Philia

Two people living together- a very short story.

Briar wakes up slightly before she has to. The morning smells like coffee, fair trade of course. She doesn’t drink coffee. A container of the regular sits beside the fair trade stuff. It was on sale. It’s fair trade for Finn, a stickler for that kind of thing. He’s still sleeping. Lately they’ve been sleeping together, not that kind of sleeping together but just feeling each other’s warmth and life and there’s some sort of connection that they can’t quite explain. He’s still curled up in the mess of duvet and sheets that smell like sleep and radiate lethargy. We can’t tell if he’s awake but my guess is that he’s in that place in between, struggling to resist the consciousness that threatens to take over. He smells the coffee. This is what they would do if no one were watching. They’re just friends, the opposite of strangers, each other’s other half. But it’s really hard for them to stay that way when wanting to spend every second of every day together means you’re in love. And if you ask either of them, they really do love each other. This is what they would do if no one were watching. But instead you’ll get a different answer from each of them because even they are watching themselves, and Briar, the more honest of the two, will think for a minute then reply, “I suppose so. But I think it’s philia,” blushing. She imagines his caress, and it warms her like real fingers but she doesn’t want it anywhere but her waist. Or her hands. His hands. Her heart. Fingers entwined and spooning in the dark when all the ghosts come out and he’s the only constant. For years. It’s perfect. Until his hand moves closer and the firetruck doesn’t stop because she doesn’t give him any red lights to run because this is what she wants… He loves her and they’re happy when they’re together but not when they’re together. And he would hesitate for a long while before answering that he doesn’t think so. But he is glad to wake up to her every morning, glad that they’re married.

Author's Note

Is this worth expanding into something bigger? I love these characters but I was hoping to take them on a post-apocalyptic dystopian adventure. I think I would un-marry them, though, and write earlier in their lives.

Reviews

[D. C. Saylor]

This story is so excellently told in such a concise way that is highly figurative but still with a clear and fluid progression. Bravo on the themes so spoke to in so few words. The diction and syntax is so poetic that I think expanding it much more would diminish the value that the story gets from requiring so much reader interpretation and careful analysis. You created a vivid and powerful image of a human conflict, however I don't think the individual characters make it shine. Knowing more about them would make them less accessible to all different types of people that struggle with love and may be inspired by your work.