Closer to the stars - страница 9




– Of course, we are, – I smiled in celebration of the subject change, – I will be a Cleopatra, sooo


– I get the Mark Antony part? – He laughed.


– Yes, you are too handsome for a Caesar!!


– I am glad you still think so!

At this moment I had a sudden vision, I don’t know how you can call it. Something you have never experienced in reality and which feels totally real with all the details like smell and sound. The word “premonition” comes to my mind, but I don’t believe in such things, nor can I be sure I was having a glance into the future.

The scary part was that it lasted for only several seconds, but took me completely out of the surrounding reality: I had to grab the table’s corner to be sure I was physically there, in this particular restaurant with this particular man.

– Are you all right? – Kevin asked worriedly, – you are so pale, I guess you were too hungry for a cup of caffeine on an empty stomach. I will go ask if your toast is coming any time soon and I will make sure it has some cheese on it. I nodded having no strength to say anything or protest the cheese.

I was still partly somewhere else, on the shore, looking into someone else’s dark eyes, feeling so happy my heart was going to explode into millions of pieces. Smell of a corndog, sea salt mixing with sweat on my skin, on his skin… The way he held my hand as if it was the only thing keeping him at peace in this world. The afternoon wind playing with my long salty hair, seagulls fighting over something nearby, a young woman in a colorful swimsuit running towards her curly haired toddler…

– There you go, Ally, I’m telling you, this vegan thing will get you to the hospital one day, – Kevin looked sincerely worried, – have a bite and get your powers up.


– Thank you, – I said with a weird feeling of embarrassment, – you are so kind.

The toast was amazingly good, and by the time I got done with it, I almost felt like myself again. Myself. Realistic sarcastic Allison and not some nut with “flash forwards” or premonitions. Why do I even think that it is from the future? Maybe it is just a collision of two parallel universes and if so, I must be happy that the other me somewhere out there is having a much more fulfilled life and a one in a lifetime relationship. How crazy is that to be jealous of yourself in a parallel world?

We talked about Jeronimo and his cars and the good money he has paid us for the promotion, then discussed Kevins career plans (which seemed a bit too fantastic to me, but I am all in for heading to the stars, not looking down) and then just sat there in silence watching the traffic behind the window. The good silence. Between two people who know each other for so long that they don’t have to speak constantly to be understood or to feel at ease.

We shared a cab and kissed each other goodbye.

Lizzy has a spare key from my apartment and is free to come whenever she feels like, and I was sure to find her there, cause it was another Friday.

– You’ve missed the intro, – I heard Lizzy shouting from the sofa, – and it looks like Chloe doesn’t want to have a boyfriend anymore.


– What?! – I shouted back,


– An intro, the music, I know you are in love with it and would be very upset to have missed the first minutes.


– No, no, – I pretended not to hear a word, – the boyfriend part, I meant…

Lizzy turned fully on the sofa to face me. Of course, I couldn’t tell her about my little bout, still I felt that the Robert situation has taken a new turn and now deserved to be investigated.