Drifter

The road was dark, Lana wondered how could John see anything. The music playing on the radio was not relevant, because the smile John was caring on his face required all of Lana’s attention. It took one hour to get to the site. John got out first and opened the door for the lady. It was really dark, so it was almost impossible to see the beauty of the place.
“It’s beautiful when the sun is rising.” John said from behind, he was still getting stuff from the car.
“Sunrise is about five hours away.” Lana turned around to find John holding a suitcase.
“So… That’s why I came ready.” He opened the suitcase and a blanket magically appeared. “I want to know your story.”

John set up a nice spot for them by the lake. They sat on the blanket and she took a deep breath.

“My story… are you sure you want to know?” John nodded so Lana continued “It is really depressing and long.”
“12h45 now, sunrise is 5 something, so you have a lot of time.”
“Okay… My name is actually Alana Clara Eva, but I like Lana only. I grew up at the beach, I’ll not reveal the country though. I never do. I lived happily with my mother, father and two siblings. I had a best friend named Joana, she was the girl next door. We used to hang out and do crazy stuff together or sometimes with the guys that lived there too. The things we’ve done are so cool I could write a book.” Lana was smiling “Jo and I had plans, we were going to travel the world together, one year in each place, no ties. I looked for a job at a magazine so we could do it, I write recommendations for tourists so I have the space to travel and still get my money. Five years ago it all fell apart.” Instead of crying, Lana took a deep breath and rolled her eyes “To cope with the shit that happened I decided that I had to leave, and that is what I’ve been doing ever since. I left my parents, sister, brother, nephew, Jo, friends and boyfriend because I could not handle what was happening.” She started to tear up. “I’ve been to a lot of places, but in none of them I’m happy, because I’m not sharing it with her.” She could not finish the sentence. “I’m sorry, I just can’t talk about it right now.”
“It is okay. Whenever you are ready I’ll be here.”
John wrapped his arms around her body and felt her heavy breathing against his chest. He was never one who could handle a crying girl but it seemed just fine embracing her like that. It felt right for the first time. Her hands were placed on his back.
The moment lasted for thirty minutes. Lana stood up, took off her tank top and denim shorts and ran to the lake. John followed her, not understanding a single thing. He turned the music on and ran to the water. Coincidentally the song that was playing was Ghost Man on Third by Taking Back Sunday. She smiled at him and John was relief that she was not sad anymore. His hair was all wet and there were some of it glued to his face, she approached him swimming. Her eyes interlocked with his, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled his head towards hers, a few inches were holding their lips apart and he made sure that they disappeared. It started slow, his facial hair rubbing against her soft skin and her hands running through his wet hair. The lake was calm and no one was around.
“I really wanted to tease you a little bit more before doing this.” She said when their lips separated. “But, I am a human.”
“It is so good to hear it… that you are a human” He smiled “I really should’ve done that on day one.”
She kissed him repeatedly. The feeling of his hand on her body was different, not like any other. He stood up and carried her to the blanket; he didn’t cared that they were completely wet and they would stay like that until 5 am.

They kissed and rolled around and eventually they stopped and just stared at the sky, waiting for the sun to rise.
“I’m scared of the unknown.” Lana whispered.
“The only thing I’m scared of is time.” He said and moved his head to look to her smile “It can give us something and then take it all away. Weird job, if you ask me.”
“Time is fucked up. It goes by really fast.” She laughed “My nephew is already 7 years old.”
“Yes and I’m almost 27.”
“That’s a great age, cause you are almost 30 but you’re still 20. It’s so magical.”
“Yes, sure.” He laughed.
“You know, I never cared about age. My thing is maturity, no matter what age you are if 17 or 47 I’ll praise you if you are mature enough. Damn, nowadays people are so immature.”
“I agree with you. I’ve met 47 year-olds who were more immature than 17 year-olds.”
“I’m talking shit, as always.” Lana looked at John. “I took a look on your lyrics, to avoid staying out of future conversations, and you are brilliant.”
“Are you inflating my ego, Ms. Eva?” He embraced her
“No…” She laughed “For real… There are not many musicians who really put their feeling into the songs. Something is always missing. I felt that something inside your lyrics. I have not listened to every single song, but I doubt you miss this one thing that makes you unique.”
“That’s exactly how I feel about music nowadays. They are missing the whole point. Music has to be meaningful.”
“I want to hear you singing.”

John got his acoustic guitar and she listened as he sang a few songs, some of his and some random. The sky was getting stained by an orange color as the sun rose on the horizon. Lana did not watched the sun rise for years, before everything that happened, she felt calm as soon as the phenomenon was about to start, but after all, what she could only think was how unfair life was. John reached for her hand, instead of removing it she let it stay still under his. The sun and his smile made it all perfect.

“I will call you later.” She said and kissed him. “I think I will sleep until 6 pm.”
“No problem, at all.”

They said their goodbyes and she got out of the car. Before going upstairs Lana picked the mail, a grey envelope got her attention. As the girl closed the door and placed the mail on the table she read her name on the grey envelope. She looked for more mail addressed to her, but found nothing. Kennedy was probably still sleeping, the door of his room was closed. Lana crossed the hallway and rested on the bed. She fell asleep before opening the envelope.

“Okay!” Lana heard Kennedy said “I’m already leaving.”
The front door closed with an audible noise. She reached for the mobile and saw she had 5 calls and 6 messages from John. She got up and stepped on the envelope, Lana opened it as she would open a box that contained a bomb.

“Alana Eva, you are invited to a press conference that is going to take place next week.” It was for the magazine she worked for, the body of the message informed the theme of the press conference: something about Tourism and the impacts of it. It was in New York, the event was 4 days long.
Lana opened her email, the magazine had reached her to talk about it. The plane was leaving Monday, which meant tomorrow, and coming back Friday night. She closed her laptop and checked her phone. John’s messages were basically asking her to call him after 6pm. It was still 3pm so she decided to go running, it has been a while since she have done it.

Arizona had an amazing weather, even though it was winter and part of the country was under the snow, there was the sun and the nice temperature. Lana loved to run, it was good to clear her mind. She ran for 1 hour and a half and then went home, ate some fruit and took a shower. Still 5pm. Lana opened a book and waited for her phone to buzz. She felt her phone buzzing and it was Jane.

“Hey, girl! You’ve been gone for a while.” Jane said.
“Hey! Yes, we have things to talk about…” Lana laughed.
“Oh yes, how was it yesterday? John is so unpredictable.”
“Hell yes! I was expecting what happened kind of, but not now.”
“What the fuck did you guys do?” Lana could sense the excitement in her voice.
“Maybe another day we gather for a sleepover.” She laughed “I’m going to look for a job next Monday, so my weeks are going to be like yours.”
“Ok, teaser. We can go out to drink something.” There was a voice behind Jane saying something. "Hey, I have to go, Garrett just got home. Bye.”
“Bye.”

A quarter to six, right after Jane disconnect the call, she received a message by John: “Meet me in fifteen minutes in front of the building.” She just put on shoes and perfume.
When his car pulled over, the window was rolled down and he smiled at her.

“Come in” he leaned towards the door and opened it “I have something to tell you.”
“Ok.”

John drove a few kilometers and pulled over, he looked into her eyes and took a deep breath.

“We are going to Europe. For two weeks.”