Audrey and Jet lay together on the bank of a river. They have a blanket out underneath them and that is all. Their clothes trail a path to the river, some had been flung father off, toward the trees. But now Audrey lays her head against his chest, an arm trailed across his chest. Jet's hand traces nonsense patterns onto her olive skin.
"It's so warm." Audrey lifts her head, peering down at him.
Jet props his head up with his free hand and gazes back. "That's what blue skies will do for you."
She smiles, lighting up her face with peace. "I wish it was always like this."
"It can be," he says as he smoothes a dried piece of hair back on her head. The water dried it stiff and it flips right back into place, just between her green-golden eyes.
She laughs at him. "It could never be like this. Not always."
"And why not?"
"Because this is fantasy, this isn't real life." She sits up, and ties her half-dried hair into a messy bun.
"Why do you think this is not real? You are really here, right now, with me." He props himself up on an elbow and reaches over to her, tracing a hand from her shoulder down to her curvy waist, pulling her back down to him.
She brushes his hand away.
"What does it matter that I'm here now? What about tomorrow? And the next day? Let alone next week or next year. You have no future."
He finally sits up, crossing a leg beneath himself. "I don't need a future. I have the present, right now, and that's what matters. How I spend it, and who I spend it with. I'd like that to be you." He tries to turn her toward up, but again, she ignores this.
She stands up without looking at him. "I need more than that." She walks off, pulling on her clothes as she finds them.
Jet sits defiantly on the blanket. "You want assurance, you don't need it. Be open to this, to life, to what it has to offer."
She pulls her shirt over her head but it gets stuck on the bun. She struggles for a minute and the shirt slips down past her face. Jet smiles, but she just fumes. "I know what this life has to offer me, and it's a lot better than some stupid picnic out in the middle of nowhere!" Her words echo in the silence of the woods.
"I want a plan. Something solid... Something you can't give me." After a moment, she grabs her shoes and walks back up the dirt path. Jet huffs and gets dressed, pulling on his jeans and rolling the rest into the picnic blanket. He hurries after her.
Audrey tries the handle on the car. It's locked. She stands for a minute, looking around, unsure. She hears Jet coming up the path and turns to walk back up to the street.
Jet comes out of the trees and sees her walking up the small hill. He drops the blanket on the hood of his car and runs toward her. He grabs her arm and she pulls away, walking quickly. He runs in front of her, grabbing her shoulders.
"I'll give you... I'll give you the stars. And the moon. I'll give you a soul, to guide you. I'll give you a promise, a promise that I'll never leave." He reaches up and traces the line of her jaw. He smiles and drops his hand. "I'll give you hope." He runs his fingers through her hand and squeezes. "Hope to bring out all the life inside you. And a strength that will help you grow. I'll give you truth, and a future that's... twenty times better than any... Hollywood plot."
She looks him in the eye and pulls her hand away, instead resting it on top of his heart, his smooth, warm skin beneath her painted fingernails. Audrey shakes her head and says, "I'd rather have a yacht." She walks past him, trailing her hand across his chest as she leaves.
He stands, unmoving. A sadness comes over his eyes and he turns. But she's already gone.
Thanks for reading!
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