Blazing Rivers

43

NARRATOR

Gladys' clapping broke Blaze and River's gaze on each other. The older woman held a tea towel in one hand and a wooden stick in the other, breaking the two apart. Blaze glanced down and cringed as Gladys separated them.

"I don't think so missy. If I'm not getting any neither are you." Gladys spoke, earning a groan from Blaze and a chuckle from River. "And what are you laughing at, chuckles. Just because I'm old doesn't mean I haven't got needs too. Now stop locking lips and help me behind the bar, gotta see if you're worthy of my girl after all." Gladys pokes him with the stick pushing him toward the bar and handing him a cloth.

"And you, you're not getting off so easy Blaze." Gladys throws her an apron for behind the bar.

The two laughed while serving drinks. It was a good exercise for them both to not succumb to wanting the alcohol they were serving. They were both not thinking about it, instead they were too caught up in their own little bubble.

"We could go back to my place?" River suggested as the two left The Jingle. The two exited hand in hand as the moon shone above them. The street was illuminated by streetlights as they neared the car, making it visible for the two.

The Jingle bar was closing early due to repairs early morning, cutting Blaze and River's night off early. River hoped she'd accept his offer, not wanting their day to end.

"Yeah I'll come over, will there be food?"

"I'll order us a pizza I suppose."

Relief washed through River as she said yes, he wanted to have more time with her. He wanted to make the most of it, he feared that it was all in his imagination half the time he spent with her, he needed extra time.

Blaze was giddy inside that she'd get extra time and wouldn't have to go back to an empty house. Being on her own was once a blessing but lately she hated it even more, she liked being around people. Deep down it annoyed her that Bentley and Cori were spending more time together.

Turning the light on in his apartment, River calls a pizza delivery right away, hunger being evident in the two as they drive home. Blaze was getting glasses out of the cupboard for drinks, helping River by setting the table.

River's eyes drift to Blaze as she moves from the kitchen to the table, he no longer feels a void within himself. Whenever Blaze was around she made everything seem worth it. The struggle, the sleepless nights. Having Blaze in his life made him finally believe in everything happens for a reason. He believed she came into his life because he needed it the most, he was on the verge of falling before he met her. She lit him back up again. Set something on fire within him.

While on the River was on the phone, Blaze's bright green eyes flitted from her task to River. She knew she had to thank him even more. He caught her while falling. He pulled her back up and got her to open up for the first time ever. He was always there when she called, always there to lend a hand and help her out, to listen to her. She was in a blazing turmoil of grief and fury before she met him, he drowned every last thought out. Every ounce of pain and every last drop guilt. He brought a change in her that no one else has ever been able to.

The two of them talked when the pizza, they sat at the table, talking until the pizza became cold. They could talk for hours if they could, about anything at all. Both of them wanted more time together, the fear of it all crashing down in front of them, being nothing more than a dream.

To the outside looking in, they were normal. An ordinary couple eating pizza on a saturday night. What they didn't see were the cracks, that with every conversation and every meeting were slowly, piece by piece, fixing themselves, renewing the scarring from the past. They were becoming whole again. Their past selves becoming a distant memory.

"I had fun today," River said, finishing his last bite of the now cold pizza.

"So did I," Blaze smiles, picking up the plates and cups and placing them in the dishwasher.

"Hey is that my jacket?"

"Yeah." Blaze looks down, remembering the cold afternoon when he gave it to her.

"I have been looking for this everywhere. Did you have it this whole time?"

"Yeah, I kind of forgot to give it back to you."

"Did you really forget though?" he teases. "Consider it yours then." he says with a smile. Blaze was never planning on giving it back anyway, it was the nicest jacket she had ever worn.

The two sat on the sofa after dinner, watching a random Netflix movie River had found. The two sat shoulder to shoulder, gradually getting closer to each other as the movie went on. They still felt as though they didn't want to over step with one another, but they needed to be close, they wanted to be close.

River places his arm around her carefully, Blaze responding by snuggling up against him. Lying back, River takes Blaze with him making her lie on top of him, her head on his chest.

The two of them didn't class themselves as broken parts, nor did they consider themselves whole. Together they were two people that had found each other when the whole world threatened to turn their backs. Together their emptiness had been filled. They are the same but different all in one.

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Unedited

tried something different with this chapter, may change it when I start my second draft