I'm terribly sorry guys XD Been awfully busy!! Ok, I have 3 chaps in a row to post and the পরবর্তি one is ready already :P; third one I'll be posting on weekend so stay tuned ;) Read on and I'll post part 2 tonight...well my evening. Consider something like 8 hours at the utmost starting from now :P Just giving আপনি the time to catch up with this. Enjoy, it's a sad sad moment for us all I know. I hope some of this will cheer আপনি up...well sort of XD
PS I splitted it into two parts cause it's too long and I discovered we are not allowed to use আরো than a certain number of words :P Then so your eyes don't get tired ;)
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Previously on December/December
Hugh’s blue eyes searched into hers like he had just seen for the first time today.
It felt mind-numbing.
And now she just better leave before she got carried away for real...
She forced herself to slide down off the টেবিল “I’ll see আপনি later then” she told him hinting at a restrained, loving smile “call me when you’re done, ok?”
She turned and began to slide her hand out of his...
Hugh tightened his grip on her hand, though this time, unprepared to let her go.
It all felt still too much like a dream....
Lisa turned and for a moment the tips of her fingers stopped slipping through his hand.
She met his eyes, the deep blue light flashing in them, and she just couldn’t help herself.
She checked around the room quickly and before he could realize why was that, she took a step অগ্রবর্তী and kissed him.
She put a hand at the side of his face, gently, stroking it lightly and gave him a soft চুম্বন on his cheek.
Her lips lingered just an instant longer against his skin. And a moment later she was gone but the feeling he must have been day-dreaming was still there with him somehow.
Only, as he watched her walking away, the tiny little smile that slowly started to curl his lips up at the corners was very much real. And so was the new light that flashed in his eyes.
Just as real as the overwhelming, intoxicating sense of delirious, surreal happiness flooding his chest just a মিনিট later.
And Lisa was smiling and glowing all over too
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December/December - Chapter 21 - Part 1
Lisa bent over rummaging through the refrigerator. She chewed her lips and winced at it rather unconvinced for a little while, unable to make up her mind on what she was up for. In the end she just ended up shutting it closed and leaning backwards against the counter at her back, looking around distractedly; one of her thumb began to tap on the wooden top…
Kapow’s shaggy muzzle poked round the doorjamb. He jogged along, looking slightly woozy and sniffing around a bit, until he came to her feet and looked up at her with tiny, little dark eyes asking for snuggles. Lisa crouched down reaching for him, still হারিয়ে গেছে in her thoughts. Her eyes slipped on the clock hanging up over the door once again: 6.30.
It was still too early.
She stood up and walked up to her living room, grabbing an আপেল as she passed by; she started to toss it from one hand to another, pacing slowly up and down the carpet, until something caught her attention and she stopped দ্বারা the bookshelves, sliding one hand over the বই as she had a distracted bite at her apple.
She shook her head and put away the whole half-eaten core to drape herself over the armchair, one leg bending over, the other tucked underneath; she fetched the remote zapping randomly through the channels for a while unable to pay the slightest attention to any though; finally, after some time, she just gave up and tossed the remote away, breathing out heavily.
She couldn’t help peering at her cell-phone once again; predictably enough this time it didn’t lit up either.
Kapow poked round again.
“Perhaps a bath will do…don’t আপনি think?” she asked him, hopeful.
She sprang up changing her mind already though.
It would take too much maybe.
A shower, better…
It was quicker…
Hugh couldn’t almost believe it true: lights had actually gone off and the cameras weren’t rolling anymore. The curtain had been drowned over.
Finally, they were done. No আরো angles to be checked অথবা lines to be delivered for this year. It was done; well, almost. But he was free; definitely free to go. And he wouldn't be wasting a single সেকেন্ড thinking on waiting for the people to start to clear the setting, অথবা Greg, David and Katie to walk out with him. It didn’t even ক্রুশ his mind. And besides, he would have seen them tomorrow night anyway for the shooting of the finale...
A weird kind of delirious happiness overflew him suddenly: he wasn’t even half sure of what had happened earlier, not even close to know what to expect, but the feeling of it anyway had been dangerously pushing him close to be sucked downward a whirl of triumph all দিন long.
And he hadn’t even spoken to her yet; just imagine when he would if things take a turn for the best for once....
He grabbed his rucksack, waving quick goodbyes to the ones still hanging out around, and let himself out of the room as quickly as possible, wishing everyone a nice summer as politely as he could really,
without making it sound like he didn’t give a crap but were merely tossing around some small talks, randomly, just to get himself out of there. However, honestly there was any room in his mind left for anyone’s holiday plans at the moment; just a picture hung it pasted on the inside of the locker door of his mind, and she kept smiling a dazzle smile at him with some cut-shaped, round grey eyes; and he hadn’t seemed very successful at preventing himself from wanting to yank it open from time to time, just for the sake of it, like a teenage boy who couldn’t help but toying with the promise of happiness that being only a few inches away from getting his long-awaited first bike enshrouded for him.
He hit the elevator button and stood to one side for a moment, waiting impatiently for it to come along. He wondered whether it was sort of wrongly improper comparing her to a fine-wrought, shiny piece of iron though...
He smirked.
Probably not. It totally felt like stepping into a beautiful metaphor to him. He wasn’t sure she would quite understand the কবিতা of it, however, especially প্রদত্ত the complicated relationship she kept up with bikes but one দিন it would be worth trying to explain it to her.
He stared up at the elevator lights.
It was taking too much.
Better take the stairs.
It was quicker…
He dug his phone out of his pocket and rushed down the first flight as fast as his stride would let him.
Lisa switched the water off and for a moment her ears rang with the sudden silence filling the house. She wrapped the towel around herself and fastened it under her arms দ্বারা tucking a small flap in.
“Is it just me, অথবা it really is awfully quiet in here today, isn’t it?” she asked.
Shazam lay crouched in the corner. He lifted his muzzle up and tipped his head, staring at her. Lisa bit her bottom lip, pouting slightly.
“Mmm…you’re right, maybe it’s just me” she rubbed her hair “maybe I just need to stop waiting for him to call me…and he’ll just happen to call for real, any minute”
She slid a hand through her hair and took a hairbrush out of the drawer under the basin. She turned the drier on, as a faint uneasy feeling of guilt quietly started to prickle her.
Somehow this wasn’t right. He wasn’t the one she should be waiting a call from. Not so anxiously anyway and John didn’t certainly deserve this. How long since she last had answered one of his calls? অথবা thought of hearing from him? She couldn’t even remember what they had been chatting about the last time they had spoken to each other. She began to comb her hair again, gently. How had she put herself into such a mess? And how would she tell him? How would she tell a man she had been dating for just a few months and to whom she was about to have her first vacation with – and, side-note, who have been patiently waiting for her to have time for him, let alone having quietly and politely adjusted to her busy schedule – how would she tell him it was over? And why? What would she tell him was the real question…
Shazam’s sudden bark startled her, abruptly. She whirled her heard round and he started barking louder and louder, forcing her to talk over the sound of the hair-drier “Sush!! Shaz!! Quiet! What’s the matter with you, all of sudden?…”
But Shazam didn’t seem like being listening to her at all. On the contrary, he began to bark even lauder, increasingly faster until eventually he got on his paws and started to pace up and down the floor, as if there was something making him nervous, getting in and out the door, restlessly.
She shook her head and turned the drier off in the end “May I know what…”
But she shut up immediately, ‘cause a soft, distant ring coming from somewhere in the house reached her ears right away and she knew why he was barking. And she also suddenly remembered having carried her i-phone with her, but having stupidly forgot the cordless...
Another ring…
She dashed off the bathroom, running bare-feet to her bedroom, her hair still quite wet dripping down her back.
Another ring…
She moved round the বিছানা but the phone wasn’t at its place.
“Oh damn it!!!”
She had a look around. Where had she let it? How come she never managed to answer on time when he called her? And hadn’t she had already asked herself that very same প্রশ্ন once and came out empty-headed? No, now that she remembered she had come to the conclusion it was because he occasionally sent her into pure confusion.
Very often occasionally.
Another ring…
A little closer this time. It seemed like coming from the living room…
She sprinted towards and ended up tossing herself on the couch, lying on her stomach, as one of her hands reached out to grab the cordless from the opposite arm of the পালঙ্ক where it lay. She rolled on her back, almost panting as she held up the towel with the other free hand.
“Hey!!!” she sighed with a blissful beam breathing across her face already.
She heard a faint clatter on the other side, like of clanking stuff banged together “Liz?! Finally…I was about to hung up. I thought আপনি wasn’t in…”
Lisa’s face fell “Oh Karen…it’s you”
Karen scoffed, lightly “Mind you, don’t be too excited to hear from me sis…”
She pushed herself upright, clenching her teeth together. Plates clattering onto the table: she was apparently setting it ready for ডিনার
“No it’s not that…” she said, apologizing “I’m sorry…I wasn’t just expecting it to be you, that’s all” she walked up back to her bedroom, wringing and curling her hair with her free hand “How’re things over there?”
She heard Karen sucking in something, like tasting সুপ “Mmm…fine. Carl took the kids to the movies. They went to see something having to do with training a homey-dragon অথবা something like that…I didn’t quite ask for details…it’s one of those 3Ds the kids go crazy about. I don’t really fancy this stuff আপনি know, so I stayed home…besides…”
Lisa began to go through her clothes, holding the receiver with her cheek, nodding and humming quietly in assent whenever it seemed appropriate. What should she wear? Would they meet প্রথমপাতা অথবা somewhere else?
“…so I took advantage of the unexpected prolonged moment of quiet to give আপনি a buzz and see how আপনি were doing…”
How come she never knew what kind of an evening should she expect when it came to him? And why was she even giving it so much thought for God’s sake; they were just supposed to talk. She opened up one of the drawers and her eyes slipped over some silk অন্তর্বাস she hadn’t even worn yet. She snapped it closed, quickly brushing the thought off her mind. Talk. Just talk.
“…but I see আপনি aren’t even listening to me, are you?”
She froze “What? No, no. Of course I’m listening to you, I’m fine. I haven’t been doing much, just working around. Today was our last day”
She singled out a silk, aviation-blue শার্ট with a jeweled neckline and pressed it against her torso.
Karen pressed on “I sense some laconism…”
Lisa tipped her head to one side.
Nope.
Too elegant.
“No really Karen everything is…” she hesitated “fine. I’m…I mean I’m…I’ve just been working. Nothing much to talk about. I’m fine. Very much fine. Been working…that’s all…”
There was a brief silence.
“You already ব্যক্ত that…” Karen’s tone had just dipped down ever so slightly in a knowing familiar manner.
She frowned, suppressing a little smile “What have I said?” she asked going back rummaging through her clothes.
“You ব্যক্ত fine…thrice and আপনি repeatedly stressed you’ve just been working” she told her mockingly “…so unless you’re suddenly short of vocabulary…” Lisa licked her lips, picking out a রক্তবর্ণ মদ্যবিশেষ linen dress this time.
“Liz? আপনি there?”
“Mmm…”
She checked herself up and down in the mirror as she held it up to her face.
“You know, your elusiveness really starts to” she paused “…actually, come to think of it, first things first…what are আপনি been elusive about exactly?” she asked suspiciously.
Her eyes softened and she couldn’t help but smiling again to herself for a moment. She arranged her hair around her shoulders “I’m not been elusive Karen…I was drying my hair when আপনি called…I’m just…just trying on some clothes, that's all”
She hold the hanger in front of her neckline, wondering whether that dark shadow of crimson went truly nice with her complexion অথবা it just made her look deadly pale in comparison, when all of a sudden she had a flash of one of the last times Hugh had looked down at her in a way that left no room to any doubts of sort on what he was craving; and a সত্বর rush of heat running all over her body followed that memorie.
“You going out?” Karen asked.
She hesitated staring at her image as she pictured all the possible outcomes this evening might have. Did she truly know what she was doing দ্বারা now?
“I don’t know yet…but I think.yes…it might be fairly accurate to suppose so, I guess…”
A loud clank then, like she had just put down a pile of plates অথবা something.
Karen’s voice came out with a strange inflexion “Any special occasion?”
Her heartbeat raced uncontrollably: one of the possible outcomes had just occurred to her once again and it definitely wasn’t an off-hand scenario this time; to make things worse, the আরো she tried to shut it out, the আরো it kept popping right in front of her eyes, even too vividly. When had her mind become so poor of self-control?
A new light flashed in her eyes, making her smile to herself though “Might be…possibly…” she paused and bit her lower lip to one side but the smile had changed the sound of her breathing without she could do anything about it. She tossed the towel onto the বিছানা and gently slid the dress over head.
Karen kept quite.
She checked herself up and down in the mirror and the glimmer of a confident smile flushed over her face this time. He would have definitely liked this
“…hopefully, actually” she added.
She heard a chair scraping over the floor. Karen had sat down.
“You shut up! It’s Hugh, isn’t it?”
Still busy.
As climbing down, Hugh had tried twice already but it kept sending him to voice mail and he just didn’t want to leave her a message. Actually he’d rather talk to her in person but he was also desperately craving to hear her voice first and be sure he hadn’t been just imagining it all.
He made it down the last flight and hurried through the first floor settings: perhaps he might jump on his bike and take advantage to rush back প্রথমপাতা and take a quick ঝরনা in the meanwhile. If she was on the phone there was no point in trying to her cell; even if some part of him couldn’t help but wondering to whom she was talking to, and the bare fact he was giving it any thought already nagged him annoyingly. He ought to stop this.
“Hey Hugh!”
He turned as the elevator doors hissed open completely to reveal David pushing his way out of it and gesturing for him to wait him up.
“Hold on a second”
He caught up with him hastily. Katie followed quietly at his back.
“You going home, already? I mean...ehm...your...yours?” he asked him scratching his forehead.
Hugh eyed him up for a বিভক্ত করা সেকেন্ড furrowing his brows mildly. What প্রথমপাতা was he supposed to be going to?
“Erm...yeah, I...I need quick shower....why?”
David looked down at his feet, avoiding his stare, as they made their way through the main hall “No nothing....I just....I was wondering whether we could steal আপনি a couple of minutes....” he said, scratching his right temple with his fingertips and tightening his grip around his backpack strap to slung it over his shoulder.
“About?” he asked him conveying much আরো impatience than he intended to. He flicked his eyes down at David’s watch getting a brief glimpse: 7.00 pm
Katie had just appeared out of nowhere right at his side. She kept walking with them keeping awkwardly quiet, arms folded over her chest, holding some carpets and a water bottle clenched in her hand.
It felt weird.
Both her this creepy silence of hers and the way David kept slurring whatever he thought he was supposed to tell him, just felt weird.
It made it slightly uncomfortable.
David coughed lightly once again “Nothing, I mean...we noticed...I mean, we were wondering” he hesitated for second; then laughed quite nervously “Ok, how do I put this?...I mean...maybe it’s none of our business, but আপনি see, we are...I mean....I’m your boss - that’s a fact for sure -but I’m also your friend, of course....”
They went past the sentry box and he waved, noticing Mike was still on guard and they hadn’t switched with Jeff yet. He stifled a smirk thinking on how now things definitely looked an awful lot better than they had this morning.
He could have never guess...
David was still talking but he had missed half his words দ্বারা the time he went back paying some real attention to him “...but as your boss আপনি see, there are some...things....I’d better know, আপনি following me?”
He wasn’t actually, but he hadn’t been quite down to hearth all দিন long so...
“...but as your friend...I mean as a boss who’s your friend...I’m...”
Katie snorted “Dear Lord, Dave! Just stop beating around the bus and get to the point already! Would আপনি just stop being such a sissy!?” she spoke up with hint of amused exasperation “Why আপনি all are so incapable of formulating simple প্রশ্ন when it comes to this kind of stuff?”
David and Katie stopped walking at this point looking at each other and all of a sudden something felt very wrong. He hadn’t the faintest idea what it was but he smelled a landmine.
Katie sighed, licking her lips and pointed her eyes at him with the utmost candour “What Dave is trying so ineffectively to ask আপনি Hugh is...” she started calmly, but his phone buzzed softly in his pocket cutting her off in the thick of it.
Too bad.
Hugh arched his eyebrows, apologetically “Gotta take this...sorry”
He was not of course.
Not even the slightest. On the contrary, he was incredibly relieved he had been provided with a convenient excuse to call himself out of it; whatever IT would have turned out to be.
And he was really wishing this was finally Lisa calling him back; maybe she had some sort of call-waiting mounted on her phone...
It took a few steps away from them, stopping দ্বারা the full-length square windows of the entrance. He slid the phone open with his thumb: unknown number.
Where was she calling him from?
He yanked it to his ear “Yes?”
He was faintly conscious of the low murmur that had just started at his at his back – like of two people getting up to something in a undertone – but it was nothing আরো than a soft mumbling he couldn’t make sense of, buzzing around in the back of his mind, because the rest of his brain was very much focused in processing what the voice on the other side was telling him, despite of the way words kept blurring away.
Why now of all the times?
Why today?
He started to pace back and forth in front of the glassed doors, listening intently as blood felt like being rushing away from his face. He scratched his forehead, keeping his head down and kept peering sideways out of window at the sky: a cloudless, boundless expanse, tinged with a breathtaking outburst of colours. It was maybe the most colourful and glorious sky he had ever seen in LA, a breathtaking sight really and yet he wasn’t enjoying it a bit. Shreds of clouds were scattered around in the distance streaking it with white like long filaments; cotton balls torn to shreds.
It was twilight: l'heure bleue.
Neither full daylight, nor completely darkness yet. And this too sounded like a fairly poetic metaphor at the moment; and hadn’t he been feeling this faint sense of looming catastrophe descending upon him he might have been able to get the exquisite irony of it.
He lowered his tone ever so slightly, leaning on one arm against the window “Has this something to do with Jo?”
It suddenly went very quiet all around and he could feel both Dave and Katie’s eyes resting on him now. He waited and listened carefully, furrowing his forehead. He leaned it against the glass, closing his eyes.
“By when?” he asked flatly.
He lifted his head up, goggling “Now?! No I can’t...I have a...”
The voice cut him off.
“No, I was just supposed to...”
Again he couldn’t finish his sentence.
He tossed his head backwards, pressing him lips together. He sighed heavily, always listening.
Mike passed দ্বারা him, kicking the door open. He stepped out, took a few steps away yawning widely and lit up a cigarette, getting out of sight.
God knew how much he could have used one too at the moment....
He moistened his lips “No I...ok...I got it. It’s important...Ok, no...I’ll change my plans...ok, 7.30..I’ll see whether I can make it...”
He took another step, chewing his lips, thinking “You sure আপনি can’t just...” he trailed off “No, of course not...yeah. I’ll be there. Thank you”
He shut the phone close, staring out of the window for a second. He let his forehead rest against the window glass, then, but he truly would have gladly bang it against it repeatedly if there hadn’t been anyone around. On a brightest note, if it was appropriate to say so, the feeling of the window cold glass fabric against his skin felt vaguely refreshing: seemed like he was running a fever in comparison.
Someone touched his shoulder.
“Everything ok?” Katie asked.
He stared at her for a long moment blankly, before he wounded it down.
No, it wasn’t ok.
Not even slightly closed to that.
He took a silent deep breath “Yes, sure...”
Katie pushed the door open, motioning him to go first but squeezed his hand, gently as he passed দ্বারা “Jo?”
He pressed his lips into a tight line, rubbing them together. He waited for David to stepped out too “Actually, it was...”
But he stopped mid-sentence, glancing across at Mike who was sitting on one of the brick walls দ্বারা the entrance just a few feet away from them. He was smoking up his cigarette, quietly, but he caught him casting a quick glance in their direction out of the corner of his eye, discreetly but it was enough to get him to reconsider.
“Yes...“ he ব্যক্ত unenthusiastically “...wife-husband duties call...that’s it”
They both turned their heads to Jeff ever so slightly, instantly getting it.
Katie frowned looking vaguely concerned “I see...”
A long embarrassed silence followed.
David dug his keys out his pocket and Hugh caught another glimpse of his watch “Well...we’d better go maybe...” he ব্যক্ত and his car blipped back at him from across the parking.
Hugh started to walk away from them backwards “Yeah and I must dash guys. I’ll see আপনি tomorrow...ok?”
Now the feeling of tomorrow wasn’t that exciting anymore all of sudden. A thousand different worries bounced in his head, overlapping one over the other, restlessly and not last the most obvious one: what would he tell her?
Suddenly, he retraced his steps and turned “Erm...one আপনি two guys happen to know how to I get to the Whiteman দ্বারা any chance?”
Dave and Katie shook their heads, traded oblivious stares.
“You gotta take the W Pico Boulevard, Sir” Mike stood up and put the cigarette out with his foot “you follow the directions to San Fernando Road and then, from there, the signs that lead আপনি to the Airport” he tightened his বেল্ট and walked up to the door “You can’t get mistaken”
Hugh nodded pensively “Do আপনি know how much it will take approximately?”
“Thirty minutes” he told him pushing the door open “maybe a few less if traffic isn’t too heavy”
A bunch of সেকেন্ড later he was making it as fast as he could through the parking lot. He jumped on his bike, শিরস্ত্রাণ in his hands already. He paused for a moment, thinking, licking his lips.
He tried one last time.
Still busy.
“Damn it...”
Well the best he could do if he got still time was keeping on calling until she would hang up.
The engine roared to life and he swung his bike along, brainstorming for something to tell her that would actually made some sense. That needed to be conceived carefully.
Damn it...
He hated having to lie to her, let alone the chance of letting her down অথবা something.
He closed the choke fully and eased the throttle, shifting his weight অগ্রবর্তী as soon as the front wheel hit the road out of the parking area.
Why did always events run in packs?
Damn it...
PS I splitted it into two parts cause it's too long and I discovered we are not allowed to use আরো than a certain number of words :P Then so your eyes don't get tired ;)
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Previously on December/December
Hugh’s blue eyes searched into hers like he had just seen for the first time today.
It felt mind-numbing.
And now she just better leave before she got carried away for real...
She forced herself to slide down off the টেবিল “I’ll see আপনি later then” she told him hinting at a restrained, loving smile “call me when you’re done, ok?”
She turned and began to slide her hand out of his...
Hugh tightened his grip on her hand, though this time, unprepared to let her go.
It all felt still too much like a dream....
Lisa turned and for a moment the tips of her fingers stopped slipping through his hand.
She met his eyes, the deep blue light flashing in them, and she just couldn’t help herself.
She checked around the room quickly and before he could realize why was that, she took a step অগ্রবর্তী and kissed him.
She put a hand at the side of his face, gently, stroking it lightly and gave him a soft চুম্বন on his cheek.
Her lips lingered just an instant longer against his skin. And a moment later she was gone but the feeling he must have been day-dreaming was still there with him somehow.
Only, as he watched her walking away, the tiny little smile that slowly started to curl his lips up at the corners was very much real. And so was the new light that flashed in his eyes.
Just as real as the overwhelming, intoxicating sense of delirious, surreal happiness flooding his chest just a মিনিট later.
And Lisa was smiling and glowing all over too
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December/December - Chapter 21 - Part 1
Lisa bent over rummaging through the refrigerator. She chewed her lips and winced at it rather unconvinced for a little while, unable to make up her mind on what she was up for. In the end she just ended up shutting it closed and leaning backwards against the counter at her back, looking around distractedly; one of her thumb began to tap on the wooden top…
Kapow’s shaggy muzzle poked round the doorjamb. He jogged along, looking slightly woozy and sniffing around a bit, until he came to her feet and looked up at her with tiny, little dark eyes asking for snuggles. Lisa crouched down reaching for him, still হারিয়ে গেছে in her thoughts. Her eyes slipped on the clock hanging up over the door once again: 6.30.
It was still too early.
She stood up and walked up to her living room, grabbing an আপেল as she passed by; she started to toss it from one hand to another, pacing slowly up and down the carpet, until something caught her attention and she stopped দ্বারা the bookshelves, sliding one hand over the বই as she had a distracted bite at her apple.
She shook her head and put away the whole half-eaten core to drape herself over the armchair, one leg bending over, the other tucked underneath; she fetched the remote zapping randomly through the channels for a while unable to pay the slightest attention to any though; finally, after some time, she just gave up and tossed the remote away, breathing out heavily.
She couldn’t help peering at her cell-phone once again; predictably enough this time it didn’t lit up either.
Kapow poked round again.
“Perhaps a bath will do…don’t আপনি think?” she asked him, hopeful.
She sprang up changing her mind already though.
It would take too much maybe.
A shower, better…
It was quicker…
Hugh couldn’t almost believe it true: lights had actually gone off and the cameras weren’t rolling anymore. The curtain had been drowned over.
Finally, they were done. No আরো angles to be checked অথবা lines to be delivered for this year. It was done; well, almost. But he was free; definitely free to go. And he wouldn't be wasting a single সেকেন্ড thinking on waiting for the people to start to clear the setting, অথবা Greg, David and Katie to walk out with him. It didn’t even ক্রুশ his mind. And besides, he would have seen them tomorrow night anyway for the shooting of the finale...
A weird kind of delirious happiness overflew him suddenly: he wasn’t even half sure of what had happened earlier, not even close to know what to expect, but the feeling of it anyway had been dangerously pushing him close to be sucked downward a whirl of triumph all দিন long.
And he hadn’t even spoken to her yet; just imagine when he would if things take a turn for the best for once....
He grabbed his rucksack, waving quick goodbyes to the ones still hanging out around, and let himself out of the room as quickly as possible, wishing everyone a nice summer as politely as he could really,
without making it sound like he didn’t give a crap but were merely tossing around some small talks, randomly, just to get himself out of there. However, honestly there was any room in his mind left for anyone’s holiday plans at the moment; just a picture hung it pasted on the inside of the locker door of his mind, and she kept smiling a dazzle smile at him with some cut-shaped, round grey eyes; and he hadn’t seemed very successful at preventing himself from wanting to yank it open from time to time, just for the sake of it, like a teenage boy who couldn’t help but toying with the promise of happiness that being only a few inches away from getting his long-awaited first bike enshrouded for him.
He hit the elevator button and stood to one side for a moment, waiting impatiently for it to come along. He wondered whether it was sort of wrongly improper comparing her to a fine-wrought, shiny piece of iron though...
He smirked.
Probably not. It totally felt like stepping into a beautiful metaphor to him. He wasn’t sure she would quite understand the কবিতা of it, however, especially প্রদত্ত the complicated relationship she kept up with bikes but one দিন it would be worth trying to explain it to her.
He stared up at the elevator lights.
It was taking too much.
Better take the stairs.
It was quicker…
He dug his phone out of his pocket and rushed down the first flight as fast as his stride would let him.
Lisa switched the water off and for a moment her ears rang with the sudden silence filling the house. She wrapped the towel around herself and fastened it under her arms দ্বারা tucking a small flap in.
“Is it just me, অথবা it really is awfully quiet in here today, isn’t it?” she asked.
Shazam lay crouched in the corner. He lifted his muzzle up and tipped his head, staring at her. Lisa bit her bottom lip, pouting slightly.
“Mmm…you’re right, maybe it’s just me” she rubbed her hair “maybe I just need to stop waiting for him to call me…and he’ll just happen to call for real, any minute”
She slid a hand through her hair and took a hairbrush out of the drawer under the basin. She turned the drier on, as a faint uneasy feeling of guilt quietly started to prickle her.
Somehow this wasn’t right. He wasn’t the one she should be waiting a call from. Not so anxiously anyway and John didn’t certainly deserve this. How long since she last had answered one of his calls? অথবা thought of hearing from him? She couldn’t even remember what they had been chatting about the last time they had spoken to each other. She began to comb her hair again, gently. How had she put herself into such a mess? And how would she tell him? How would she tell a man she had been dating for just a few months and to whom she was about to have her first vacation with – and, side-note, who have been patiently waiting for her to have time for him, let alone having quietly and politely adjusted to her busy schedule – how would she tell him it was over? And why? What would she tell him was the real question…
Shazam’s sudden bark startled her, abruptly. She whirled her heard round and he started barking louder and louder, forcing her to talk over the sound of the hair-drier “Sush!! Shaz!! Quiet! What’s the matter with you, all of sudden?…”
But Shazam didn’t seem like being listening to her at all. On the contrary, he began to bark even lauder, increasingly faster until eventually he got on his paws and started to pace up and down the floor, as if there was something making him nervous, getting in and out the door, restlessly.
She shook her head and turned the drier off in the end “May I know what…”
But she shut up immediately, ‘cause a soft, distant ring coming from somewhere in the house reached her ears right away and she knew why he was barking. And she also suddenly remembered having carried her i-phone with her, but having stupidly forgot the cordless...
Another ring…
She dashed off the bathroom, running bare-feet to her bedroom, her hair still quite wet dripping down her back.
Another ring…
She moved round the বিছানা but the phone wasn’t at its place.
“Oh damn it!!!”
She had a look around. Where had she let it? How come she never managed to answer on time when he called her? And hadn’t she had already asked herself that very same প্রশ্ন once and came out empty-headed? No, now that she remembered she had come to the conclusion it was because he occasionally sent her into pure confusion.
Very often occasionally.
Another ring…
A little closer this time. It seemed like coming from the living room…
She sprinted towards and ended up tossing herself on the couch, lying on her stomach, as one of her hands reached out to grab the cordless from the opposite arm of the পালঙ্ক where it lay. She rolled on her back, almost panting as she held up the towel with the other free hand.
“Hey!!!” she sighed with a blissful beam breathing across her face already.
She heard a faint clatter on the other side, like of clanking stuff banged together “Liz?! Finally…I was about to hung up. I thought আপনি wasn’t in…”
Lisa’s face fell “Oh Karen…it’s you”
Karen scoffed, lightly “Mind you, don’t be too excited to hear from me sis…”
She pushed herself upright, clenching her teeth together. Plates clattering onto the table: she was apparently setting it ready for ডিনার
“No it’s not that…” she said, apologizing “I’m sorry…I wasn’t just expecting it to be you, that’s all” she walked up back to her bedroom, wringing and curling her hair with her free hand “How’re things over there?”
She heard Karen sucking in something, like tasting সুপ “Mmm…fine. Carl took the kids to the movies. They went to see something having to do with training a homey-dragon অথবা something like that…I didn’t quite ask for details…it’s one of those 3Ds the kids go crazy about. I don’t really fancy this stuff আপনি know, so I stayed home…besides…”
Lisa began to go through her clothes, holding the receiver with her cheek, nodding and humming quietly in assent whenever it seemed appropriate. What should she wear? Would they meet প্রথমপাতা অথবা somewhere else?
“…so I took advantage of the unexpected prolonged moment of quiet to give আপনি a buzz and see how আপনি were doing…”
How come she never knew what kind of an evening should she expect when it came to him? And why was she even giving it so much thought for God’s sake; they were just supposed to talk. She opened up one of the drawers and her eyes slipped over some silk অন্তর্বাস she hadn’t even worn yet. She snapped it closed, quickly brushing the thought off her mind. Talk. Just talk.
“…but I see আপনি aren’t even listening to me, are you?”
She froze “What? No, no. Of course I’m listening to you, I’m fine. I haven’t been doing much, just working around. Today was our last day”
She singled out a silk, aviation-blue শার্ট with a jeweled neckline and pressed it against her torso.
Karen pressed on “I sense some laconism…”
Lisa tipped her head to one side.
Nope.
Too elegant.
“No really Karen everything is…” she hesitated “fine. I’m…I mean I’m…I’ve just been working. Nothing much to talk about. I’m fine. Very much fine. Been working…that’s all…”
There was a brief silence.
“You already ব্যক্ত that…” Karen’s tone had just dipped down ever so slightly in a knowing familiar manner.
She frowned, suppressing a little smile “What have I said?” she asked going back rummaging through her clothes.
“You ব্যক্ত fine…thrice and আপনি repeatedly stressed you’ve just been working” she told her mockingly “…so unless you’re suddenly short of vocabulary…” Lisa licked her lips, picking out a রক্তবর্ণ মদ্যবিশেষ linen dress this time.
“Liz? আপনি there?”
“Mmm…”
She checked herself up and down in the mirror as she held it up to her face.
“You know, your elusiveness really starts to” she paused “…actually, come to think of it, first things first…what are আপনি been elusive about exactly?” she asked suspiciously.
Her eyes softened and she couldn’t help but smiling again to herself for a moment. She arranged her hair around her shoulders “I’m not been elusive Karen…I was drying my hair when আপনি called…I’m just…just trying on some clothes, that's all”
She hold the hanger in front of her neckline, wondering whether that dark shadow of crimson went truly nice with her complexion অথবা it just made her look deadly pale in comparison, when all of a sudden she had a flash of one of the last times Hugh had looked down at her in a way that left no room to any doubts of sort on what he was craving; and a সত্বর rush of heat running all over her body followed that memorie.
“You going out?” Karen asked.
She hesitated staring at her image as she pictured all the possible outcomes this evening might have. Did she truly know what she was doing দ্বারা now?
“I don’t know yet…but I think.yes…it might be fairly accurate to suppose so, I guess…”
A loud clank then, like she had just put down a pile of plates অথবা something.
Karen’s voice came out with a strange inflexion “Any special occasion?”
Her heartbeat raced uncontrollably: one of the possible outcomes had just occurred to her once again and it definitely wasn’t an off-hand scenario this time; to make things worse, the আরো she tried to shut it out, the আরো it kept popping right in front of her eyes, even too vividly. When had her mind become so poor of self-control?
A new light flashed in her eyes, making her smile to herself though “Might be…possibly…” she paused and bit her lower lip to one side but the smile had changed the sound of her breathing without she could do anything about it. She tossed the towel onto the বিছানা and gently slid the dress over head.
Karen kept quite.
She checked herself up and down in the mirror and the glimmer of a confident smile flushed over her face this time. He would have definitely liked this
“…hopefully, actually” she added.
She heard a chair scraping over the floor. Karen had sat down.
“You shut up! It’s Hugh, isn’t it?”
Still busy.
As climbing down, Hugh had tried twice already but it kept sending him to voice mail and he just didn’t want to leave her a message. Actually he’d rather talk to her in person but he was also desperately craving to hear her voice first and be sure he hadn’t been just imagining it all.
He made it down the last flight and hurried through the first floor settings: perhaps he might jump on his bike and take advantage to rush back প্রথমপাতা and take a quick ঝরনা in the meanwhile. If she was on the phone there was no point in trying to her cell; even if some part of him couldn’t help but wondering to whom she was talking to, and the bare fact he was giving it any thought already nagged him annoyingly. He ought to stop this.
“Hey Hugh!”
He turned as the elevator doors hissed open completely to reveal David pushing his way out of it and gesturing for him to wait him up.
“Hold on a second”
He caught up with him hastily. Katie followed quietly at his back.
“You going home, already? I mean...ehm...your...yours?” he asked him scratching his forehead.
Hugh eyed him up for a বিভক্ত করা সেকেন্ড furrowing his brows mildly. What প্রথমপাতা was he supposed to be going to?
“Erm...yeah, I...I need quick shower....why?”
David looked down at his feet, avoiding his stare, as they made their way through the main hall “No nothing....I just....I was wondering whether we could steal আপনি a couple of minutes....” he said, scratching his right temple with his fingertips and tightening his grip around his backpack strap to slung it over his shoulder.
“About?” he asked him conveying much আরো impatience than he intended to. He flicked his eyes down at David’s watch getting a brief glimpse: 7.00 pm
Katie had just appeared out of nowhere right at his side. She kept walking with them keeping awkwardly quiet, arms folded over her chest, holding some carpets and a water bottle clenched in her hand.
It felt weird.
Both her this creepy silence of hers and the way David kept slurring whatever he thought he was supposed to tell him, just felt weird.
It made it slightly uncomfortable.
David coughed lightly once again “Nothing, I mean...we noticed...I mean, we were wondering” he hesitated for second; then laughed quite nervously “Ok, how do I put this?...I mean...maybe it’s none of our business, but আপনি see, we are...I mean....I’m your boss - that’s a fact for sure -but I’m also your friend, of course....”
They went past the sentry box and he waved, noticing Mike was still on guard and they hadn’t switched with Jeff yet. He stifled a smirk thinking on how now things definitely looked an awful lot better than they had this morning.
He could have never guess...
David was still talking but he had missed half his words দ্বারা the time he went back paying some real attention to him “...but as your boss আপনি see, there are some...things....I’d better know, আপনি following me?”
He wasn’t actually, but he hadn’t been quite down to hearth all দিন long so...
“...but as your friend...I mean as a boss who’s your friend...I’m...”
Katie snorted “Dear Lord, Dave! Just stop beating around the bus and get to the point already! Would আপনি just stop being such a sissy!?” she spoke up with hint of amused exasperation “Why আপনি all are so incapable of formulating simple প্রশ্ন when it comes to this kind of stuff?”
David and Katie stopped walking at this point looking at each other and all of a sudden something felt very wrong. He hadn’t the faintest idea what it was but he smelled a landmine.
Katie sighed, licking her lips and pointed her eyes at him with the utmost candour “What Dave is trying so ineffectively to ask আপনি Hugh is...” she started calmly, but his phone buzzed softly in his pocket cutting her off in the thick of it.
Too bad.
Hugh arched his eyebrows, apologetically “Gotta take this...sorry”
He was not of course.
Not even the slightest. On the contrary, he was incredibly relieved he had been provided with a convenient excuse to call himself out of it; whatever IT would have turned out to be.
And he was really wishing this was finally Lisa calling him back; maybe she had some sort of call-waiting mounted on her phone...
It took a few steps away from them, stopping দ্বারা the full-length square windows of the entrance. He slid the phone open with his thumb: unknown number.
Where was she calling him from?
He yanked it to his ear “Yes?”
He was faintly conscious of the low murmur that had just started at his at his back – like of two people getting up to something in a undertone – but it was nothing আরো than a soft mumbling he couldn’t make sense of, buzzing around in the back of his mind, because the rest of his brain was very much focused in processing what the voice on the other side was telling him, despite of the way words kept blurring away.
Why now of all the times?
Why today?
He started to pace back and forth in front of the glassed doors, listening intently as blood felt like being rushing away from his face. He scratched his forehead, keeping his head down and kept peering sideways out of window at the sky: a cloudless, boundless expanse, tinged with a breathtaking outburst of colours. It was maybe the most colourful and glorious sky he had ever seen in LA, a breathtaking sight really and yet he wasn’t enjoying it a bit. Shreds of clouds were scattered around in the distance streaking it with white like long filaments; cotton balls torn to shreds.
It was twilight: l'heure bleue.
Neither full daylight, nor completely darkness yet. And this too sounded like a fairly poetic metaphor at the moment; and hadn’t he been feeling this faint sense of looming catastrophe descending upon him he might have been able to get the exquisite irony of it.
He lowered his tone ever so slightly, leaning on one arm against the window “Has this something to do with Jo?”
It suddenly went very quiet all around and he could feel both Dave and Katie’s eyes resting on him now. He waited and listened carefully, furrowing his forehead. He leaned it against the glass, closing his eyes.
“By when?” he asked flatly.
He lifted his head up, goggling “Now?! No I can’t...I have a...”
The voice cut him off.
“No, I was just supposed to...”
Again he couldn’t finish his sentence.
He tossed his head backwards, pressing him lips together. He sighed heavily, always listening.
Mike passed দ্বারা him, kicking the door open. He stepped out, took a few steps away yawning widely and lit up a cigarette, getting out of sight.
God knew how much he could have used one too at the moment....
He moistened his lips “No I...ok...I got it. It’s important...Ok, no...I’ll change my plans...ok, 7.30..I’ll see whether I can make it...”
He took another step, chewing his lips, thinking “You sure আপনি can’t just...” he trailed off “No, of course not...yeah. I’ll be there. Thank you”
He shut the phone close, staring out of the window for a second. He let his forehead rest against the window glass, then, but he truly would have gladly bang it against it repeatedly if there hadn’t been anyone around. On a brightest note, if it was appropriate to say so, the feeling of the window cold glass fabric against his skin felt vaguely refreshing: seemed like he was running a fever in comparison.
Someone touched his shoulder.
“Everything ok?” Katie asked.
He stared at her for a long moment blankly, before he wounded it down.
No, it wasn’t ok.
Not even slightly closed to that.
He took a silent deep breath “Yes, sure...”
Katie pushed the door open, motioning him to go first but squeezed his hand, gently as he passed দ্বারা “Jo?”
He pressed his lips into a tight line, rubbing them together. He waited for David to stepped out too “Actually, it was...”
But he stopped mid-sentence, glancing across at Mike who was sitting on one of the brick walls দ্বারা the entrance just a few feet away from them. He was smoking up his cigarette, quietly, but he caught him casting a quick glance in their direction out of the corner of his eye, discreetly but it was enough to get him to reconsider.
“Yes...“ he ব্যক্ত unenthusiastically “...wife-husband duties call...that’s it”
They both turned their heads to Jeff ever so slightly, instantly getting it.
Katie frowned looking vaguely concerned “I see...”
A long embarrassed silence followed.
David dug his keys out his pocket and Hugh caught another glimpse of his watch “Well...we’d better go maybe...” he ব্যক্ত and his car blipped back at him from across the parking.
Hugh started to walk away from them backwards “Yeah and I must dash guys. I’ll see আপনি tomorrow...ok?”
Now the feeling of tomorrow wasn’t that exciting anymore all of sudden. A thousand different worries bounced in his head, overlapping one over the other, restlessly and not last the most obvious one: what would he tell her?
Suddenly, he retraced his steps and turned “Erm...one আপনি two guys happen to know how to I get to the Whiteman দ্বারা any chance?”
Dave and Katie shook their heads, traded oblivious stares.
“You gotta take the W Pico Boulevard, Sir” Mike stood up and put the cigarette out with his foot “you follow the directions to San Fernando Road and then, from there, the signs that lead আপনি to the Airport” he tightened his বেল্ট and walked up to the door “You can’t get mistaken”
Hugh nodded pensively “Do আপনি know how much it will take approximately?”
“Thirty minutes” he told him pushing the door open “maybe a few less if traffic isn’t too heavy”
A bunch of সেকেন্ড later he was making it as fast as he could through the parking lot. He jumped on his bike, শিরস্ত্রাণ in his hands already. He paused for a moment, thinking, licking his lips.
He tried one last time.
Still busy.
“Damn it...”
Well the best he could do if he got still time was keeping on calling until she would hang up.
The engine roared to life and he swung his bike along, brainstorming for something to tell her that would actually made some sense. That needed to be conceived carefully.
Damn it...
He hated having to lie to her, let alone the chance of letting her down অথবা something.
He closed the choke fully and eased the throttle, shifting his weight অগ্রবর্তী as soon as the front wheel hit the road out of the parking area.
Why did always events run in packs?
Damn it...