Sunsets and Car Crashes (Finished)
It started with a glance, as it always seems to. Two strangers meet eyes from across the room and hope for the best. At least that’s how it was for Dade. He had placed himself up at the bar as he often did, finding it’s silence comforting as he wound down from his working week. He was still dressed in his orange and blue, grease covered clothes from the workshop, and his hair remained unkempt and knotty. Observing the bottom of his glass through hazel eyes, Dade greatly appreciated the anonymity provided by unknown places. Connection made him uncomfortable. Letting people get close was dangerous in his mind; he had learned that everybody leaves eventually. So he took extra caution not to connect with the strangers in the bar and to place himself below them, below their radar.
So when he caught her gaze from across the room, it came as a shock; she was radiant, standing by the pool table in her flowing red dress, not nearly as risqué as the clothing worn by the others. Her chestnut brown hair sat lightly on her shoulders and was styled to conceal her right eye. Dade’s eyes bounced away, hoping that it hadn’t seemed as if he was staring. He spun on his chair and returned to his drink, wondering in what world, a girl like that would willingly lock eyes with his.
Facing the bar, he wondered if she had stopped looking. Attempting to feel her gaze on the back of his neck, he began to wonder why he had never seen her before. He had spent almost every free moment he had there and was sure that he would have noticed someone so captivating right away. Dade glanced back in hope of catching one more glimpse of the woman in red, and felt a subtle disappointment when he saw the abandoned pool table. He surveyed the room for a bit in search of her, hoping that she hadn’t left after just one glimpse of her.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a plastic cup being slammed on the bar and a playful voice.
“Vodka sunrise thanks!” chirped the voice.
Dade didn’t need to look, he knew it was her, he knew that a voice like that couldn’t belong to anyone else. He froze, focusing on her cheery voice resonating in his head. He turned back to the bar and shakily consumed the remainder of his beer, trying to sneak a glance at her while she waited for her drink.
“Were you looking for somebody?” She asked in a soft, smooth voice.
“Huh?” he gasped, mentally slapping himself for his lack of eloquence.
“Well,” She continued “you were looking over at the pool table. I thought you might be looking for a friend. Or at least looking at something fascinating….Or scary!”
She then let out an exaggerated gasp. “Did somebody die! Is the pool table haunted!?”
Dade couldn’t contain himself as he let a snicker out through his crooked smile.
“I…it was you.” He stuttered, struggling to find the courage to say the words as they appeared in his head. ”It was fascinating, and it was scary, and it was you.”
Flattered, she tilted her head down and gently bit her bottom lip. She extended her arm toward Dade, slightly cocking her wrist down to invite a handshake as she introduced herself as Veronica.
Hours passed over their conversation like seconds as they drunkenly chuckled at inconsistent anecdotes. Veronica was captivating in a way that Dade could not explain, everything she did mesmerised him. She sat on the stool at the corner of the bar where the lights from the dance floor continually passed over her, highlighting her smooth skin, so tastefully revealed by her silky red dress. She lightly brushed the hair concealing her eye aside. As the lights passed over again, he saw the sparkle in the makeup surrounding her eyes. They were his favourite part, her eyes, with a blue as light as the sky with edges as deep as the ocean. He savoured his drink so he didn’t have to break conversation to get another. She explained that she was only in town for a short while; her life back home was crashing down, so she took a much-needed vacation. They continued to cling to one another’s every word for another hour until the bar was deserted and it became time for them to leave as well. Disappointed, Dade asked if he would see her again. She smiled cheekily and slid a card into the chest pocket on his work uniform. “You will now,” She added as she climbed into the taxi and waved as it sped into the distance. Sleep came to him easier that night than it ever had before.
#
The next few days flew by and Dade and Veronica were inseparable, he found perfection in her that he had never seen nor knew existed until that point. He found it atop a mountain, staring over the cliffside. The car ride there seemed endless, but he didn’t mind, so long as the moon was able to offer a silver silhouette of Veronica’s face, the drive could have gone on forever. On top of the world they gazed over the lights of the city. For hours, they sat on the bonnet of Dade’s car, clinging to whatever heat it gave off. Watching in awe as the city lights collided with the stars above; the orange haze above the city slowly fading into the deepest darkest parts of the nights sky. Veronica had never seen the sky like this before; she had only ever lived in busy cities where the lights ate into the skies above, concealing the stars from her. Dade knew that she would appreciate this more than most people. Because Veronica was not like most people, she was beautiful in a way that other people could never be. She was eloquent to the point of painting Dade a picture with every word she spoke. She was everything that Dade was not, and perhaps that was why he was drawn to her. So he could feel something new, something special to remove him from mundane routine.
It all boiled down to a single moment for Dade, on the hood of his car, under the stars in the freezing cold, he was able to push aside the hair that covered her eye, and tell her everything that his words could never express as his lips gently traced the shape of hers. He slowly slid off the front of his car and reached in through his window, raising the volume of the music. He approached her with subtle grace, reached out his hand and uttered mockingly in an upper-class voice “may I have this dance?”
“You may.” Allowed Veronica. Dade smirked as he locked hands with her and lifted her onto her feet. They slowly swayed in the headlights, clinging to one another for warmth. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he started mumbling along to the song “In case you were wondering, you are like a sunset to me, you’re all kinds of beautiful as you end my day, and you sweetly retire as stars chase you away.” He sang softly and held her close knowing that it was the last night they would spend together before she returned to her hometown. Finding it hard to believe that a few days ago, she was just a beautiful stranger that he crossed eyes with in a bar.
The sun began to rise and she needed to pack her bags, the ride home seemed so much shorter than before, he wanted it to last forever so they didn’t have to say goodbye. She kissed him once more wishing to hold on to that feeling forever. After she left, Dade drove straight home, hoping to never forget the night he’d just had, he drearily approached his bed and collapsed, already feeling the ache in his heart that comes from missing someone that you may never see again. Her words from the night ran over and over in his mind. He knew she didn’t want to leave, her life back home was not easy for her, she had seen a lot of pain in her life. He couldn’t imagine going through what she had gone through and still being able to come out on top. But somehow, she did, and because of that, he was able to meet her, and fall in love with her. With the memories of the best night of his life fresh in his mind, sleep embraced him under the covers that they had shared the night before.
#
You don’t forget the people that enter your life with a bang. Dade returned to his work after a week that changed his life. He couldn’t get those nights with Veronica out of his head. For so long, he had just dealt with the loneliness. He had accepted it to a point where he gave up trying to have someone in his life. But now, he felt a new kind of purpose. He worked every day with a new ambition, know that the faster he got his work done, the sooner he could go home and speak to her. They spent every night on the phone, she would tell him how much she missed him, and he would return the notion. All Dade wanted was to get on a plan and have her in his arms again; this was all they spoke about. They planned for the future and held hopeful thoughts of those plans.
The weekends for Dade were made up of little to no sleep, and long video calls to Veronica. Just to be able to see her face brought him back to the times that he had spent with her. He found himself touching the screen of his computer while she spoke about her day. He was held captive by every word she let out; he just wanted to be there with her.
One Saturday night, some months after the two had last seen each other. During one of their commonplace video conversations, Dade saw a tear slide from Veronica’s eye. She explained to him that her life was getting hard again; her father had been drinking and was in a heated argument with her mother. Veronica told Dade that he was the only person she could talk to in order to escape. She told him stories of her childhood, of a mentally vacant mother, an alcoholic father, and stories of how she would barricade herself in her bedroom at night, just to feel safe from the screaming in the living room. Dade shuddered at her story of the time the barricade was not enough to keep her father from finding her. He wished so hard that he could be there, and promised her that one day he would.
By this point, Veronica was hysterical, and even Dade could hear the shouting from the other room in her house. His frustration rose, as all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her that it would be okay. But even if he left his house now, and drove to see her, it would be a whole ten hours before he got there. He knew that there was nothing he could physically do, but at least he could do his best to keep her preoccupied.
“Do you remember the mountain?” He asked.
Veronica nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Dade told her that he often sits on the mountain, staring that the stars in the hope that Veronica would also be gazing upwards. Because despite all the distance between them, at least they could still share the nights sky. Veronica smiled and begin to speak before her father burst through the door, breaking it off its hinges, and sending Veronica’s laptop flying across the room until all Dade could see was a black screen.
Rage filled Dade’s heart. He didn’t know what to do; he couldn’t help her in any way. He kept making phone calls to see if she was okay. But to no avail. He thought about calling the police. But that thought was soon disrupted, as he did not know her address. For hours he paced the four walls of his room, constantly staring at his phone, or his computer. Just waiting for some absolution. The clock climbed into the AM and he had not heard a word from Veronica. The panic in his mind and erratic beating within his chest could not possibly allow him to sleep.
Finally, a message. Small and simple, and certainly not easing the tension that Dade had been battling. It read ‘I’m sorry; I don’t expect you to understand. I love you.’ Every Phone call Dade made from this point was rejected by her, and with that, Dade collapsed on the floor, exhausted from doing everything he could, and nothing at the same time. He found unconsciousness on the hardwood floor.
#
There is a place between asleep and awake, where nothing is certain up until the final jolt that wakes you. This was where Dade found himself, not dreaming, but not conscious, just existing as the rain slammed down on his roof. A crack of thunder brought him to, and then he remembered. He scrambled to his phone hoping for some word. Nothing. Dade sat on his bed, redialing her number over and over until finally an answer.
“Hello?” Answered a voice.
Dade noticed a crack in the voice as if it were trying to overcome sorrow.
“Veronica?” Dade questioned.
“You must be Dade” Said the voice shakily before continuing “Son, I suggest you sit down.”
Dade had known this feeling more than most people: his stomach weakened, his heart dropped, the blood had all rushed to his face to the point where it felt as if his face was on fire, and finally, the shaking hands. He had been speaking to Veronica’s mother. She explained to him that Veronica failed to wake that morning. They found a medication bottle in her hand with a note inside it, the note did not address anybody, it simply read: We will always have the mountain where the heavens touch the earth.
The phone fell from Dade’s hand, he refused to believe what he had just heard. Running to his car, he drove for hours and found himself atop the mountain. He had thought about jumping, but he knew what he had to do. Dade decided that he was going to keep on living. Not because he was strong enough to handle the pain, but because if he owed Veronica anything, it was his life.
It started with a glance.
