Paladin5

From Toosigma

“I remember her dancing.” Andrew spouted after taking a long pull from his beer, putting it down he continued; “It was right after that mission when we went out to that plot of land, in the desert.” Carmen smiled nodding, watching his hands shake from grief, “Oh, That explains a lot, we were trashed. That was the same day that I fell off the back of that truck?”

“Yup, the same one.” Andrew nodded mater-of-factly, acting as though falling off of the back of a truck was just something Carmen did everyday. Smiling with a soft earnestness that transcended his sadness, “Any way, you were over by the bon' fire; I was taking a walk. And that was the first time I saw her.” Andrew smiled sweetly, “She was out in this field, all by her self. And she had this little radio with her, and she was just... dancing. It was strange because I couldn’t hear the music from where I was, and it just looked so strange, it was so beautiful, you know what I mean?”

Carmen listened quietly with her head resting on her hands, to answer his question she just smiled and sighed.

Taking a deep breath Andrew rolled his bottle of beer in his hands, picking at the label, he fought back tears, “Any way, I just knew I had to talk to her, but you know I was afraid that I would just scare the shit out of her if I just walked up, out of nowhere, and said hello. So I just stood there, I felt so stupid, eventually I don’t know why she just stopped and looked right at me. We just stood there and looked at each other.” Andrew became silent and thought for a few seconds.

“And so what did you do?”

“I left.” Andrew smiled getting caught up in the story.

“You left!? What do you mean? Why?” Carmen leaned back and giggled, she knew why he couldn’t approach her, he knew better, but she also understood what it was like to be falling in love. To want to fall in love, and the joy of it was contagious.

“Well, I knew if I talked to her, that would be it, I would be hers forever. So, I took off.”

“But wait, if you left how did you two meet?” Carmen asked confused

“Well, that is the funny thing, I think I must have had the same effect on her that she did on me, because she went and found out who I was and how to find me. She came up to me at Pat O'S.” Shaking his head, “You should have seen my face when I looked down the bar and she is standing there in the same dress that I saw her in out there in the desert.”

“She was wearing the same thing?”

“Ya, she said that she didn’t know if I would recognize her.”

“God, wow, she was so aggressive.” Carmen whispered with a smile.

“Ya, but it is really cool you know, so many people aren’t that sure of themselves. I am really going to miss her.” The pain came back when he reminded himself that she was gone, but it felt good to tell someone about her.