Monday Fables #2: Something to Talk About

And we're back with another episode of Monday Fables. At exactly 1,000 words, I rather enjoyed this little cutie here. A little to the point but I like it. Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought.

Something to Talk About – Bonnie Raitt

People are talking, talking 'bout people

I hear them whisper, you won't believe it

They think we're lovers kept under cover

I just ignore it, but they keep saying

We laugh just a little too loud

We stand just a little too close

We stare just a little too long

Maybe they're seeing something we don't, Darlin'.

Let's give them something to talk about

Let's give them something to talk about

Let's give them something to talk about

How about love?

I feel so foolish, I've never noticed

You'd act so nervous,

Could you be falling for me?

It took a rumor to make me wonder

Now I'm convinced that I'm going under

Thinking 'bout you every day

Dream 'bout you every night

I'm hoping that you feel the same way

Now that we know it, let's really show it, Darlin'.

Let's give them something to talk about

A little mystery to figure out, babe

Let's give them something to talk about

How about love, love, love?

Let's give them something to talk about babe,

A little mystery to figure out,

Lets give them something to talk about,

How about love?

She opened the door into darkness, tossing her keys in the bowl and not bothering to flick on the lights as she passed. The light from the kitchen – the soft yellow glow of a power outage – was enough to convince her that it wasn’t necessary. “Hey!” She called out into the relative darkness, dispensing her coat and purse on the back of the couch and making her way further into the apartment.

“In the kitchen, I’ve got Chinese” came the reply and she smiled; even from here she could smell a warm delicious, fatty meal. Just what she needed.

She entered the kitchen to find the empty table in the corner waiting to be set for two as it always was with the added flavor of pine-scented candles surrounding the room filling it with the that warm yellow light and the scent of a car-freshener. “Since when did we move into the woods?”

“Since the power went out three hours ago.” Her roommate replied, turning to face her friend “I love winter but these brownouts suck.” She caught herself staring for just a moment, reminding herself that the glow was from the candles before she shook her head.

“Yeah I can imagine; traffic sucked which is why I was late from that god awful board meeting.” She set about gathering two of everything, setting the table as quickly as possible “and now I’m starving because the catering company couldn’t make it to us in the snow. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” She pouted.

Her roommate smiled, pouting in mock sympathy “poor baby.” Then she smiled and turned back to her task of dispensing the various foods into bowls fit for kings – or at least two grad students teaching part-time to earn their degrees. “At least you didn’t get called down to the principal’s office today.”

Megan turned to her friend “what did Gary want?” She was silent, hesitant “Sam? What did he want?”

Samantha turned to lean against the counter, crossing her arms casually “he wanted to talk to me about our relationship and how he thinks we should keep it outside of the classroom.”

Megan mirrored her roommate’s stance with a little more tension “why would he say that? He’s never had a problem with us being roommates before.”

“Oh not that relationship,” when she received a quizzical look Sam rolled her eyes and continued “he thinks that the two of us are in a ‘romantic relationship’; that we’ve been flirting with each other during school hours.”

Meg gaped at her friend indignantly “that is so ridiculous; I would never flirt with you during school hours.”

Sam scoffed “so what? I would just be your weekend girlfriend?”

“Of course not, it’s just unprofessional to flirt with each other at work.”

“Tell that to Gary and Denise, his married secretary.” Megan laughed before the air grew still, the candles flickering in an inconsistent rhythm while the roommates stared at each other, contemplating their next move. An intense, inaudible conversation ensued for a brief moment, debating the pros and cons, weighing the potential heartbreak that could come.

Finally Megan bit her lip “you know Gary’s not the first person to point out that we have a certain chemistry.”

And Sam agreed to their silent conversation “and he’s not really wrong is he? I mean we work together” she took a step forward.

“Yeah.”

“We live together” another step.

“Yeah.”

“And we do have really great chemistry.” She stood between her legs, mirroring her lip biting with a hidden smile, her hands sliding up to land on her shoulders, comfortable and sure.

Megan’s hands fell to Sam’s waist “that we do.”

“And… it wouldn’t be so bad if we… I mean we would be…” wonderful together. God, why couldn’t she find the words?

“Most definitely.” She tried to keep a straight face – keep the blush from her cheeks – but it just wasn’t working.

“And we could probably…”

“Give them something to talk about?”

She let out a laugh of relief, ducking her head to hide the flush “quell the rumors.”

Megan hummed in response “I do hate rumors.”

“Yeah.” And just like that, they were lost. The room fell away to leave only the warm glow and smell of nature. Each lost in an ocean of eyes that took a nervous, excited smile and squeeze of the hip to break the spell. “Are you hungry?”

“Famished” but she didn’t break away, holding on a moment longer before releasing her roommate and allowing her to step away. “But uh…” god, she couldn’t ask. You don’t just ask, do you?

But then Sam looked up with that shy smile again “yeah.” She confirmed without need that they had indeed just agreed that they would talk later and it would, indeed, be wonderful.