Rum and Coke

As soon as he saw them, Matt Sanders walked over and hugged his daughter close. The smile on his face couldn’t have been bigger. His entire world revolved around that one girl. Brian doubted that even Val, his wife of almost twenty years, could weasel herself in there.

“Yea, that’s it. Forget that I, your best friend since middle school, am here. I’ll just tip-toe my way out of here while you still have her in your death grip.” Brian said, trying to act non-complacent.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Gates?” Matt asked, turning his aviator covered face in his best friend’s direction.

“Dude, you’re smothering her.” Brian said with a chuckle as he pointed to the tiny girl in Matt’s arms.

Shocked, Matt let go of Kay and looked down at her. “I’m so sorry, Sweetie.” He apologized as he placed a strand of hair behind her ear.

Smirking, she looked back at Brian. “Thanks, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes. Now let’s go. I have people to see and places to go.” She laced her arms through the two men’s and dragged them over to baggage claim.

“How was the trip?” Matt asked Brian as they stood by the carousel, waiting for Kay’s baggage.

“Boring. You know how it is: sign this, dot this, look over this...just business stuff I swear, my secretary could have handled it.”

“Oh.”

“Yea, the only major thing that happened is when Uncle Bri ran into that girl.” Kay chimed in as she stifled a yawn.

“What girl?”

Brian shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It was just some bratty teenager.”

“Just some bratty teenager?” Kay asked with raised eyebrows. “If I’m not mistaken, it was you who couldn’t stop talking about her! Did You see her eyes? I’ve seen them before. Where have I seen them before?” Kay mimicked her uncle. “It doesn’t help that she looked really familiar…actually, she looked a lot like you.”

Matt chuckled uneasily and grabbed his daughter’s bags. “Dude, I can’t remember the last time you obsessed over a girl.”

Brian pushed his friend as they walked out of the airport. “Shut the fuck up! You would have done the same.”

“Nah, I got my girls.” Matt said with a large grin as he squeezed his daughter’s shoulders. Brian could tell that he was hiding something.

Brian rolled his eyes as he got into Matt’s black Escalade. As soon as Matt started the car, Brian rolled down the window and lit his cigarette.

“So, what’s so special about this chick’s eyes?”

“Well, they’re really unique, but I know that I’ve seen them before.” Brian said off handidly, not really wanting to talk about the encounter in New York.

“Then they can’t be unique.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I actually don’t. Let’s review all of your past girlfriends, shall we?”

“Ooh! Learning experience!” Kay squealed from the back, shoving her head between the front seats.

“Kaylee,” Matt said in a warning tone that the other two knew he didn’t mean.

“Yea, yea,” she replied off-handidly, sitting back in her seat.

“Maggie.” Matt stated.

“Her eyes were the color of mud and she had the worst bags under them.”

“Fine. Kristen.”

“Again, they were brown.”

“Laura.”

“Green”

“Callie.”

“Hazel.”

“Michi also has hazel eyes, so….we’re looking for blue eyes? What about Jenny? Or Julie?”

“Neither.”

“Well, what the hell color eyes are we looking for? Purple? You know that’s not natural, right?”

Brian shook his head. “No, these were blue-grey. Like, they’re so light blue, that they look like steel…but there’s also a faint hint of gold and green in them…it’s really hard to describe.” He took a long drag, still trying to place those eyes.

“Well, the only person I can think of that comes close to that is-” Matt cut himself off. His eyes were wide as he swung into my driveway.

“Yoo-hoo, Shads, what are you talking about?” Brian waved my hand in front of his face. Kay’s face was right back in between the seats.

“Nothing, man. I was thinking of one of my exes.”

“You’ve only ever been with Val…”

He gulped. “It was the time we broke up for a month…”

Brian knew he was lying.

“Anyway, your wife and son are waiting for you. I’ll see you tomorrow at the studio.”

“Yea, tomorrow. Thanks for the ride.” Brian muttered as he got out of the SUV.

“There never was anyone else, was there?” Kay asked as she slid into the passenger’s seat.

“No, there wasn’t.” he father replied as he backed out of the driveway.

“Then why did you lie? Who were you thinking about?”

“I didn’t want him going back down that road. Sometimes it’s better to hide the truth to save someone that you really care about.” Matt said with a sad smile on his face.

“Oh.”

“Yea.”

Matt hated lying to his daughter, but how do you tell someone that their uncle married the wrong person? That Brian should never have let the love of his life go? That he married for comfort and not love? Matt was rooting for Brian and Danni ever since the beginning. It’s not like he hated Michelle, Val’s twin and his sister-in-law, quite the contrary- he loved her and thought that she was a wonderful person…but she deserved someone so much better than Brian. She deserved someone that actually loved her.

“So, did you find anybody?” Matt asked, breaking the silence.

“No, but there were several posters for a show this weekend. Apparently, the headlining band is really good. All of them were professionally trained and everything. I was asked to check it out. So…can I?”

“No.” Matt said flatly.

“And why not?”

“Because I can tell when my daughter has a crush.”

“You’re so infuriating!”

Matt chuckled. “I’m your dad, it’s my job to embarrass you.”

~*~

Ellie splashed her face with cold water. She had to get herself under control. Pursing her lips together, she put my finger to the glass surface and traced the letters of her mother’s name. She had just gotten out of a phone conference with the theatre’s board of directors. They thought that it was necessary to turn the upcoming dance concert into a tribute for her mother. They wanted Ellie to do her prize-winning solo that she choreographed with her mother…it was actually the first dance choreographed with Danielle’s revolutionary dance style. They also wanted a new and original piece about Danielle’s life journey. Ellie didn’t know if she could do it. She had given up all things related to the stage.

Sighing, she looked up at the name one last time. Tears trickled out of her eyes. Fear gripped her. She couldn’t breathe. She felt like her heart had stopped beating. She was so scared. They had never been this bad before. She gripped the sink bowl and tried calling for help, but no sound came out.

Am I dying? Is this what death feels like?, she thought to herself before her legs gave out and her world turned black.