"You know what Pompeii was, right?" Audra Drake asked, after walking in silence for a while with her male companions. The young woman hadn't been silent for lack of words, just lack of the opportune moment.
"Yes, I know of it," one of the boys, Tiger, spoke up. "It was the city Vesuvius destroyed, like, thousands of years ago, wasn't it?" Once again, the catlike 16-year-old had proved exactly why he was the object of Audra's affection. She nodded her approval, as did the third party of their little group, a short 19-year-old by the name of Zane.
Audra pulled a cherry off a tree they passed, and began to carve into it with her thumbnail. She carved an 'A' and a 'T' into it, then disguised them with lines.
"One of my favorite pictures is from when I studied Vesuvius, in something like fourth grade," The 16-year-old girl continued. She looked up at Tiger from under long, dark, naturally thick eyelashes. He glanced at Zane briefly, who was a few yards ahead of the two, wrapped in oblivious conversation.
They crossed another street before Audra continued, "You may have seen it. It's these skeletons, fused together, in this eternal embrace kind of thing. They were like, flash-fried and mummified by Vesuvius. It's so beautiful." her voice was quiet, her light accent clinging to the humid summer air. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes, opened it and handed one to Tiger before pulling out one for herself.
"Thanks," he said, lighting it. He reached behind her quickly, and she watched as he picked a pale pink rose. He handed Audra his lighter before commenting.
"I think I know what picture you're talking about. It is intense: these two people, holding each other close as they die." Tiger gave his female accompaniment a fairly dark look, seemingly sizing her up, for about the second or third time. His intense, golden-hazel eyes seared through her. He continued, "If I'm not mistaken, you've become completely morbid and cryptic..." Tiger trailed off, watching Audra's face for a reaction.
She smiled, then replied, "I was always this way, just too 'self-medicated' to give a damn." she finished carving into the cherry, and flicked the ash off her cigarette at Tiger to get his attention. He raised an eyebrow at her and she took his hand. Audra turned it over and placed the cherry in his palm. He held it by the stem momentarily, and smiled with a nod. They kept walking, trying to keep up with Zane, who was strangely silent this whole time.
"You have to wonder," Audra started, "what that's like. To die like that, I mean. To burn that way..."
"Painful." Tiger stated. He took one last, long drag off the cigarette, then dropped it and stepped on it.
"Obviously," Audra sighed, and threw her cigarette butt into a puddle from a sprinkler by the sidewalk, "but not just that, Tiger. It's, like..." she searched for the words. "It's like, you know you're gonna die, you can't escape that. But you don't run; you reach for the person you love. There must be some comfort in knowing that you're dying, but so is the person you love, and they care enough to spend those last moments wrapped in your arms. There has to be something meaningful in all of that, don't you think?"
Tiger handed Audra the rose, a perfectly formed summer beauty, smelling of a faint perfume and the most wonderful shade of pink Audra had seen. She gave Tiger a smile, and put her arm across his lower back. He put his arm over her shoulders.
"There would be some comfort in that, wouldn't there? Dying with the one you love... Isn't that supposed to happen? Isn't that the entire point?" Tiger smiled at her.
They arrived a few minutes and some mindless chatter later at their friend Ricky's workplace, some kind of survey by phone thing. It was located just off the parkway, and in the so-called high-class business district of town.
"Agh!" Audra took off her mini-messenger bag and dropped it, along with her sweater, water bottle, and placing the rose gently on top of it all. She pulled out another cigarette, and Tiger wandered off to get one from some random person on their smoke break. Audra dug her lighter out of her pocket this time, as she watched him go. She didn't even notice Zane watching her, at first. She glanced over at him, and he met her gaze briefly, then looked away. He decided to follow Tiger after a short moment, and Audra sat there on the edge of the sidewalk, then lay back and closed her eyes, taking long, relaxing drags of the cigarette. She let her mind wander, and it fell, as usual, on Tiger. She sighed.
Audra was a pretty decent size for a 16-year-old. She stood about five-foot-five, and weighed about a hundred and five pounds. She had dyed black, shoulder-length hair that was naturally dark brown and curly, even though she tried to keep it straightened. Her eyes were varying shades of brown and green, depending mostly on her mood. Her animal was a white tiger, and in her confidence, grace, intelligence, and her usual black-and-ivory style, it showed. She had been milky pale while living at her mother's on the Washington coast, but after taking off to central Oregon, the high desert sun had given her a nice, light tan, that was beginning to rival Tiger's.
Tiger was every bit his namesake, from the golden tan skin to his silky golden curly hair and intense eyes, he was a powerful, graceful, intelligent creature. His charisma was undeniable, with a muscular build and the personality of a cat; the kind of cocky, happy-to-pissed in a flash, and a beauty that Audra could neither resist or ignore. His eyes weren't just gold and hazel; they had flecks of black and dark brown in them that made Audra shiver, although she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because that characteristic added to their intensity.
She sat up and shook her head, her hair spilling on to her still-somewhat-pale face. She spotted Tiger and Zane standing by Ricky in the smoking area, and waved. She stood up, sighed, brushed herself off, and stood up, putting out her cigarette and flicking the butt about three yards away from her. She walked towards the guys, wondering what they were plotting now. She had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, she didn't want to know.