Chapter 2

Seth and Celesta

Siren

Chapter 2

 

The only think I was sure of was that this woman was probably the most enrapturing thing I ever laid eyes on. Her skin was flawless, and her makeup subtle, but bold enough to cause my gaze to linger. I zeroed in on her full lips and sheer powder blush that covered her cheeks. The intensity I felt was unnatural, but I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling. I wanted to know her. I wanted to know everything there ever was to know about her. Right down to the color of her toothbrush, her perfume, her feelings on politics. I stayed until she was finished, and tried to make my way through the small crowd that lingered around her wanting to know tidbits of her life. How long she played, how she started playing, how long it takes to get as good as she has gotten.

 

To my surprise the answers to these questions were honest and modest. Always enjoyed singing but never started actually playing until a strange dream, took her a long time to get really good at it, admitted she wasn’t a natural. 5 years she spent teaching herself many tricks because she couldn’t afford a private tutor. Took her a long time to get her work out in the open because of an inferiority complex… What made her feel inferior was beyond me. What I saw was someone humble and kind, but maybe I was getting ahead of myself. I walked forward and said the first thing that came to my mind.

 

"You’re pretty amazing with that thing." The moment I said it, was the first moment I actually had her undivided attention, and when her gaze fell on me. I know longer felt at ease. Her gaze was so sensual and inviting, yet unnerving that I began to smile a bit sheepishly. Getting closer I was able to begin to recognize the accents and cadences in her speech. It was then that I noticed even her voice had somewhat of a singsong quality.

 

"Thank you so much," she said. I managed to swallow a huge lump that was growing the size of a baseball in my throat. My mind was working fast. I figured this woman to be fairly busy, but I wanted to think of a question that would allow her to direct most of her attention all to me, and also allow her to stay if not for a moment longer.

 

"So, ummmm… how long does it take you to make up your songs and how do you do it?" I thought this one would suffice.

 

"I’m usually always caught up in emotions. My songs help me get out all the frustrations I have about my life. They allow me to be free. Lyrics for me are the easiest to come up with; putting the lyrics to a beat is the hardest part. Lyrics mean so much to me and I want to convey and transcend as much as I can to a vast amount of people with very concise words. I play around with different melodies. Experimentation always makes for the best songs. I once wrote a song humming to the sound of my dripping faucet. She laughed out loud. I laughed too.

 

"I’m kidding!" she said. It takes a long time actually. When you watch people playing the guitar it looks so simple, but you would be surprised how much hard work is put into it."

 

"Do you teach private lessons?" I asked. This question must have been the general interest of the entire crowd because everyone’s chatter grew a bit quieter."

 

"To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it and you’re the first person to ask. I think it would help pay some minor bills if I charged a small fee and did it. So I might look into it." I didn’t hesitate to pull out my card. It was a small business card that said my name and telephone number. Seth Rashaad Green. I felt kind of cheesy giving it to her, but I did so anyway. I didn’t want to let this woman out of my sight. The small quake of thunder began to cry outside, and I almost wanted to bow down and thank my lucky stars. Small drops fell on the bookstores window, and it created some what of a homey effect. Most times when the rains falls you are stuck in your house at home; maybe you are drinking hot chocolate and curling up to read a good book. Here I was listening to a beautiful woman strum on her guitar. The thought calmed me and put me in an even more peaceful state. For a moment she gazed up at the window and took notice to the rain. I watched her expression carefully. Her soft featured went from calm and collected to a bit more intense. I wondered why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celesta

 

 

 

Damn, it was raining. Not that I didn’t love the rain. I actually loved it with all my heart. For some reason the thought of rain always brought about romantic impulses in me, but tonight was just not a good night. Taking a Taxi to a Bookstore gig looked completely ghetto and I really wished the auto technicians would hurry up and fix my jeep. Granted, it was getting pretty old, but my jeep was my pride and joy. I finished up talking with the stragglers that lingered behind to talk about my music, and packed up my guitar in its carrying case. I didn’t have a jacket and no umbrella. So I grabbed a newspaper off the stand outside and began to wait for a taxi. My house wasn’t to far so I was beginning to contemplate if I should walk, but then thought about the state my hair would be in and thought against it. I took shelter underneath the shade, even though the kid side of me wanted to jump out and play in the rain.

 

"Hey there." I recognized the deep voice behind me before I had even turned around to look at the face it was coming from. It was the sweet angelic man from the store. His eyes seemed to twinkle under long lashes, and his smile was breathtakingly beautiful. His dark skin was smooth and even.

 

"Are you trying to go somewhere in this rain?"I gazed again at the rainfall.

 

"I sure hope not. My hair would be an Epic Fail." I laughed out loud at my corny joke and he chuckled right a long with me… I think only for polite purposes. That thought made my laughter stop a little more abruptly.

 

"I love the rain," he said, and the statement caught me completely off guard, a man who loves the rain.

 

"How come? I inquired.

 

"When I was a small child every time it rained, so I wouldn’t be bored my father always allowed me to sit on the front porch with him and we played checkers together. We would sit out there for hours as long as it wasn’t thundering and lightning.

 

"That’s sweet," I stated matter of factly. Want to hear why I enjoy the rain?

"Of course."

 

"Well when I was a small child, I remember riding in the car with my family. It was raining pretty hard and we were at a stop sign. Me always being the child that likes to gaze at the window saw a couple in a deserted parking lot. The woman had long hair that cascaded all the way down to her back and the man towered over her. They were kissing.

 

"Romantic… that figures" he stated.

 

"No, no hear me out, hear me out. The kissing part wasn’t the magical part of it.

The magical part was the fact that it seemed the rain didn’t even faze them. I waited and waited for the kiss to finish, and even as we drove away once the light turned green. I could still turn and see them kissing. That was the fairy tale."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"The fact that the kiss in my mind as a young girl never ended, gave light to the fact that fairy tales are real, and in my mind it will always last forever because I never saw it end."

 

"You are a romantic," he chuckled allowed and I smiled along with him. He watched me then and when I felt his eyes upon me. I refused to look his way. Instead, I studied the water. Watching it fall sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly to the ground. The sky was a grayish color.

 

"So what’s the hold up for you, what’s keeping you hear talking to me? I asked."

 

"You." At that moment I could help but look into his eyes, and I imagined he could probably sense the questions forming in my mind. Had this have been any other person, maybe I would have been afraid, but this guy was charming. His company put me at ease, and I relished in it. While we were conversing I forgot for a moment that I was waiting on a taxi.

Reviews

[raining]

yes liked both chapters, the moving from "take" to take makes the story interesting, and the reader is waiting now for all lthese actions to unfold, that adds alot to the suspense you feel in the story.

in trying to critique i often fall short. so i will just tell you parts i liked. the rain environment is great. i recall the rain and my grandmoother letting us run in a downpour, that feeling came back to me when i read yr second chapter.

is the guitar playing woman the siren? or is that in the dream part? how are they related? it seems that those two things could be pulled together into a denoument of a sort.

a book, that is cool. i have started a book, but cant pull it together yet. have you got parts worked out yet? well, keep going. and very good start. i want to find out how all these charactors are going to compllimenjt or conflict with each other. bye raining.