack’s party. Jack’s been my best friend since college, so I had to be at all his parties albeit their boring nature. I stood in a corner with a bottle of beer like I always did, when Jack walked up to me with a girl by his side. “Hey, I’m glad you came, I thought you wouldn’t make it. I’m real sorry about Jessica! You guys were great together, you know”. I wish he hadn’t said that when she was staring up at me with those bewitching black eyes and that slight curl on her lips. “This is Allie, by the way, she needs to get on the 10 o clock flight; I was hoping you could drop her off at the airport on your way back home.” I touched her chocolate brown skin and felt her firm grip as I shook her cold hands.
She put everything to shame. Just her face; her perfectly chiseled lips, her Greek sculpture like nose and her big black eyes; made the Mona Lisa, Cleopatra, Elizabethan Taylor pale in comparison. She laughed like a child, she laughed at everything I said, she laughed even when I didn’t say anything, she laughed and it made me ache all over. God! She was magnificent!
“I think I’m going to miss my flight” she said as we got into my car. She fidgeted with her petite fingers and looked out the window anxiously as we drove to the airport. Did she know I was looking at her? Did she know I was burning and dying sitting by her side right then? Did she know that she was too good even for the Gods?
‘Flight cancelled’ it read. She looked at me helplessly. I knew I shouldn’t, I knew that it would be a big mistake, I knew what would inevitably happen, but I had no other option now, did I? We got back in the car and headed towards my apartment.
My apartment was a mess with my jacket sprawled across the couch and my books spread across the floor. “Nice apartment” she said “It seems real cozy. Do you live her alone?” I don’t know how it happened after that but there was no longer any space between our lips to exchange words. I took off her yellow shirt, pulled off her black skirt and unhooked her red strap and I burned and shivered and felt myself turn to dust.
It was 7am when I woke up the following morning and she was gone like I knew she would be. It’s been a long time since it happened, so I don’t miss her so much anymore. I think of her though, every time I’m with a woman. I remember how she smelled of freshly brewed coffee beans, how her eyes lit up when she laughed her infectious laughter. I remember it all, I remember it well, everything that happened on this very bed.
I need to find my clothes now. Sara’s in the shower and might come out any minute. Where are my clothes? Where did I put them? I think Sara threw them on the couch as she took them off me last night. I see them lying on the desk, sprawled together. I reach out for a piece of cloth. It’s red. As I try to put it on, I feel Sara’s hand hooking the strap. “You look pretty in red, Judy” Sara says and winks. So did Allie, the night I took them off her.