We Are the Unknown
untitled
They’d been talking for a while, a long while, when he asks her, while studying the amber depths of his beer bottle quite intently, why she had ever kissed a girl.
Normally she would pull out a lie here; say something that’s only partially true or ask him why he ever did the same. But she needs someone she doesn’t lie to. It’s been years since she told the whole truth. So help her, but she’s just drunk enough that she’ll tell him her reasons; he’s just drunk enough to not remember them in the morning.
“Well, you see, I was always more comfortable around boys. I only had brothers and was always a bit of a tomboy and up until puberty or so I understood boys better than anything with a vagina. And the problem, as always, is that once a guy sees you as ‘just another one of the guys’, it takes copious amounts of liquor to change that view. I guess I’m just too goddamn moral to do so.”
He snorts a laugh and turns to look at her, “True?”
“Truth,” she replies grinning, “…kinda”.
“Besides," she glances over at him before staring off toward the opposite wall. “The boys never wanted to kiss me.”
His laugh is softer this time, like a sigh but harsher, pushing out air and shifting the shoulders; almost indistinguishable from the beginning of a good cry. She prays that he’s not a weeping drunk. “You expect me to believe… With that rack? ... Yeah right.”
“Sadly, my friend, men apparently are not all about looks; or should I say tits.” She rolls her eyes and sprawls over the bar. “Otherwise the sisters would have gotten much more attention back in the day. Besides, I’m crazy enough that the boys are all scared of me, and high school boys do not date girls they’re afraid of.”
“Scared?” He quirks an eyebrow and stares at her confused. For a second she loses him in his eyes: green and brown and… goddamnit. She doesn’t care what he’s saying, he’s lost to her.
She rubs her hands over her cheeks, her nose, her eyes, her lips and chin, then runs them through her hair. “I was the unknown, m’kay? We know how much humans hate the unknown.”
“I know a few who love it… who need it.”
That is not subtle, no matter how offhand he tries to make it seem. “Introduce me sometime,” she mumbles as she tips the last few spheres of lager onto her lips. “We’ll have a grand time until I convince them to settle, marry and spend the rest of their lives with a stable wife and a steady job.”
“Are you really so crazy? So weird? So mysterious?”
“No I’m bluntly honest in a lying sort of way and I have problems with telling people what they actually want to know. The truth has always been the enemy my friend. And so- weird- just like everyone else, every where else, in every time that has ever existed. See what I mean?”
She brushes her hands on her pants, shoves her glass to the ‘keep and walks over to stand next to him. Looking down at him he seems more lost than normal, but he’s still smiling. “Why d’you want to know anyway?”
He’s a long time in answering her, avoiding her questioning gaze until his coat is in hand and seat cleaned up. Finally he turns, puts both his hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eye.
“I wanted to know if we had the same reasons.”
She’s caught off guard, this is not the kind of answer she was expecting, but the unexpected is almost always a good thing. “Reasons for what?”
Their eyes meet once again, and his gaze is that of a man hanging from a cliff next to a patch of wild strawberries. Enjoy the last moments, for soon you will die. He brushes a stand of hair away from her face and then leans towards her, moving his hands to her jaw and neck, bringing her mouth closer to his as they kiss.
They do not part, for indeed their lips are still touching when he answers her question, “For not doing that the day I met you.”
Somewhere, in the back of her head and the bottom of her heart she finds herself with a sudden wish: that he’s too drunk to remember doing this when he wakes up tomorrow.
Because she wants to repeat it, again and again and again.
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this was originally in first person but i was always uncomfortable with that for reasons we shall not delve into. i like it better in 3rd and am looking at it in 2nd.
based off a dream i had after watching y tu mama tambien
Its not that bad lol!
I think its alright actually, I guessed what would happen and the characters are relatively predictable but I like how you haven't made the leading up to the kiss as typical as most stories do
I like your writing
+1
Good, I enjoyed reading it, but I feel like it lacked something I can't place my finger on... I don't exactly get what AE's saying, though.