About Time.

“Is this your story?” She asked placing the manuscript on the coffee table and lighting her cigarette.

“Does it matter?” He said looking out of the patio, sipping his whiskey.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Question is, why are you afraid of confessing the truth?” She said with a mocking smile.

“You have always been one nasty little bitch.” he said taking the cigarette from her and smoking a puff.

“Yup when it comes to you, I am. Don’t change the topic.”

“Oh come on.” He said grunting and shifting in his chair.

“So, it is your story then.” She said taking the cigarette back.

“Don’t you know by now, that we writers are scavengers. We feed off of our emotions and others alike. Every story we write has a glimpse of our soul.” he said making dramatic gestures.

“No no no no, don’t give me your writer’s BS. What if she reads it?” She said shaking her head.

“Hmmm” he hummed staring at the sunset on the highway. His apartment was on 22nd floor, with the view of freeway to the right and open space in the front with no buildings blocking the view. 

“Alex? You know she will.” She said in a concerned tone.

“Well good, that would add one more fan to my fan base.” He said still looking at the far horizon

“Okay, now I am sure of it. You want her to read it, don’t you. But Why? Why after all these years?” She asked bending forward and placing her hand on his knees. 

“And you don’t give up, do you?” he smiled looking at her and continued “I don’t know Addy. I don’t know what I was thinking, or why I chose to write about this. I don’t know.”

“Well, you better start knowing soon. I have seen you struggle through those years, and it wasn’t easy. I just want to make sure you know what you are getting into. You won’t be able to dodge questions from public with I don’t knows.“ she said leaning back on her chair.

Adrianna and Alexander had met 5 years back in a writers conference. She was an editor in a publishing house and he was a struggling writer.  Their eyes had met from across the room and it felt like they knew each other forever. She had walked into his life few days after his break up. If it weren’t for her, he would have drowned himself so deep in his mess that coming out of it would have been impossible. But she helped him find a balance between his sadness and their friendship. They were good friends, in fact the best they could be.

She had helped him channel his grief, frustration, anger - all those emotions into writing, and his first book was published 2 years later which was decently successful. 2 sequels were published in the following 2 years, and he had gained a fairly good fanbase.

This was the manuscript of his new novel which was a different genre from his previous novels. And as always, she was the first one to read the draft. 

“Addy, you know the saddest truth is, no matter how hard we try, we can never forget our first love.” he said with soft eyes.

“Hah. Yeah, tell me about it. And most of us get our hearts broken even before we care to understand love.” She said refilling her glass with whiskey.

“You know, to be honest, I don’t know when bits and pieces of my story crept into this novel. And before I realized I was already more than half way through it. I thought of scrapping the whole story and starting something fresh.” he said looking at his manuscript on the table.

“And?” she asked.

“I spent a whole night thinking about it. Then I decided against it. I thought, why should I be scared to throw my raw emotions out there? I think being naked is the only way to accept who I am and truly move on. I don’t know if I can move on or not after this, but it definitely feels a lot better to get some of this off my chest. You have no idea how light I feel. For the first time in 5 years, I feel I have truly made peace with my past.”

“Good. Am glad to hear that. It was about time.” She said smilingly.

For Addy, Alex was that person who had crept in through the cracks of the wall she had built around her heart. She was at ease with him from the first day and that rarely happened. For her to open up and be herself with him was the biggest gift she ever got in years. She held him very dear to her heart and she knew that he did the same for her.

“You think?” He looked at her with a surprised look. For all the years he had known her, she wasn’t the one to express her emotions easily.

“Of course. I thought your first novel would be this. But it wasn't and I did not want to push it, nor did I want to manipulate you. I knew that you would confront your emotions and someday you would be ready to write about it. I was just hoping that I was there when you did that.“ She said  with a subtle hint of excitement in her voice.

“So?You liked it?” he asked fixing his gaze on her.

“You know that I pick nothing but the best. I will submit this to the team tomorrow.” she said with a smile.

“Addy,..” he started wanting to say how thankful he was to have her in his life. 

But before he could say anything she said “I know Alex.” He understood that he did not have to say anything else.

They sat in the patio watching the night sky, feeling the cool breeze and enjoying their drinks.