”Telephone
Socially scared and impaired
If the trees will bloom the wind can blow
Without the fruit falling out
Old incisions refusing to stay
Like sun through the trees on a cloudy day
You brighten my life like a polystyrene hat
But it melts in the sun like a life without love
And I’ve waited for you so I’ll keep holding on
Without You
Without You”

**

When Carmen wakes up, the sun is high in the sky.
She can feel it beyond her still closed eyelids.
She sighs, her whole body bursting with a brand new serenity, with energy.
Blindly, she lends her arm smoothing down the sheets, looking for Shane’s body.
But Shane is not there.
Carmen opens her eyes and, blinking, she takes a look around.
The room is silent and empty.
Instinctively, Carmen pulls up the sheets, covering her naked breast, and sits up.
She rests her back on the bedhead and rakes her fingers through her thick hair.
“Shane…?”.
Just the pale echo of her own voice, and no other answer.
Carmen glances at the clock. It’s ten in the morning.
“Shane, babe…?”, she calls out again, a bit louder this time.
Nothing.
A sudden pang of fear stings her.
What if.
What if she went away.
What if this was our last night together.
What if she doesn’t want me anymore.
What if it’s over.
What if.
She gets up, grabs a robe and walks out the room.

”Feels like the wind blows
Holding you with us
She takes no other
False light and ashes
Blooming like winter…”

Carmen moves some timid steps into the living room and, once there, she freezes in place.
She parts her lips and her right hand lifts, covering her mouth in amazement and surprise.
The whole room is filled with flowers.
Flowers everywhere and thousands of rose petals on the hardwood floor.
Colored flowers, big, tiny, blooming flowers wherever her eyes lay.
Roses. And daisies. And orchids. And dahlias.
An intoxicating scent reaches her nostrils and she chuckles, in astonishment.
Shane is sitting on the white velvet couch, reading a book.
She delicately closes it and the covers says: Romeo & Juliet – William Shakespeare.
She turns her head towards Carmen and her eyes
– just her eyes –
smile the most beautiful smile.
“Did my heart love ’til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty ’til this night…”, she recites by heart, with a husky voice.
Carmen sniffs as her eyes start to sting with emotion.
Silently, she walks across the room and sits on Shane’s lap, slowly running her fingers through her lover’s dark hair.
“What can I say?”, she murmurs.
Shane shakes her head, half-smiling.
“You don’t have to say anything”, she answers, transfixed in her eyes.
“They are beautiful… How did you manage to…?”.
Shane raises her eyebrow.
“You really have a deep sleep, did you know that?”.
Carmen giggles, resting her lips on Shane’s forehead and kissing it.
“Babe… What can I say?”.
“Don’t say anything except that you’re here to stay”.
Carmen kisses Shane’s lips, unhurriedly, tracing the contour of her jawline with her fingers.
“Are you here to stay? Aren’t you leaving again, are you?”, Shane repeats against Carmen’s mouth.
“I am not leaving”, Carmen replies softly, “I am here to stay. I want to be with you. I want to live with you”.
Shane chuckles, her hands running along the tattoo on Carmen’s back, under the robe.
Then, she pulls away a little, watching her straight in the eyes.
“I know I was lucky to get you the first time. It was a damn miracle…”, she says, “…And I know I’ve been even luckier to get you the second time. I won’t waste my chance”.
Carmen swallows her tears.
“How come that you’re so romantic, Shane?”, she murmurs, trying to joke.
Shane tilts her head.
“I know I can’t change the past and make the bad go away. I know I can’t, Carmen. But when the bad comes again, I’m gonna be next to you”, she says, honestly.
Carmen is speechless.
She can’t find the words.
She just doesn’t know where to pick them up.
So, she just bends and kisses her again, and again, and again.
Then, she gets up and gently takes Shane’s hand.
“Come with me?”, she gently asks.
Shane smiles seductively.
“Where?”.
Carmen lets go of Shane’s hand and heads towards the passageway.
“…Shower…”, she says, teasingly.
“You know… We’re going to be at my mother’s in two hours, so I thought…”.
She unties her robe and lets it slide down, on the floor, with a swish. She lets her insinuative sentence floating in the air, suspended.
Shane’s eyebrows lift as she observes her walking – completely, amazingly naked – across the apartment.
“…But you can stay there reading your book, if you’re too tired to…”, Carmen adds sultrily before disappearing into the bathroom.
Shane grins, jumps off the couch and rushes to catch up with her.