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"Hello Tommy," Carol says. She smiles at him, a wide smile, full of even white teeth and confidence.
"Hello Carol," Tommy says. "I haven't seen you for months. Where you been?"
Carol shrugs. "Around. I've been busy. How are you?"
Tommy shrugs, a mirrored gesture. He looks at the girl standing behind Carol, a girl with curly dark hair, freckles, and a charmingly crooked smile. "I don't believe I've met your friend."
"June," the girl with the freckles says, thrusting her pale hand forward.
Tommy takes it and kisses it gently on the knuckles. "Can I get you ladies a drink?"
Drinks all round. The four of them, Tommy, June, Carol and Mark, sit in the booth, drinking and chatting and laughing. Mark lights a cigarette and the smoke curls voluptuously toward the ceiling. Outside the snow brushes like feathers against the windows, settling gently on the street; a fresh coat of paint. It's beautiful. Tommy watches it and watches the girls. He's enjoying himself. He has almost forgotten that earlier that evening he was in love. He has almost forgotten the smell of her hair, her skin. But he knows he will remember when he's alone.
Differently was a semi-finalist for the 2003 Julia Peterkin Short Fiction Award, and received an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest 2003 Writing Contest: Mainstream/Literary Fiction Division. It is currently unpublished. Differently was written while in residence at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony |
