The light in the alley is questionable.
There’s a little bulb somewhere a few feet away from him, though his shoulders that seem to have grown overnight are hiding it.
And the moon is reddish as always in his presence but it’s so far away tonight that it leaves Arrow in shadows and mystery.
Which I totally hate.
“Arrow, listen, okay?Listen.” I pull at his shirt, looking up at him. “I was just sitting there at the bar and this song came on. And Will, the guy you saw me dancing with, he told me he was a Lana Del Rey fan and he just pulled me up for a dance, okay? You know how much I love her and –”
He leans over me then, sort of coming out of the shadows where I can see him clearly.
I can see the tight peaks of his cheekbones. They jut out of his face, of his angular,stunningface, like pieces of cut glass.
“Did you like his hands on you?” he asks, his eyes alive and bright with darkness.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Did you like it when he spun you around and pulled you against his body?”
“No, Arrow. I didn’t.”
“No? So why the fuck were you laughing?”
“Because I was imagining you, you idiot.” I shake his shirt. “Because I was picturing you in my head.”
A mystery of an emotion passes over his face, quick and short-lived and I get closer to him.
The tip of my soccer cleats crashes with the tip of his polished boots and I blurt out the very first thing that comes into my head, “I will never do that to you. I will nevereverdo something like that to you, okay? I’m not…”
Her.
I’m not Sarah.
I don’t say it but he hears it.
Because the mysterious emotion that passed over his face washes over his body too. His tight, hard body that sort of jerks slightly before he takes a step.
Toward me.
Or more like, pushes me back with those tips of his boots while he advances forward.
“Picturing me,” he says, his voice gravelly, referring to my earlier statement about imagining him while dancing and ignoring what I said to him just now.
Ignoring my sort-of declaration about loyalty.
“Yeah.” I nod, still clutching onto his shirt, almost tearing off the buttons with my forceful hold. “I was imagining it was you.That you were the one spinning me in circles and dancing with me.”
“You were.”
“Yes. And then you came in and I couldn’t believe it.”
“Why?”
“Because my wish came true.”
“What wish?”
“You,” I whisper with all the love in my eyes, while his are turbulent.
