[Work in Progress] Second Chances

[Note: still working on the story, but thought I would put out there for comments.]

The party was like all the other college parties Liam had been to. Every room in the house smelled of beer. Red plastic cups were everywhere. A couple made their way through the crowd looking for a more private abode. One particular kid was laughing so hard, he was listing forward as he laughed. And, the token beer funnel was being setup for a large football player. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, which was why Liam could not understand why he was having a hard time getting into the mood.

Liam noticed a woman in a white dress standing in the doorway. She looked to be in her thirties, not someone you would find at a college party. The crowd parted as she walked through the room, but the strange thing was no-one notice her except Liam.

"So, this is how you spend your time?" she said to Liam stepping up to the bar.

Liam noticed her gray-blue eyes and then realized who she was. She took pleasure in taking a different form every time she met up with him.

"It's what they do at this age," Liam said producing a coin from no where which he began to flip across his fingers.

"I see you have acquired some new skills over the past year. I am curious how you were able to tap into such abilities," she said watching the coin dance across Liam’s fingers. “I would have thought that you would be using your time more wisely.”

She was right Liam thought. Time was almost up and one item still remained to be completed.

"How long did it take you to learn how to do that?" a voice said. Turning Liam noticed that two girls had come up to the bar.

"Sorry," Liam said.

"The coin, how long did it take you to learn to flip it across your fingers?" the brunette asked.

"Not long," Liam said while he changed up the motion of the coin across his fingers. "The key is to keep practicing. If you don't, you lose the dexterity."

"Do you know any other tricks?" the brunettes friend asked.

Liam noticed that the woman in the white dress was gone. Turning his attention back to the two girls, he took the coin placing it in an open hand. Moving his free hand over the coin, Liam closed both hands and then re-opened them with palms facing the two girls. The coin was gone.

"No way," both girls said.

Liam ran his hands back together and the coin reappeared.

"Do another one," the brunettes friend said.

Liam smiled. The brunette's low cut blouse gave Liam a dangerous idea. Then again, the past year had been about charting new ground any way.

"May I have you hand?" Liam asked reaching for her hand.

Hesitantly, she extended her hand to Liam. Taking her hand Liam showed her the coin and then placed the coin in the palm of her hand. Closing her fingers around the coin Liam then ran his fingers gently down her arm back to her hand. Liam then opened her fingers. The coin was gone. The girl’s mouth opened with astonishment. She looked at her hand which Liam still held and then back to Liam.

Liam raised a finger. Releasing her hand Liam reached behind her left ear. Liam opened his hand, but there was no coin.

"That's strange," Liam said bewildered. Liam repeated the process with her right ear, still no coin.

"How embarrassing, usually there's a coin," Liam said. Then he gave his brunette friend a mischievous look. She looked back at him and realized the trick was not over.

Rubbing his chin Liam smiled and looked down at her blouse. Motioning with his hand, his brunette friend looked at her blouse. Reaching out slowly, Liam touched the upper part of her blouse and ran the edge of the blouse between his finger tips down to a point where he could tell she was no longer comfortable with what he was doing. Taking his hand back he produced the coin. A look of shock of what Liam did went across her face. Her mouth opening, but she said nothing. Still holding the coin in front of her, Liam produced a second coin from behind the first one. Liam smiled and winked. The crowd that had gathered began laughed.

"What the hell are you doing with my girl?" a slurred voice said from the crowd. Liam turned to see the large jock that had been doing the beer funnel pushing his way through the crowd. Before Liam could move the jock grabbed Liam by his leather coat.

"Dave, nothing happened," said the brunette. "He just did a magic trick."

"I'll show you a trick. Watch me make his head disappear," Dave said planting his fist into Liam's jaw. The drunken punch connected with enough force to send Liam into the wall. The quarrel was broken up before it could escalate and Liam found himself being escorted out of the house. As he reached the front door someone gave him a good push which sent him diving across the lawn. Rolling a few times Liam came to a stop near the sidewalk.

Stumbling to his feet, Liam decided it was best to leave before anyone came out looking for him. Walking past the college houses Liam came upon a small pond which had park benches around it. Sitting down on one of the wooden benches Liam leaned his head back rubbing his jaw.

"Liam, old boy, you can sure pick them," Liam said laughing to himself.

Gazing up at the night sky the stars twinkled andLiam began to lose himself in their beauty.

"Well, I guess it’s just you and me again," Liam said to the stars.

"What are you doing here Lee?" a female voice said from behind.

Liam turned to see who it was, but even as he turned he knew it was Amy. She was the only one who called him Lee. A nickname she had given to him when they were together. "Why are you here?" she asked again.

"Some of my fraternity brothers were invited up. They needed a ride and since I have a car, I was elected."

"Your fraternity brothers?" she asked. "You're in a fraternity?"

Liam shrugged and said, "A lot has changed."

"I've noticed. You use cheap magic tricks to pick up girls now?" Amy said. Liam looked at her, but could not find anything to say. It had been such a long time since he had last seen her. Amy shook her head with disgust and started to leave.

"Want to see a neat trick?" Liam said leaning over the bench.

Amy turned to say something as Liam put his left hand out. Touching a spot above his palm with his right finger a small glowing red heart formed. The heart floated toward Amy sparkling and then faded away into the night.

"How did you do that?" Amy asked.

Liam shrugged his shoulders turning back to looking at the stars.

Amy walked around to the front of the park bench. Looking at Liam more closely she noticed a weariness in his face as he gazed into the night sky. His eyes looked tired and no longer had the playfulness she remembered.

"You've always like looking at the stars," Amy said looking up into the sky.

"Yes," Liam said. "I’ve always enjoyed their stories and they've been reliable companions throughout the years."

Something was not right Amy thought. Liam’s tone was wrong. It sounded defeated. It had been two years since she last saw him. She had known Liam since they were 15. In all that time she had never known him to have given up on anything. Even when she broke up with him he tried to remain friends, but the distance and the school work drove them apart.

"What stories?" Amy asked trying to make conversation.

Liam looked at Amy and pointed to the sky.

"Do you see the set of stars that forms a 'M'?"

Amy shook her head trying to see what he was pointing to. Liam got up and moved behind her, placing his hand on her left shoulder Liam extended his right arm over her shoulder and pointed again. The fragrance of her perfume washed over him as he outlined the stars. Emerald Dream, how appropriate he thought.

"I see it now," Amy responded.

"That's Cassiopeia,” Liam said softly. “Cassiopeia was the Queen of King Cephus. He looks like a house over there. Legend has it, that Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids. This angered the Nereids. The Nerieds went to Posieden and demanded that he punish Cassiopeia for her arrogance. Posieden agreed and released Cetus, you can barely make out the constellation over there, to destroy Cephus' kingdom. Cephus learned of Posieden’s and the Nereid’s outrage and went to the Oracle. They informed him, to save his kingdom he must sacrifice his daughter Andromeda. Liam outlined another constellation of stars. So, Cephus chained Andromeda to a rock on the shore as a sacrifice. Perseus, Liam continued pointing out another set of stars, was returning with Pegasus and saw Andromeda chained to the rock. Perseus flew down defeated Cetus and saved Andromeda.”

"I've heard this story before, it was movie too," Amy said.

"Yes, but did you ever see it played out in the night sky?" Liam asked placing his hands on her shoulders.

Amy looked at Liam over her shoulder. His closeness and the smell of his leather jacket reminded her of years ago in high school. In a way she had missed him, but it was for the best.

"It’s getting late," Amy said moving out from his hands. "I should head back to my room."

"How far to your dorm room?" Liam asked. "I’m not going to let you walk by yourself this late in the evening or morning actually."

"Always the knight in shining armor," Amy said.

"I don't think my armor is that shinny anymore," Liam replied quietly looking back into the night sky. Sadness seemed to overtake Liam. It was well past mid-night as they walked back to the dorms. The night air was cool and Amy began to shiver. Liam placed his jacket on her shoulders. Amy noticed that it was the brown leather jacket he wore in high school. The jacket looked more worn than she remembered, but it still smelled like she remembered.

“You still have this jacket,” Amy commented.

Liam nodded.

“I remember the girls in junior high school trying to get it from you. You were written up for tearing open Mary Ann’s locker when she took it from you,” Amy remembered.

“I never understood why you girls wanted my jacket,” Liam said looking at the ground.

“It wasn’t the jacket Lee,” Amy said. “It was you they wanted. Do you know what happened when they saw you putting this jacket over my shoulders in 9th grade? I almost got into a fight with them in the gym locker room.”

“Really?” Liam said. A hint of a smile crossed his lips, but faded.

Amy held the jacket lapels closing the jacket around her. The weight of the leather prevented the jacket from slipping from her shoulders, but she could not get herself to place her arms within it sleeves. The smell of the brown leather reminded her of their time together in high school. She had won Liam’s heart without even trying to. She would take the jacket for days on end and Liam never said anything. It was like having him around when he wasn’t there. Even now the jacket made her feel safe.

As they approached her dorm room, Amy found herself reluctantly removing the jacket and handing it back to Liam. In a strange way the jacket had comforted her. She turned to say something when a loud moaning noise came from her room. Amy closed her eyes and shook her head.

"My roommate and her boyfriend," she said looking at her watch. "I hate it when she does this. I have nowhere to stay."

Liam looked around and then said, "Come on. Why don't we go to that all night diner down the road."

"No, I can just wait in the commons until they're done."

"I'm not going to let you just sit out here by yourself. Come on," Liam insisted placing the jacket back on her shoulders. Reluctantly she went with Liam as the noise level increased from her dorm room. They walked through the quiet paths of the campus to the diner in silence.

#####

The diner was empty. Liam walked to the counter to order them sodas and fries. Amy placed the jacket on the coat hook of the booth and sat down. Liam sat down and began to play with a coin lost in thought.

"You're pretty good at coin tricks," Amy said.

"Yeah," Liam said. "I just started doing them one day. Now I do them out of nervous habit."

"Why are you nervous?" asked Amy.

"Uncomfortable, more than anything," Liam answered.

"It wasn't personal Lee," Amy said. "It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make, but we were in two different schools. It wasn't fair to you or to me. I didn't want to feel like I was betraying you."

"I know," Liam said not able to look at her.

The waitress placed the platter of fries between them. Liam stared at the plate as Amy ate.

"How did you do that trick with the glowing red heart?" Amy asked breaking the silence.

Liam smiled as he looked up from the plate of fries. It was the first time he had smiled since she found him at the park.

"Well, the last twelve months have," Liam began to say, but was interrupted by a woman who sat at the counter clearing her throat. Liam looked at the counter and noticed that the women in the white dress was sitting there drinking tea. "Well, let’s just say I’ve picked up some tricks in the last few months."

Liam looked at his watch and laughed.

"What’s so funny?" asked Amy.

"Oh, a story popped into my head," Liam said.

"You going to share it with me?" asked Amy.

Liam looked at Amy and shifted in the seat. For the first time Liam looked into her eyes.

"A man had been walking through a museum when he comes across a statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. The statue intrigues him because even through it is made of stone you could see that she was a beautiful person. Finally he says to the statue spitefully, "What do you know of love." As the man turns to leave he bumps into this woman that had been standing behind him. She looks at him and says, "I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard what you said. Don't you believe in love?" The man was taken aback by her. For her age she was most attractive and there was something about her voice. He instantly began to cry. The woman tried to console him as they sat on a nearby bench. The man eventually told her his story.

You see, the man's wife of 30 years had left him. The last thing his wife said to him while walking out the door is that she had never loved him and that she had wasted her life. He was devastated. Everything he had lived for and loved just vanished from his life. He had spent the following days wandering around trying to figure out what went wrong. All the regrets and things he never did or took the chance of doing came over him.

Without thinking he says to the women, “If I could just do it over.”

"An interesting thought,” the women responded.

“The next moment, the man finds himself standing in his old hometown. He looks at himself and notices that he is young again. He looks back at the woman who is still beside him and finally notices that her features were similar to the statue of Aphrodite.

She tells him, that he has one year to find someone to love him. If he can find someone to love him, he can keep his new life. If he cannot find someone, everything would go back to as it was.

So he spent the year doing the things he never did before and tried to find someone that would love him.”

"Excuse me," the waitress interrupted. "We have to close in a few minutes."

Liam looked at the waitress, "I thought this was an all-night diner?"

"It used to be, but we now shut down for a few hours before the morning breakfast. Not many people come in this late."

Liam placed some money on the table as Amy finished her drink. Getting up from the booth Liam took the leather jacket and held it open for Amy. Without thinking she placed her arms within its sleeves. It felt like old times and she found that she missed them and Liam. They wandered around the campus holding hands. As they walked through the college park Liam stopped and went to a bench and sat down.

“What’s wrong Lee?” Amy asked. Something had been troubling him ever since the diner.

"Sun should be up in a few minutes; should be a nice sunrise."

Amy looked at Liam as he sat on the park bench. A quiet sadness seemed to have over taken him. Or, maybe he was just tired as she was. Sitting down next to him she watched the horizon.

"How did that story end?" she asked turning to him.

Liam turned and faced Amy. “The man had come across a girl he once knew in his youth. They spent the last few days of the year together. They were watching a sunset when the girl turned to him and was about to kiss him. The man looked at her and placed a finger across her lips," Liam said placing a finger on Amy's lips. “He said to the girl that he had the opportunity to change his life he, but he did not want to ruin hers. She looked at him as the sun set and he faded away."

Amy and Liam stared at each other. Liam removed his finger from her lips and turned to watch the sunrise.

"Not a happy ending for a story," Amy said.

"Stories with Greek gods rarely have happy endings," Liam laughed.

The sun began to rise. A pillar of red light climbed into the sky with a flash and then vanished. It lasted for just a few seconds, but it was something Amy had never seen before.

"It’s beautiful,” Amy said. Liam did not respond. Amy turned, but he was gone. She looked around, but she could not find him. Then she noticed the woman in the white dress standing before her in the rising sun.

"He was the man in the story," the woman said.

"What?" Amy asked.

"He was the man in the story. You were the girl. It just required a kiss. Then again, a kiss has always been able to change someone’s life," she said walking toward her. “All he had to do was find someone that would love him."

Amy looked at the rising sun, "I was going to kiss him."

"I know and so did he," the woman said.

"What happen to him?" Amy asked.

"He has returned to his correct time. His younger self is still here, but he is the way he was."

Amy sat in silence, the woman watching her.

"You're Aphrodite aren't you?" Amy said.

The woman smiled and faded into the rising sun light.

Amy walked in a daze back to her dorm room. The sun was now well up into the sky. She had been lost in thought since the sunrise. It seemed so surreal.

Amy opened the door to her dorm room. Her roommate and boyfriend were lying on the bed barely covered. Amy paused and looked at them as they stirred.

"Hey close the door Amy."

Amy realized that she was still wearing Liam’s leather jacket. She placed her hand in the inside pocket and pulled out an old photo. It was of her when she was in high school. The picture looked to have been decades old. The edges were frayed and the photo was faded.

"Hey, you OK?"

Amy picked up her cell phone which she had left on her desk and walked out closing the door behind her. Resting the cell phone against her mouth she walked to the commons area and sat in a chair. The leather jacket embraced her comforting her. Looking at her watch it was late morning now. Where had the time gone? Opening her phone she dialed a number that she had not called in years.

"Hello,” a voice answered.

"Hey, Lee,” Amy said. “How you doing?"

"Amy?"

"Yeah. Been a long time huh?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Nothing,” Amy paused. “I was going to be down to visit my parents next weekend. How would you like to get together and have a plate of fries and maybe some drinks?"