Wallpaper & Saturn

“I saw him looking down your shirt.”

            “Oh?”

            “Yea. Every time you bent over to draw, pervert that he is.”

            “So? Maybe I was showing off to him.”

            “So maybe you were,” he said, raising his voice and taking his eyes off the road to watch her. “I know you danced with him last weekend when I wasn’t there.” He snapped forward when the car started shuddering violently from veering off the road.

            “Yea, we danced. So what?” She snapped back.

            “So, don’t act like I don’t know what you’re doing right now.”

            “Oh yea?” She mocked him.

            “Yes.” He barked, straining to keep himself looking straight ahead. 

            “Well what are you doing David?” She yelled, the strain in her voice wholly uncontained. She put her hand over her mouth to cover a trembling bottom lip. She was, of course, referring to Nicole, David’s girlfriend whom he had gotten pregnant. Grimacing, David pushed his tongue into his cheek and bit down. As the rising tension heated them,  Amy turned to roll down the window, and a violent roar poured damp night into the car. It was a prickly fifty-seven degrees out, and even though it was only January, the Florida winter had seemingly already come and gone. Spring was slowly creeping up on the south. Amy leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes. She liked the cold, she thought; it was sobering. Her core was still warm from the alcohol, and as the biting wind whipped around the back of her neck and over her arms, her skin began to erupt into tiny pinheads. She shivered in delight and cocked her head back towards the window. Although David was cold, he knew better then to argue with Amy in her current state, so he cracked open his own window to equalize the pressure that had blown out his ears. They drove in silence while the chill ripped violently through his old Honda.  

Considering how much David had to drink that night, he kept the car mostly under control. His vigilant watch over Amy in the passenger seat contributed to most of their weaving in and out of traffic lanes. From the island, the drive home took about an hour, and the alcohol had begun to make him feel heavy, as his body longed for sleep. Suddenly the cold air was a blessing. With Amy not speaking to him, it was the only thing keeping him awake.

            “What are you looking at?” He asked loudly as she stared out the window.

            “The Universe.” She replied. It was her puerile imagination that he had fallen in love with in the first place. 

            “Oh yea? He asked. “What about the Universe?”

            “Just thinking about places I would like to visit.” 

            “I think I would go to Saturn if I could visit any place in the Universe.” He said, sneaking another glance at her.

            “Oh yea?” She asked, her head still tilted towards her window, the air still blowing in her face. “Why Saturn?”

            “Because I would steal that giant ring and put it on your finger.” He reached over the center consol and put his hand on top of hers. “That way everybody in the whole Universe would know that you were my girl.” She looked over at him, a long string of tears streaking across her face.

            “Oh Amy, are you crying?” He asked. 

            “No.” She smiled at him. “It’s just the wind in my eyes.” She took his hand in hers and squeezed. It was his romantic fabrication that she had fallen in love with in the first place. It was this that she was going to miss most about him.