A Poetic Retelling of an Unfortunate Romance

The pair walked hand in hand towards the beaming Dorian whom looked like a small child that had just opened his first Christmas present. It was odd to see him so excited over something other than clothes and attractive men. Although it was odd, it was also strangely comforting. Ella wanted her two worlds to mesh well, for there to be unity among the people that were dear to her.

Upon reaching Dorian, he pounced onto James, wrapping his arms around James’ waist as he mumbled something along the lines of it’s so great to finally meet you. His behavior surprised James, but the wild haired youth quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around the trendy young man, telling him that he was glad to finally meet him.

“You showered recently, didn’t you?” inquired Dorian when he let go of James.

A booming laugh escaped James’ lips, “Just this morning. Ella told me that Julius and you are very sensitive to smell, so I showered.”

“Awe that’s so thoughtful of you!” he gushed. ‘You smell really nice like oil of Olay body wash. Oh! You have to meet Julius, but you can’t meet him right now because he had to go shower. The diva found a gray hair so he had to dye his entire hair because he doesn’t want to look old, so ridiculous, right? So what do you think about going to the movies tonight? Ella said that you guys don’t do movies, she said you guys just lounge around but this is the first time that we ever meet so we can’t just lounge, that’s would be a sin! I was thinking that if you don’t want to do movies then we can go out to a club or something. What do you think?”

“I don’t dig mainstream clubs,” responded James.

“I know exactly what you mean! This one isn’t mainstream, it’s more underground, so will you go with us, please?!”

James wanted to say no, he wanted to tell him that all he wanted to do was lie on the grass with Ella and make sweet love to her from sun up to sun down but he knew that going out with Ella’s friends would make her happy, so he agreed to go clubbing.

“This is wonderful! Don’t worry; you won’t have to drive because Ella says that you drink more than her and this bitch . . . oh my Gaga! Sometimes when she’s drinking I tell her to stop because I'm really scared that she’ll die or something but she just keeps pounding like nothing’s going on so if she does that then you’re gonna be like GONE and a person can’t drive when they’re gone, you know?”

James nodded his slowly, unsure of what the young man had said. Dorian took that as a good sign and took off towards his dorm, muttering about how much fun they were all going to have at the club.

“You do know that an underground bar to him is a Gay Bar, right?” spoke Ella.

“I was secretly hoping that it would be a straight bar because I figured that since its Frisco, gay would be mainstream and straight would be underground.”

“Even in San Francisco mainstream means straight. I think we should go find a place to park and bring your things into the dorm.”

“Is your roommate in there right now?”

Ella nodded. “Yeah, but she said that she was going to go home since it’s her dad’s birthday this weekend.”

“What time is she going home?” James was eager to know.

“Uh . . . I think five.”

“Five? That’s like ages from now! Man, am I going to have to wait till we get back from the gay club to . . . ?”

“Yeah, you are.”

“You’re killing me, Ella!” he exclaimed overdramatically.

“Oh hush up. You’ve been waiting a month, I'm pretty sure a few more hours won’t kill you.”

“My balls are going to explode, just you wait.”

“If they explode, you’re going to have to clean up the mess yourself.”

Parking was found a few minutes later and the pair grabbed everything that James had brought along with him. He only brought a backpack filled with clothes but there were several grocery bags that were packed with her favorite foods along with some clothes that her mother had sent with James.

It was nice to have food from home; Ella had been yearning for some of her mother’s cooking and even more for traditional Mexican sweet bread. She had been searching all over Berkeley for a place that sold that bread, but had yet to find one.

Victoria’s eyes widened in horror when James walked in through the door, she hadn’t expected Ella to have a normal looking boyfriend, but she didn’t think that Ella was going to be dating someone that looked positively wild.

“Hey Victoria, this is my boyfriend James, James this is Victoria.” Ella took care of the introduction.

“Hello,” whispered Victoria softly, keeping her distance from James.

“Nice to meet you,” stated James. “I promise I don’t bite and if I do bite you, rest assured that I have all my shots.”

No laughter came from Victoria.

“Lay down while I put the stuff away,” ordered Ella.

“Nah, I’ll help you put it away.” James told her.

“You just drove six hours to get here, sit down and relax. There isn’t even that much stuff to put away.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, now go lay down.” Ella took the bags from his hand.

He did as he was told, lying down on the bed as he watched Ella put away the things in the closet and in her mini fridge. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched her unruly curls bounce with every movement, he had missed her dearly and he was glad to be back in her presence.

After putting everything away, Ella climbed into bed beside James, nestling her head into the crook of his neck as he gently rubbed her sides and sang her favorite song.

“And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles, thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one. Happiness, no more being sad, happiness . . . I'm glad. If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. If the mountains should crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.”

He continued singing until she fell into a deep sleep, his right hand fell numb, he wanted to wake her up so he could get rid of the tingling sensation but decided against it, he didn’t want to wake her up. She looked far too peaceful for him to disturb her slumber.

There was a blanket nearby, he grabbed it with his free hand and covered both he and Ella up with it. A few minutes later he fell asleep to the sound of her soft mumbling. He had even missed that.

Hours later, Ella was awoken by a loud pounding at the door. Ella jumped out of bed, racing towards the door to find out what was gong on. Upon opening the door, she found two very angry looking faeries in her doorway; they were literally faeries because Dorian and Julius had the glitter, the tights and the strange multicolored leotard thing going on.

“We have been calling your ass nonstop for TWENTY MINUTES and no one answered! Please tell me you were fucking and that’s why you didn’t answer.”

“We were napping,” stated a half asleep Ella.

“Are you serious? You didn’t pick up because you were napping? Fucking lazy asses, whatever, Julius, where are the bags?”

“What bags? Oh no,” Ella shook her head. “Are you serious?”

“There’s a theme tonight, its enchanted forest and we’re all going to be faeries.”

“I don’t think that James wants to dress up as a fairy.”

“Does it look like we care?” Julius cocked his brow. “Here are the bags, get dressed.”

“Fine,” Ella groaned. “Just wait awhile and we’ll meet up with you in a bit.”

“No, no, no! Get dressed and then we’ll do your make up.”

“Okay, okay. Calm down.”

Ella kicked them out of the room and walked towards her bed with the two bags from American Apparel in her hands. She wasn’t fond of the store, thinking that it was nothing but overpriced garbage for hipster scum but they’d bought her the clothes and she had to wear them for that evening. Ella was used to being their ragdoll, they often bought her clothes because although they liked her vintage style, they always told her that a person can’t always dress vintage, there has to be some variety.

“James, wake up,” whispered Ella as she rubbed his back.

He rolled over, shaking his head like a little boy as he muttered, “Five more minutes.”

“If you don’t wake up right now, you’re not getting any when we get back,” she threatened.

“I'm up.”

“Good, now we have to get dressed.”

“What’s wrong with what I'm wearing? Psychedelic print button up, cowboy boots and jeans, this is a rad outfit.”

“It is, but there’s a theme for the night and they got us clothes to wear.”

“What’s the theme?”

“Enchanted forest,” she told him.

“Let me guess, we’re going to be faeries.”

Ella nodded.

“I'm going to be a hairy, fucking fairy, alright, let’s do this before I change my mind.”

In twenty minutes time Ella had changed into her light green leggings, beige mini dress with a bright pink dress and her face was covered with an assortment of glitter and make up.

James, on the other hand, was in some dark green leggings with a brown leotard and had some eyeliner along with some random glitter. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t hate his ensemble as much as he had though, but he wished that he had some mushrooms on him to make the journey into the enchanted forest more enjoyable.

By eight o’clock the four of them had piled into Julius’ Prius. They drove to San Francisco where they had dinner at some small Italian restaurant. When they finished dinner they drove down to Harrison Street where they parked the car.

The boys ran into the club, scoping the area out for potential hook ups. Ella and James walked in a bit slower, James carefully surveying the area. It was very well decorated, just as he had expected.

“You have to remember to guard my butthole,” whispered James playfully into her ear.

“I’ll guard it with my life.”

The musical choices weren’t very enchanted forest inspired. Instead Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Lady Gaga blared from the sound system. Ella grinded into James as he rested his hands on her hips and they danced to Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue.

Halfway through the song, Ella was taken off of James replaced by Dorian in the front and Julius in the back. She couldn’t help but laugh when she saw the look of confusion spread across James face but he went along with it and danced the rest of the song with the two young men.

“Sorry guys, this is my fairy, go catch your own.”

She wrapped her arm around his neck, pressing her body against his as they danced to Lady Gaga’s Boys Boys Boys. She smiled when it got to her favorite part in the song; she moved her lips next to his ear and softly sang. “You taste just like glitter mixed with rock n roll.”

He couldn’t control himself any longer. His lips were roughly placed against her, sending them both stumbling towards a nearby wall. Their bodies roamed one another’s and he hoarsely whispered into her ear, “I can’t wait anymore.”

“They have the car,” whispered Ella as he sucked on her neck.”

He looked up at her. “Send them a text; we’ll get a hotel here.”

Ella took out her cell phone that was stashed in her brow. A quick text message in which she told them that she was going to get a hotel in San Francisco was composed and sent. As soon as the message was sent, Ella and James abandoned the club and began running down the street, searching for a hotel.

They ended up checking into a nearby Holiday inside.

Once inside the room, the pair lost themselves in a fit of passion, making up for the month that they had spent apart. Hours were spent making love; they went at it until they collapsed from exhaustion. James wrapped his arms around Ella’s waist as they cuddled on the bed.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, his beard tickling her as he sand, “I'm gonna love you till the heavens stop the rain. I'm gonna love you till the stars fall from the sky for you and I.”

Ella maneuvered herself so that she could rest her head on the crook of his neck. She draped her arm across his chest as his tightened around her waist, for the first time in months Ella fell asleep feeling completely at peace.