“Did I wake you?”
EVERY NOW AND THEN
THE STARS ALIGN
Corin Forester & Lola Valentine
prompt: performing just for you
It wasn’t uncommon for him to wake up after her. He was starting to lose count of the times he’d stirred to find her side of the bed already cold, she would frequently rise early and leave him in the bedroom by himself even if she’d been working until an absurd hour the previous night. One time she’d crept into bed at close to three only to be up and on the move again before seven. There was a part of him that didn’t understand it but mostly he was just impressed, quietly awed by how she never seemed to tire. When he’d brought it up once she’d just smiled at him, raked her fingers gently but affectionately through his hair, and carried right on with what she’d been doing at the time.
When he woke it was close to nine, he wasn’t due to work at all today, and there were quiet noises coming from somewhere else in the apartment. The kitchen, he realised groggily. For a while he just lay there on his stomach, arms folded underneath the pillow. It was the onset of pins and needles that had played a part in waking him up, he thought to himself lazily as he lay there listening to those sounds. Almost ten minutes passed before he finally dug his way out of the bedding, walking barefoot to the door and pulling it open. From here he could see straight through to the kitchen and it was there that he saw her. There was a song playing quietly, he hadn’t been able to hear it with the door closed but now he could see the dock in which her iPod sat, the blue light that showed power was running through it, the glow of the screen. From where he was standing he couldn’t see the artwork for the song she was listening to but he could hear the beat. He wasn’t really listening to it, not when all his attention was focused on her as she moved around the kitchen.
She was dancing. Not like when she was working or the times he’d seen her with the other girls from the club. The way she moved now was carefree, utterly without thought or effort, pure and simple but still so remarkably graceful and elegant. She didn’t have a lot of space to move around in but she worked with it so well, she knew exactly where she was going and why, she worked as she danced, her hair bouncing around her shoulders as she bobbed her head along with the music. She looked free. Comfortable. Happy.
Corin smiled.
Lola caught sight of him then and laughed, a light laugh without shame or regret. In her hands she held a bowl, the handle of a whisk protruding from the top. “Did I wake you?”
He shook his head. “No.” Even if she had he wouldn’t care, he suspected that showed in his smile and the affection in his eyes as he moved towards the kitchen. As he reached the doorway Lola set the bowl down on one counter and retrieved the orange juice from the refrigerator, hair flowing freely behind her as she spun first one way and then the other. She gave him another smile as he found a space on the counter and hopped up to sit and keep her company while she made breakfast. Corin was more than content to just watch and Lola seemed perfectly happy to let him do so.