Melodies in the Key of Life

Think of You

Cy checked his look in the mirror. Long lashes framing dark brown eyes assessed his appearance. He raked his tanned fingers through his short cut wavy brown hair. He pulled a jean jacket over his well-muscled shoulders. He had the height and physique to pull off the backwoods look he favored. Pulling his hand back from the phone, he scolded himself that he forgot he was no longer with Kate. He would hit the clubs on his own.
It took a moment for Cy’s eyes to adjust to the harsh stage lights. He had been coming to this bar for a long time, but that had been when he was with Kate. Cy had always loved the upscale Legends Nightclub with the jagged lines of the lighting tracks, the angular lines on the wall lines, the purple runway jutting out from the music station – it was all familiar, but had a different vibe. Since the breakup with Kate, Cy was now sporting a trimmed full beard and still retained a few extra pounds on his sturdy 6 foot frame. Although he moved through the throng of people with the grace and agility of a dancer, his friends saw him as a loud, lazy lumberjack. He had a depth of compassion for animals that he could not choke up for any person. Most women found him attractive and he liked to play the field; he just would not let it go further. That’s the sort of man he was.
It was stupid to come here. He could not focus on his game. Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Kate. Kate was a charming dancer with brown hair and eyes, and long legs that were an odd contrast to her short torso.
Cy gulped. He was not prepared to see Kate tonight.
As Cy stepped outside and Kate came closer, he could see the attractive smile on her face.
Kate gazed with the affection at Cy. “You know we used to be the life of the party. This place doesn’t feel the same now that we split up.”
“Yeah, when they think of me, they think of you, it’s like they can’t see one without the other.”
She said, in hushed tones, "I love you and I want us back. Is that possible?"
Cy looked at her, fingering the tresses of her hair clinging to the dampness of her brow. "Kate, It's not over," he replied.
They looked at each other with lustful feelings, like two careful, combative cats circling each other with measured steps, breathing and heartrate quickened by the thrum of the drum and bass music playing in the background and their bodies pulsing to the beat.
Cy studied Kate's trembling lips and the rivulet of tear tracing its way to her left ear. Eventually, he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," began Cy in apologetic tones, "but I just don’t think this will work, Kate. I want us back. I do. But it’s just that we want different things."
Kate looked dumbstruck; her emotions raw like a rough, ratty rock.
Cy could actually hear Kate's emotions shatter into 1842 pieces. Then his former lover hurried away. It was like watching water part and then flow back together as she put as many bodies as possible between herself and Cy.
Not even his long neck friend would calm Cy's nerves tonight. He tipped his Heineken back and to drive out the memories of Kate. And it would be his last. Drinking this pale ale brought back too many painful memories and all of them had Kate playing prominently in the middle of them.