"It was midnight. On the water..."
***
In the dim dark recesses of the mind where dreams are born, my imagination created a world for me to live and play in without fear of consequence. And in that place, I could do and say the things I wanted to say to the one person I wanted to say them to the most.
In this dreamworld, from out of the blue swirling void, the man took form and came to me with a smile. He was the light upon my dark and he took my hand in his as we walked along the moonlit shore of the midnight sea with the waves gently washing upon the sand.
And when I saw the Ocean's Daughter, I made a wish as I looked up into his eyes and whispered: "I can't get you out of my head."
I was wrong. My life wasn't a comedy. Or a tragedy.
It was a fucking ELO song.
***
It was early Monday morning of Christmas week and the weekend had faded into nothing more than a distant memory for most but a life-changing one for some. Especially the young woman who was the talk of the gossip grapevine after what had happened Friday night just gone.
The blind girl was sat with her friend in the far corner of the canteen as company life revolved around her.
And all because of a kiss.
And who she was kissed by.
Babette already had them as an item.
"She is very pretty," she sighed as she munched away on her salad.
I gave her my best "Oh, good grief, woman" look. Seriously, it was like being sat next to Tinkerbell. Working up in the clouds, I had only seen her a couple of times before and understood she was part of a special intake for people with disabilities. Watching her, I couldn't even begin to imagine what her life was like and the obstacles she would have had to overcome to get into a place like this. She made my own little journey look like a walk in the park. And now, here she was, the hottest ticket in town. And, yes, she was very pretty.
"Do you think he is in love with her?" wondered Babette as she knowingly glanced at me.
What? Mike Sloane? I nearly burst out laughing at the absurdity of it. THE Mike Sloane? No fucking way. Not him. He was good looking. Smart. Healthy and rich. Heck, he had enough willing pussy to last him a lifetime and then some. Love never seemed to touch meatheads like him
Funnily enough, I hadn't slept with him. Which was hilarious since we were both practically cut from the same ideological cloth. To be honest, in all the years we'd known each other, I never felt the need to put out for him. Not sure why exactly but something made me keep my distance.
Like me, I always felt as if he was looking for someone. To find that single reason to change and become something different. Call it fuckers instinct. Birds of a feather shouldn't fuck together and all that.
But that had been one helluva kiss.
A proper kiss. The kind of kiss that strips away any semblance of normality and pretense. And it had happened in a bar full of people. That takes some serious emotional connection to want to do something like that in front of everyone.
And if it was done because of love then I wanted on that train asap.
***
Babette excused herself and left me sat there contemplating the way life comes at you real fast and when you least expect it.
Such was my idle musings, I didn't notice the atmosphere in the canteen change as someone walked in behind me and went to get something to eat. A couple of minutes later that someone was standing in front of me.
"Mind if I sit here?" a familiar voice asked.
Surprised, I looked up and saw it was Scrooge McDick himself looking as awkward as fuck with everyone in the hall glancing in our general direction.
"Sure," I smiled as I watched him take a seat opposite me. Before he sat down, he glanced over his shoulder to where the blind girl was sitting with her older friend who I think was called Janet and was a team leader from general Administration.
"Thanks," he mumbled as he tried to ignore the attention.
Picking up my coffee, I took another sip as I stared at him over the rim as he took several deep breaths. He actually looked ill at ease which was probably irritating the fuck out of him and he ate his meal with a determined frown on his face as he glanced up at me.
I just smiled back. Even though he could be a total asshole at times, he was the type of asshole you could depend on and who would always be there to have your back if the shit hit the fan work-wise.
"Interesting weekend," I said as I sat back in my seat.
He gave me a wry look. "You could say that."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
I laughed. "Of course you do," I told him. "You wouldn't be sat here with someone like me if you didn't. So I guess it's true then. Never thought it would happen to a guy like you somehow. Weird how things work out."
He stared back at me for a second before nodding. "Yeah," he sighed. "I know. Believe me, no one is more surprised than me about what's happened, Carol."
He seemed genuinely shocked and I wondered how far down the rabbit hole he had gone. It is one thing to chase after something and quite another after you've caught it. In his case, there was one absolutely huge elephant in the room and he knew it.
"The girl is blind, Mike," I said quietly. "That is something and someone you don't fuck around with. Imagine what's going through her head right now sat over there. From what I hear, a lot of people are looking out for her. Don't do anything stupid that you'll regret."
His face turned into a frown as he stared at his hands that were wrapped around his mug of coffee. "I know," he said slowly. "It's just that things have moved on and we..."
He stopped and shook his head as he looked away.
