Searching for Eve

Truth

Truth

Drew

"Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Joseph."

"Who might this pretty little lady be?" He asked, noticing the way I protectively stood beside her, my hand resting on her back.

"This is Kay, my girlfriend. Kay, this is Mr. Joseph. He's been an important part of our company for years."

They shook hands, and Kay immediately started making small talk. "It's very nice to meet you, sir."

"The pleasure is mine. I never thought I'd live to see the day little Drew brought a girl home, especially one as beautiful as you." He replied. I internally cringed at the way he referred to the office as 'home' but laughed nonetheless at his comment.

"This one's a keeper." I said. "She's even got the parental stamp of approval."

He whistled. "Mommy and Daddy approve? Boy, you better not let this one get away."

I laughed. "I won't, Mr. Joseph. I promise."

Taking her hand, I walked into the building, not bothering to introduce her to any of the other employees.

"Do they always stare at you like that?" She said in a hushed tone as we stepped inside the room.

I chuckled, thinking back to the last time I was here. "No, love. They weren't staring at me. They were staring at you."

She blushed. "Oh."

"So, basically, you're telling me blue is not a place."

I shook my head. "Blue, for Eve, was a desire. She always thought she could find it one way or another, I suppose. Honestly, she hadn't talked about it for years--I thought perhaps she had found it in you or sports or being class president."

We were sitting in the conference room, papers spread around the wooden table as I tried to explain the situation to Kay as clearly as possible.

"Play me the song." She whispered.

Grabbing my laptop, I opened the most visited file it had, the one holding Eve's music. "Here. You should recognize it." I said, letting the music fill the air.

"Take me where the water's blue,
The only place we truly knew.
This world has beat us,
But at least I have you."

"And when the waves of life
Consume us,
We'll swim until our lungs explode,
Because darling, life's a mystery,
One the greatest minds will never solve."

Tears ran down her face as she spoke the lyrics. "She...she wrote that."

I nodded. "She sang it all the time. I didn't even know she played guitar until I found it on my computer one day."

"She wrote it for...for..." Kay stuttered.

"She wrote it for someone?" I asked. It had crossed my mind before, but I always dismissed the thought. Eve wasn't the lovey dovey type--she had learned at a young age from our parents and their coworkers that love was merely a business contract.

"I swore I'd never tell." She said, sniffling. "She never wanted you to know."

I stood up and walked over to where Kay was sitting. Crouching down in front of her, I placed my hands on her arms. "Kay, I need you to listen to me. I know Eve didn't want you to tell me, but I need you to. If she is with somebody, I need to know."

"His name is Joshua." She said. "I never met him, but she got to know him at a thing for class officers. He was so sweet to her, always sending her messages and checking in on her. She told him everything, which was huge for her. And he listened. He told her that it wasn't her fault, that she should be happy. God, he made her happy. For once, she actually smiled. Then one day, she just stopped talking about him. There were no messages. There were no phone calls or long nights spent on Skype. She never spoke of him again, except for that song."