Conversations in the Dark

The first time Olivia saw him, was outside on the street right before the bomb hit. He hadn't even noticed her. He was too consumed by his work, eyes closed, face lifted heaven-ward.

She was so supernaturally attracted to him, she felt like the main character in a cheap paperback romance novel. Struck by unearthly love, overcome by her bodies need to procreate and her psyches need to be understood.

In retrospect, she likened it to Juliet's first glance of Romeo. Time seemed to stop, and she suddenly had an inkling that true love might really exist.

She told Lila about him, later in the darkness of the storage room. The pregnant girl was having horrible cramps and hadn't slept for a day or two. Olivia couldn't sleep while Lila cried out in pain, so she massaged her feet instead and divulged to her the secret thoughts that had been clouding her brain as of late.

She told herself, that she would have never participated in such girlish adiposity, if it hadn't been a way to distract her little sister. Though she had been harboring the secret desire to tell someone since the moment she saw him.

It took ten minutes to rely the whole story. Olivia finished up with," And I just don't think I'll ever be attracted to another man like that again."

Lila could tell that her sister's feelings were genuine. She recognized the same obsessive feelings in herself. But she had never thought they would be something she would share with her older sister.

Olivia was by no means a romantic. She was a very practical girl who had no hopes of that kind. As far as Lila knew, at eighteen years old, she had ever only dated one guy, and he was too much a jerk even for her sister's low standards.

Lila thought that if she hadn't been in such a panic on the street that day, maybe she would have seen him. She hardly thought she wouldn't have noticed someone as attractive as Olivia described him.

"His skin wasn't white, but still really pale."

"What about his eyes?"

"Kind of a grey. A lot like a thunderstorm or something."

Lila lay down flat against the cold cement, and propped her head up on her arms. She could feel the bristly hair on her arms and it disgusted her. She thought she must look like a monkey.

" I wish I had a shaver."

"Why?"

"My arms are getting hairy."

"Umm… given the situation. I don't think anyone will notice."

"Yeah. I guess. I'm dying to get up to the surface and check things out.."

"You know what was the weirdest thing about him?"

"What?"

"He had the shiniest ultra blonde hair I have ever seen. It was soft and feathery and not even one strand was out of place."

"Sounds to me like he fell out of a Calvin Klein perfume add."

"And his body was… inhuman."

"How so?"

"You know, really muscular. Like, really, really manly and…dominant."

"That doesn't sound inhuman. He probably was on steroids or something."

"I don't think so. He was… I know this sounds stupid, but he was glowing."

"Ah-ha. Well, maybe to you."

"Lila, he was magnificent on every level. I wish you could have seen him, it was like he was magnetized. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him."

"That doesn't sound so strange. I mean, look at me, I gazed into the eyes of what I thought was prince charming, and then … even though…and then I just froze."

"Lila. Lets hope it's not the same thing."

"Yea."

"The weirdest thing, is that he's not the type of guy I'm usually attracted too."

"What?"

"Well you remember Miguel. "

"He was an asshole."

"Please Lila, for arguments sake."

"Fine."

"I know you thought he was ugly, but I was really attracted to him. And you know, he's really the genetic polar opposite of blonde, dontcha think?"

"Yeah. I never really got why you were so attracted to spanish guys."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… Don't you think the whole thing is kind of weird.?"

"Listen Liv, I'm sorry but it seems pretty normal to me. You saw a really hott guy, you were into his body, probably unconsciously checking out his meat. I mean who wouldn't, right? And you were momentarily stunned. It happens to all of us."

"You don't understand. It doesn't happen to me. Lila I heard you screaming, and I still couldn't move. The street was filled with screaming people, and all I did was stand there, looking dreamily out into space. "

"Not really into space…"

"That's not the point. Every part of my being wanted to move, you know self preservation instinct and all that, but I still couldn't. The was something wrong about him."

"I think your being a little dramatic about this."

"I'm not."

"Okay you're not. Do you think it's time to wake up Yak?"

"Oh. I totally forgot."

"Liv, before you do… how much longer do you think we'll have to stay down here?"

"Honestly Ly, I don't know."