Beyond the end

Old habits

Clare loved to sip a multivitamin at sunset, in the home patio, after running several kilometers on the coast of Venice. She had found everything she had to give up in the rainy Paris and the very good England. The sun, the sea, the outdoor jogging, the iodo breathed in full lungs. Friday was now over, after a week of intense work at the observatory she had returned, changed and had begun to release the tension, step by step, between boys showing their muscles overlooking the Ocean and girls with rollerblades struggling to dodge the wooden tongue that followed the profile of the sea. Now, she had sat on the deckchair and was sipping her rejuvenating drink.
"Welcome back," she welcomed Valerie, who was dusty and tired.
"I'm a scrap" Malone let herself go on a deckchair next to that of her roommate
"Heavy day?"
"It's an understatement; I woke up at dawn and went to the construction site"
"How is it going?"
"They will never end"
"Don't be catastrophic; how long have you started? Two weeks?"
"To me they look like 20 years old; look at me, I'm a rag. Dirty and irritated"
"Sweat ok, but why irritated?"
"Because the estimate of the works rises every day; plants not in accordance, flooring to be redone, electrical system to be replaced altogether. I am getting depressed. What do you drink?"
"A multivitamin, do you want?"
"At 7 p.m.? Won't it hurt you? No, I want something strong"
"There should be a coke in the fridge"
'Beer?'
"No, but Steve is coming, I told him not to show up empty-handed. Maybe he reads you in your mind"
"Steve can't read, call him"
"I don't even think about it, I'm enjoying the last rays of sunshine this heavy Friday"
"I'll do it."
Valerie picked up the phone, tinkered with the keyboard and waited "Hi Steve, where are you? Perfect, please get some beers? The one you prefer, as long as it has an adequate alcohol content. Okay, see you later"
"What does he say?"
"That he had already thought about it; apparently he can read. Is he coming alone or do we have other guests?"
"alone"
"And what should I do? - she smiled - I'll make you a nice little movie?"
"You joke, but in France it wasn't such a pilgrim idea, on the contrary"
"And have you ever done that?"
'Once'
Valerie went straight on the deck "And how was it?"
"Do you mean you've never done that? I don't believe it"
The evening passed pleasantly, Steve was wearing one of those super colorful Hawaiian shirts of his. A flower garden. He set up an outdoor barbecue, they ate burgers and drank Budweiser. Valerie said that the work would last for a while but that she had accelerated because she wanted to open for the season.
"I need an idea for the inauguration."
Clare followed the speeches between them, she laughed, then they all found themselves outside. On the deck chairs to hear the breeze. Calm after cheerfulness.
"I think I'm at the end of the line," Clare said, closing her eyes.
Valerie and Steve continued to drink and chat. The beer loosened the inhibitory brakes, they tried to wake up Clare but it was an impossible feat.
They covered her with a plaid to protect her from the cold.
"Now I'll take her in my arms and put her to bed," Steve said, "if I stand up either," he laughed hysterically in a low voice.
"You've always been sweet," Valerie said, looking at him in a moment of lucidity.
"Are we watching a movie or do you want to leave?" Valerie asked
"Maddy is at her mother's, by now the times when I can play the mischief without responsibility are few. Let's watch a movie. What do you have?"
"What do you prefer?"
"In what sense?" Steve was taken by the shapes of his friend
"Which movie do you prefer, Steve? Here, in my hands, the DVDs are in my hands"
The boy laughed loudly "Excuse me, it's going to be the beer. Here, this; Back to the future"
"We are nostalgic"
"Of course, the past always seems better than it really was; we tend to forget negative things and focus on how much good there has been"
"Probably. Take a seat, then"
The film went on for an abundant hour, Steve was terribly attracted to Val's scent and with millimeter movements he had approached her on the couch. Valerie didn't go unnoticed. On Earth Angel's notes, as George McFly kissed his Loreine, Valerie took Steve's hand between hers and the boy drew her to himself by kissing her.
Steve stopped by moving away narrowly between the idea of Clare sleeping on the terrace and Valerie being able to get him in.
"This is wrong," he said with a very thin defense.
"Really?" Valerie whispered that she got closer to him. She kissed him on the neck leaving marks of her on the collar. She stood on top of him, and they continued to kiss as Marty McFly returned in his 1985.
A short time, a frugal love more of instinct and alcohol than anything else.
It rang the home phone and it was like Swat's raid before a disastrer.
Valerie grabbed It by immediately shutting It up.
Clare opened her eyes groggy and heard talk.
she closed her eyes.
"Clare, Clare, wake up"
"What's going on?"
"You have to go out now"
"What happened?"
Steve came out of the bathroom wearing a t-shirt.
"Your father had a heart attack. Andrea called. You have to run to the hospital"
Clare suddenly stood up, she lacked air, she was dizzy, maybe because of alcohol, maybe because of the news, maybe for both of us.
"I can't drive," she began to cry.
"I'll take you" Steve had overcome the euphoria given by the beer in a few seconds, he was overwhelmed by guilt. He had fallen for it again. Again the same mistake.
They got on the Corvette and Steve left messing, while the girl couldn't stop crying.
Steve, wondered how it was possible that he had that innate ability to ruin everything beautiful life could offer him.
Clare had just returned, they hadn't even talked about them, and had already had a trouble. And now the father.
My goodness Steve. He scolded himself in anger.