Unrequited

The door swings open appropriate to my strength minus the my excitement. There he is standing there damp with hard work summer’s dew under the dim porch light. With work materials in tow, he walks in as I cautiously widen the gape of the entrance allowing access. I help lift a few things from his tired frame. There, a water bottle for hydration, an instrument case lighter than it looks. I leave the backpack with him. making small conversation about things we both sort of care about, I offer a drink. Mom and brother are in their separate rooms. We drop his things in my bedroom after which we quickly venture towards the basement studio. There, we find a dusty but functional drum set, a keyboard, a bass, a guitar and two lonely musicians, one with time to kill, the other with aspirations for romance. Music is played, songs are made and it all sounds like it was all written in the time spent. An hour of free-flowing musical debauchery goes by before he tires and suggests a moment of peace and clarity in the backyard. I agree without hesitation.

Slow, careful movements make it out to the rear patio where there is no moon. The sky is black and the house lights seem all too offensive to the beautiful black seclusion we found ourselves in with only subtle glows of reddish-orange embers to mark our locations. We talk, we don’t. We breathe unbothered and together. Sharing each other’s air, I wondered about nothing and everything. My mind was as quiet as the moment and it meant the world to me. I was falling for him. Silently, like nothing I’d done before. My opposite attraction was right next to me and there was nothing I could do about it.