Closing Time

22.

Light blue mostly with other darker shades.

Trace's colours were pretty. They floated around him as he stared down into his phone. Sweat soaked the front and back of his workout shirt. His curly hair was slightly damp. I could see a paper bag in his hand.

Trace spotted me as I was walking up to him. His aura flared up with more colours, a bright yellow, a darker blue and... pink?

I stifled my confusion at that as I leaned into him and pressing a kiss against his cheek. I had to hold Trace's sweaty body back with a hand against his chest. "Hey." I greeted, smile on my face at his efforts.

Trace grinned back dopily..his flared up with yellow to overshadow the pink. "Hey, it's so good to see you."

"I know. But..." I took a step back. "You stink."

He looked down at himself and pouted before he met my eyes. "So, no kiss?"

I laughed easily at that. "No. Maybe later. I'm just fresh from a shower."

"That's unfair. I took a shower before my workout too." He stepped forward. His hand slipped into mine. "I deserve a proper kiss because I missed you."

I rolled my eyes and dodged his lips. "Keyword is 'before'. And if you missed me that much, you should have called me."

"I mean,—" he raised his free hand in a helpless manner, "–I had a deadline to meet."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well, any longer and you would've been dead to me."

Trace leaned for a soft kiss right as I started to turn away. Slight surprise crossed through me as his lips bumped into the side of mine, but I smiled anyway as I kissed him back. Something fluttered in my belly as I pulled back to see his soft, glowing green eyes.

"It's nice to see you." I whispered against his lips as I relaxed into him.

"Same here." He mumbled as he pressed his lips against my forehead.

Trace's aura felt warm. Those little flares of yellow would give me a jolt of happiness each time they popped up. I think that's what it meant.

We'd roamed around the park a bit and settled on a nice spot under a tree to sit and eat. He caught me up on his work, I caught him up on mine... minus the dying part and the entire bar being shot up. I don't think it's something I can just mention in passing. It's rather weird to talk about being resurrected. They'd throw me in a white padded room for having a god complex.

We sat on the grass to soak up the autumn sun as we ate and drank. Our bodies turned towards each other, legs intertwined as he leaned against a tree. There was a lot more to talk about today for some reason. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, I couldn't stop looking at Trace. I didn't understand why this was happening, but at the same time I didn't want to. I was enjoying myself. For the first time in a very long time, I was genuinely enjoying myself. It was... It was nice now with Trace. I almost didn't want to leave him.

He had to force me up eventually. We walked over to the park exit so I could catch a cab and head over to work. I had already cut it dangerously close with how much I had delayed my departure.

I sighed tiredly for the millionth time. "I don't want to go to work."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you." Trace squeezed my hand. "There's nothing we can do about it though. You have a twelve to twelve, I have a no-fixed-timings kind of job."

"Yeah. It must be fun to do what you want when you want." I kicked a stone in my path. "When do you want to meet next?"

"How about tonight?" I turned to look at him as he continued. "I'll come at around eleven, we'll have a few drinks together. You close up and we'll leave. Catch a movie, dinner... and then maybe my place."