Part XVIII
“So how long was that brewing?” Marshall asked later, once the initial shock wore off.
“Probably since we met up again, but I just ignored it. Ah shit, looks like my parents aren’t talking to me again,” Coral said before taking a long sip of beer.
“That’s a bad thing?”
“Actually, it’s not. Now I don’t have to humor them and pretend that I really give a damn about what Ryan’s doing.”
“You really don’t like lawyers, do you?”
“What do you think?” They both allowed themselves a chuckle, and then Coral fell silent. Marshall nudged her a bit, and she looked over at him, a slightly sad face on.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just that for years, years I thought he might come back into my life, and we might have a future together, like we used to talk about when we were kids. When I met up with him, I realized, that the fantasy was gone, because he was different person. I mean, we talked about it all the time. He was gonna be different from his father. He was gonna be different from all the other people out there, he was actually gonna care about who he was defending.”
“He wanted to make a difference, right?”
“Not even that cliche idea. He just wanted to be better than what he saw in his own family, you know, learn from their mistakes.”
“Maybe this isn’t my place, but you don’t sound too crushed.” Marshall prodded. She shrugged.
“How can I upset over losing a guy that has the opinion you’re a piece of white trash?” she asked.
“Yeah I was kinda wondering about that, why did you defend me?” he asked, though he was probably opening up a whole other can of worms.
“I don’t like seeing people I know who are working at changing who they are, for the better, get dragged through the mud. You’ve done a lot for yourself, and you’ve done it for the right reasons,” Coral replied.
“Oh, well, thanks, I guess,” Marshall replied, a little unsure of himself.
“You can take a compliment you know, it’s not a crime,” Coral said giving him a sideways glance. He smiled a little and his tension ebbed away.
“Coral?” Marshall sat up as he saw three people approach the table, one being the kid Tyler, along with a young woman and a salt and pepper haired man.
“Oh my god,” was all Coral could say.
“Coral? Wow, you guys are gonna have to come around more often, I’ve never seen this girl at a loss for words,” Marshall laughed.
“So we heard that you’re a fan of ours, and your friend Marshall there, asked if we’d come over and say hi to you,” Tyler said holding out a hand for her to shake.
“I’m Steve and this is my daughter Amanda, and my son Tyler,” the older man said. Eventually all the introductions were made and they were pulling chairs up to the table to have a chat. Marshall sat back and allowed Coral to enjoy herself, talking with the Wilkonsons about a range of singers and bands that Marshall had never heard of. Tyler, Steve and Amanda were clearly enjoying themselves as the bar slowly filled up around them but no one was quick to leave.
“You know, Coral here sings your songs around the house all the time,” Marshall interrupted.
“Really? Hey, would you like to come up and sing one of the songs with us?” Amanda asked with a grin.
“What? Me? I can’t sing, really,” Coral said with a nervous smile.
“Oh come on, you’d be great, she’ll do it,” Marshall said and felt Coral kick him under the table.
“Great, well we got to get going and put this show on, we’ll pull you up there after a few songs, okay?” Amanda asked. Coral nodded nervously.
“It was really great talking to you Coral, and nice meeting you too Marshall,” Steve said cordially, shaking their hands again.
“Thanks Marshall,” Coral said pushing him slightly.
The Wilkonsons took to the stage and began playing. They weren’t too bad for a country band, Marshall decided, maybe a little too happy and a little too poppy for his tastes, but then again his music made Coral cry. Maybe there was a reason that she liked this music, it made her happy.
About an hour into the set Amanda motioned to Coral to come up on the stage, and when she didn’t Marshall shoved her out of her chair and towards her band.
After a few confusing minutes and awkwardness Amanda went up to the mike and announced,
“Why thank you everybody for coming out tonight and seeing us. We hope you’re having as good a time listening to us play as we are preforming for you. Tonight we got a special treat for you, a big fan of ours is gonna do us a favor by singing lead on her favorite song, ‘Only a Kiss’, lets give her a round of applause.” Coral stood nervously at the mike, glancing at Marshall, who gave her a reassuring smile.
“Please don’t judge me too hard, this ain’t something I do for a living, be kind,” Coral laughed as the opening strains of the song played. She started singing.
“Stumble out of bed, half in a haze, it’s feeling like a three cup of coffee day, things I need to do, can’t concentrate, something’s in my way, well I’ve tried and I’ve tried to get it off my mind, but I can’t think of anything else, I feel dazed and confused, I don’t know what to do, I’ve got to keep telling myself, it was only a kiss, just a kiss, get over it, what’s the matter with you girl, you’re acting like a fool, I can’t believe you’re carrying on like this, yeah it was only a kiss, walking out the door, ten minutes late, where in the world did I put my keys, getting in the car, left my briefcase, what’s gotten into me, well I’ve tried and I’ve tried to get him off my mind but I can’t think of anything else, I feel dazed and confused, I don’t know what to do, I’ve got to keep telling myself, it was only a kiss, just a kiss, get over it, what’s the matter with you girl, you’re acting like a fool, I can’t believe you’re carrying on like this, yeah it was only a kiss, didn’t mean a thing, so what if it made my heart pound my head spin, feels like a dream coming true, wonder if he feels it too, oh no here I go again, it was only a, only a kiss but I can’t think of anything else, I feel dazed and confused, I don’t know what to do, I’ve got to keep telling myself, it was only a kiss, just a kiss, get over it, what’s the matter with you girl, you’re acting like a fool, I can’t believe you’re carrying on like this, yeah it was only a kiss, well I’ve tried and I’ve tried to him off my mind, what’s the matter with you, I feel dazed and confused, it was only a kiss.”
Marshall felt a pang in his chest. Only a kiss. What did that mean to her? Was what they had only a kiss?
Coral had sang moderately well. While she wasn’t Christina Aguilera with her vocal quality, she could have made it somewhat successfully as a country singer.
“So how bad was I?” she asked as she sat down.
“You were great Coral, I mean it,” Marshall grinned.
“No, really,” she asked.
“Really.”
“I was so nervous. I’ve never done anything like that before in my life! I don’t know how you do it for a living,” Coral laughed.
“You get used to it,” Marshall replied shrugging.
“Yeah, that reminds me, when do I get to see you preform?”
“See me?”
“Yeah, you, remember, you’re an entertainer.” Coral reminded.
“Oh yeah. Uh, I don’t know, I’ll let you sit in the booth while I record something one day. I mean, cause I’m not really doing any shows now, so,” Marshall replied.
“All right, but I’m still holding you to that one. Oh I love this song, come on, you have to dance with me!” Coral said suddenly as she hears the music playing.
“What? Oh come on, I can’t dance,” Marshall lied.
“Please, come on, I won’t bother you at all for the rest of the night. This song is just too good to waste sitting here at the table,” Coral was nearly whining.
“Oh, all right.” Marshall said, acting like it was a bigger deal than it really was.
He allowed Coral to pull him out of his chair and push him out on the dance floor.
They were out in the middle of the floor of people, Coral’s little hand pulling his along until they found a spot. She moved close to him quickly, her arms linking behind his neck, and his chest was painful again as his body came in contact with hers. They were flush against each other, his arms, gingerly resting on her hips.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he quickly looked away, but her arms tightened around his neck and she leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder.
Her body held his up and coaxed him to move to the music. As soon as the words came, it was Coral who was singing them. Her soft voice next to his ear, warm and beautiful all at once.
“Here we are neath stars its just me and you, what are we gonna do, where’s this gonna lead, you say it’s time to define how we feel about it, I know without a doubt it’s crystal clear to me, that one of us is in love, one heart knows its true I would wait forever to spend eternity with you, every night and day I’ll get on my knees and pray if I must, that more than one of us is in love now know heart and souls how I need ya, I just want to please ya, please don’t be afraid, love isn’t played love is made, so remember, boy if you surrender and take that leap of faith, one of us is in love, one heart knows its true I would wait forever to spend eternity with you, every night and day I’ll get on my knees and pray if I must, that more than one of us is in love, I’m hoping more than one of us is in love, please tell me more than one of us is love.”
Before he’d thought he’d been getting too involved, too attached. Now he knew he was. His arms tightened around her, one folding into the small of her back, the other sliding up to her shoulder blades. Her lips were so close to his ear, her fingers toying with the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck. It was too much. He couldn’t be here. Not with her. It wasn’t actually happening.
He swore if she let go of him he’d fall apart. Limbs would detach, heart would empty, crumpled like a crushed beer can. He hated her for a second, that she could do this to him. He swore he’d never make this mistake again. He’d never allow someone in this far.
But here he was. It was happening. And it wasn’t a mistake, and long after that song ended, she held him, they danced, and neither wanted to let go.
But it did have to end.
“I hate to bust you two kids up, but we’re closing in about two minutes,” the bar tender said, sorry to but in. Marshall looked up at the man and nodded.
“I guess we have to get going,” Coral said, reluctantly letting her arms fall away from his neck.
They parted each other’s bodies, not looking at one another as they gathered their things. Marshall called a cab for them before they went outside to wait, the bar keep and the waitresses waving them goodnight before they got in their own cars.
They stood apart in the glow of the bar lights, neon signs glowing eerily, red, yellow, orange, blue. Coral digging the tow of her boot into the dirt, her eyes squinting out over the brightly lit parking lot. They couldn’t speak. If they did, the spell might be broken. What had happened, it might become unreal if they spoke it’s name. So they didn’t.
The yellow cab pulled up and Marshall opened the door, allowing Coral to slide in first before he climbed in, and gave the address. It was quiet all the way to the house, quiet inside as the lights blinked on and illuminated the surfaces. Tiled floor, hard wood, shining plaster walls.
Coral removed her boots in the entryway, her hat ended up sitting on top of them, and she was quiet. Marshall was quiet. No sounds were made at all. Even Cody was quiet when she went to see him, and the puppy was asleep in his basket.
Marshall went into the living room, not knowing what to do, but going to the stereo, feeling that filling his hands with some music to look at might fix whatever it was that he thought was broken.
She stood in the door, watching, his back to her, as he tried to remain busy, keep his hands and eyes and brain busy, deciphering the letters and the names on the back of the CDs.
“Was it only a kiss?” he asked after a struggle to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t turn around, it might have said too much if he did turn around.
“What?” she asked confused.
“Like the song said, was what I did, what we had, was it only a kiss, to you?” he asked again. She hesitated.
“Do you want it to be?”
“Don’t give me the run around, was it, or wasn’t it?” his words were pierced slightly with cold and slightly with sadness. She knew where it was coming from.
Her steps were silent and quiet as she stepped up behind him, quiet, her voice startling when she answered, now that she was so close.
“It wasn’t just a kiss,” she said, her hands finding his waist, sliding up to his chest, pulling him back against her. He replaced the music on the shelf and bowed his head to watch his hands cover hers. Her forehead nestled between his shoulders as they stood there, holding each other. Waiting for the moment when the world of their friendship came thundering down around them and something else that had been wanting to take it’s place, surround and comfort them.
“Why’d you run away, after you kissed me?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you felt the same way,” he replied gruffly.
“Why didn’t you just ask me if I did?”
“Because I’m an ass.” She chuckled slightly.
“Turn around,” she said.
“What?”
“Just turn around,” she laughed again. He did as she asked, and her hands didn’t leave his body for a moment. Her coffee and cream eyes were grinning at him as much as her lips were, he couldn’t suppress a smile himself.
“So, what am I to assume then?” he asked, his hands finding her hips, that dangerous, lurking, fragile smile on his lips, eyes skimming through her eyes, over her lips, her cheeks, the bridge of her nose, the freckle that rested just above her left eye.
“You are to assume nothing, you’re to ask me if I’m interested in you, and then get the answer,” her hands and her eyes spoke the question as much as her lips. His gaze shifted back to her eyes and he swore the gold flecks in them winked at him.
“All right, so, are you,” he didn’t finish his question, her hands slid up his back and took hold of his face, pulling him in so that the last thing he felt before total oblivion was her breath on his face.
It was the sexiest kiss he’d ever felt. Lips, teeth, tongue, it was all there. Coral was there. She was in it. She was it. Now he knew what he had missed that day. What he should have stayed and done. She snaked her fingers of one hand through his short hair and kept the other on the back of his neck, pulling him closer, deeper. His arms completed the circle of her waist and pulled her up towards him, forcing her to stand on her toes to reach him.
“Does that answer your question?” she asked, her hands full of his hair, pulling him away from her lips, to get an inch between their faces.
“Yeah,” he growled slightly.
“Good, then we only have to answer one more question,” she replied.
“What’s that?”
“Your room or mine?”
“Mine,” he said, grabbing her hips for emphasis.
“Then what are we waiting for?” she was pulling him towards the stairs in the next moment, and then they were inside the bedroom.
Her hands gently pushed the shirt off his shoulders as their mouths tangled together. They stumbled as much as they walked, Marshall’s fingers loving the curve from Coral’s hips to her back and over her rib cage.
It felt right. It felt okay. It felt like everything he’d dreamed about, only better, because she wasn’t disappearing into nothingness.
“Marshall,” she breathed next to his ear, “don’t leave me.” It was almost begging, a yearning utterance. He turned his face to hers, looking at her.
“I won’t leave you,” he said, “I won’t leave you.” Her hair fanned out under her head as she lay under him, her hands cradling his face in her hands. Their bodies felt like they were relearning each other’s curves an intricacies. It was if they had done this for a thousand years, and now they were remembering. Skin they hadn’t seen, tastes they had never tasted, senses reawakened with each inch of cloth replaced by skin and blush.
Bodies joined, skin flushed with heat, ears heard sighs and proclamations, tongues tasted salt and sweat, nerves tingled and shocked, fingers learned the story of the texture of the skin and eyes memorized colors and irises in the other.
Later, in the afterglow, Marshall still kissing Coral’s coral lips, he thought he must have died. In the process of making love, he was sure he’d been transported to heaven. Her lips smiled at him as he sat back and looked at her, his body sated, his soul invaded, his eyes never wanting to close.
“I would have paid you whatever you wanted for you stay,” he said, his fingers tracing her belly button. She sat up, taking his hand in hers, pressing the palm to her lips.
“I would have stayed for nothing.”
“What’s it gonna take for you to stay now?” he asked as she moved close to him, her arms pulling him back to her embrace.
“Just you. That’s it. If you can give it, I want you.”
“Then you can have it, you got it.”
“I’m here.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Included here are two songs by the Wilkonsons, i do not own these songs.
