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[13 Jun 2003|02:09am] |
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She leaves on Sunday, he keeps thinking to himself. Just 4 more days.
Through some trick of balancing favors, he actually manages to snare her Friday night. The sun is about half past set and the sky is turning that dark blue that he loves so much. She sits next to him in the car. The radio is silent for a change as the smooth black sedan glides over the smooth black pavement of suburbia. They park atop a parking garage with a view.
"Why are we here?" she asks.
He sighs. "It's an amazing view of the sunset and you're leaving."
More pavement slipping past under the car and the sky is getting darker. The car slows as they flow onto a dead-end street, stopping silently in the turn-around at the end. The air is fresh and cool, but not cold. Summer is setting in.
"Why..." she starts.
"Shh!" He pauses. "Can you hear it?"
"Is that the lake?"
He smiles and nods. She smiles a little.
After driving out of the way to a few nondescript houses with no explanation, the car comes to a stop under the glaring orange lights of an IHOP parking lot. They've been here before; she was leaving then, too, but just for a weekend. It's after midnight. Too many hours of idle conversation and aimless driving, she thinks.
After they order, she sits quietly, staring at him.
He asks, "Don't you want to ask me why we're here?"
"Will I get an answer?"
He smiles. "I suppose I owe you one."
She waits. "Why are we here?"
"I'm stuck here." She looks at him quizzically. "I'm stuck on the memories of this place. Here, the turn-around at the lake, the parking garage, those houses we passed. I'm stuck on memories that are 6 and 7 and 8 years old. I haven't had much in the way of memories since then." He sighs.
"But why take me on a tour of your past? And without any explanation?"
He blushes a little. "I suppose I'm trying to get stuck here--now, that is. You're leaving. I want to remember you and I want something new to be stuck on."
She smiles at him, seeming more at ease than she'd been all night. "How did you get stuck here in the first place?"
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