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Five Ways to Kill Time
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No Return Dinner with Candles
The owner didn’t take long to bring their dinner, but he hadn’t been able to fit their drinks on the tray, so Jay volunteered to go fetch them, with a six-pack for later in mind. Silvia laid the table and left the tray on the chest of drawers, where she found a candlestick behind the TV. Jay was back in a couple of minutes, and smiled when he saw the candles burning in the middle of the table. That was a nice touch. Silvia was by the window, as if she hadn’t moved while he was downstairs. Jay approached her from behind and rested both hands on her shoulders, his face brushing her hair. “Let’s eat,” he said softly. She nodded, smiling. It was so odd. His presence helped her feel so calm and confident, and at the same time, she didn’t care knowing that in the morning he’d be out of her life for good. He’d played his part in such a straight, honest way, that it was only right that he could get rid of her and on his way within a few hours. Ten years earlier, she would’ve tried everyt
No Return Save It for Tomorrow
Jay tilted his head in the following silence. “Listen,” he whispered. And Silvia listened to… nothing? Jay saw her questioning frown and smiled. “It’s not raining.” He stood up and circled the table, waving Silvia over. She joined him by the window, curious. “Look,” he said, pointing at the sky over the dark fields. “A star!” she murmured, and he thought her simple, pure awe sounded as if she’d been the first human being that had ever seen a star. His arm came up out of its own volition to rest around her shoulders, and he brushed her hair with his lips when he said, “Yeah, the storm is over.” Silvia was aware he would feel her chill, but there was nothing she could do about it. True, it wasn’t raining anymore and the storm seemed to be finally clearing. But those words meant so much more for her, and they both knew it. He felt her shiver and spoke out of a whim, like he always did so many things, his lips still against her hair. “I never told you my full name.” His voice w
No Return Back Down to Earth
Led Zeppelin’s Black Dog growing louder woke Jay up a whole year earlier than what he wanted. He felt the nightstand until he found his phone and picked up, rubbing his eyes. “Fuck you.” “Get up, dude. I’ll be there in thirty.” “Two hours.” “It’s gonna rain again in the afternoon. You gotta get outta there now.” Silvia stretched by his side like a cat, her arm still across his chest, one of her legs between his. Jay felt her fingertips stroking his skin softly, and held the phone with the other hand to guide hers down his belly. “One hour,” he grunted on the phone, closing his eyes when she went on without further directions. “You have someone there with you?” “One hour. Come alone.” Jay disconnected and dropped the phone on the bed, enjoying her touch. Silvia’s lips pursed by his shoulder when she giggled. “Dude, really.” “We still have an hour.” He grunted when her hand left his groin, and forgot about complaining when she lay on top of him. “No way. I can’t feel my le
No Return Pictures of You
She found Jay already dressed, filming the havoc they’d wreaked around the room. He turned his phone to her, but Silvia threw a towel over her head to hide her face. On the way to her bag, she dropped the shirt he’d lent her on the phone. “You’re not taking a shower?” she asked, rummaging through her duffel bag for underwear. “I’m two hours away from a hot tub.” Jay removed the shirt from his phone. “Shit. This stinks, you keep it.” He knew she hadn’t noticed the logo of his band on it, and he wanted her to keep it and find out later. A little souvenir. She caught it and threw it in the plastic bag with the rest of her laundry. When she turned around to put on her panties, he paid attention to the discreet tattoo under her left shoulder for the first time. A symbol and a feather. “Chinese?” he asked, touching it. “Japanese,” she replied, doing the button fly. “What does it mean?” She heard the sound from his phone and scowled at him from over her shoulder. He’d just taken a pi
No Return Puzzle
A man was before the counter, signing a credit card ticket. He was a couple of years older than Silvia, and as they came down the creaky stairs, she couldn’t find any physical resemblance to Jay in him. His eyes were dark as coal under his peculiar eyebrows, naturally straight and coming down in a perpetual frown, from where the prominent nose sprouted to shadow his face down to his pointy chin. He looked serious and distant, even cold. His tone was curt as he thanked the owner. However, a bright smile just like Jay’s transformed his tough face when he heard their footsteps and turned to look up at the stairs. He nodded hi at Silvia, his quick scan making her feel naked for a moment, and forgot about her to turn to Jay. “Done, bastard. Let’s get the fuck outta here.” Looked like the constant cursing ran in the family. Jay rested his hand on the small of Silvia’s back and faced the man, smiling. “This is my big brother Sean,” he said, holding t
No Return A Name
Silvia breathed deep when the bus huffed to a stop by the platform.There it was.Within minutes, she would leave behind all the wrongs she’d been through there. And all the good things as well. But since wrongs had been many more, and much more significant, she couldn’t feel down about leaving that godforsaken fold of the world to never come back.She went back to the truck with the brothers to fetch her luggage, and busy hanging her rucksack from her shoulders, she missed Sean’s face when he learned that the four-figure guitar now belonged to his brother.The man with the serious frown cracked a quick smile to wish her a safe trip.“Thank you, Sean.” She hesitated. “May I ask you one last favor?”Sean hesitated too, before replying with a curt, cautious nod. Silvia’s thumb pointed at Jay, waiting two steps away with her duffel bag and a little smile.“His inner bastard is begging
No Return Some Indie Tale
Sean waited for his brother to open a beer and sprawl on the passenger’s seat. “Well?” he asked then, keeping his eyes on the road. “Well what.” Sean turned off the music and smacked Jim’s cap off of his head. “Speak, dude.” “Later.” “No fucking way. We still have an hour to the ranch and I’m all ears.” Jim picked up his cap and put it back on, down to his eyes. “Fine, shoot.” “Jay? Seriously? You gotta be kidding.” “I thought she was kidding about not recognizing me. But she almost had a heart attack when I showed her my driver license just now.” “How did you meet her?” “Two days ago, when I got to the bus station.” Sean frowned. “Wait. You told me yesterday morning you’d found a fan to look after you.” He glanced at Jim and scoffed at his poker face. “You were talking about her? And she didn’t recognize you?” He let out a dry laughter. “Oh, man, this is too much!” Jim brought h
No Return More Than a Name
The bus cruised down the Interstate while Silvia struggled to untangle her earphones. Finally she was able to plug them to her phone to play some music. And she had another fit of shaky giggles when she heard the beginning of Save Your Soul, and Jim Robinson—Jay, for Christ’s sake!—sang in her ear.Good Lord, it was just too much. How come such a thing had ever happened? Was it even possible? How could she spend all that time with Jim Robinson and never realize it was him? And what on God’s green earth was he even doing there, in the middle of nowhere, in that rural area north of Fargo, North Dakota?Later on, back home, Paola would help her see that what had happened was simply impossible to expect or even imagine.“I mean, we know Brad Pitt came here to ski, and Roger Waters came for some fly-fishing, but you wouldn’t expect to find them at the groceries’, right?”Yeah, she was right. And
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