Good-bye Stevie

         “It’s really beautiful up here,” Asia sighed, her arms around herself. She smiled as she joined Stevie near the scenic pass.
         “Yeah, I know,” Stevie answered, giving a tense smile to Asia. Asia looked up at Stevie, her face growing concerned.
         “Stevie, what’s wrong? You look upset,” Asia questioned softly.
         “Asia…” Stevie trailed off, looking down at his hands. “Asia, we can’t do this anymore,” he answered quietly.
         “We can’t…cant’ do what anymore?” Asia gulped. She somehow knew what Stevie was going to say, and she tried to convince herself she was wrong.
         “It’s not fair to do this Asia, I’m being selfish and we both know it,” Stevie looked away as Asia tried to look him in the eyes to see if he was bluffing. The crack of emotion in his voice proved he wasn’t.
         “I still don’t understand,” Asia furrowed her brows. Stevie slipped his hand under her chin then lowered his lips to hers for one of the sweetest kisses Asia had ever experienced, then pulled away.
         “I’m going to give you up, cold turkey,” Stevie answered with a small, bittersweet smile, his voice wavering. Asia’s eyes went wide with disbelief; her fingertips tracing where Stevie’s lips had just seconds ago touched hers.
         “It’s…it’s over?” she choked out in a whisper. Her eyes were straining to hold back tears.
         “Asia, it’s not fair to keep you all to myself. You’ll never get to experience life if you always stay with me,” Stevie tried to justify.
         “Then maybe I don’t want to experience life!” Asia cried out irrationally.
         “Yes, you do,” Stevie assured. The tears that threatened to flow freely now trailed down Asia’s face.
         “You’re all I’ve ever known of love,” She whispered, Stevie carefully wrapping his arms around her once more to comfort her.
         “I’m not going to be the only one who falls for you, you know that,” Stevie wiped away one of her tears with the pad of his thumb, pulling away from Asia’s embrace.
         “Nobody knows that,” Asia responded somewhat bitter, but mostly sad.
         “I’m only doing what’s right,” Stevie explained
         “But what if it’s wrong?” Asia countered.
         “When the time comes, you’ll know what happened today was right,” Stevie soothed. Asia’s eyes welled over once more as Stevie took her in his arms and held her one last time. As they pulled away, Asia began to slip Stevie’s jean jacket off of her arms.
         “I guess it’s only right to give you your jacket back,” Asia gave a shaky sigh.
         “Keep it. It’ll remind you of the times we had…who knows? Maybe you’ll make better memories with it,” Stevie said awkwardly. He slipped his hands in the pocket of his jeans as he let out a deep breath. “So…” he said somberly.
         “So…” Asia mimicked, her arms finding their way into the jacket once more and around her shoulders.
         “Do you want a ride back to the cabin?” Stevie offered.
         “No thanks, I just want to be alone with my thoughts for awhile,” Asia replied.
         “Promise me you’ll be careful,“ Stevie prodded gently.
         “ I promise,” Asia said solemnly. With that, Stevie hopped on his Harley and drove away.
                   *          *          *          *

         Asia’s heart leapt with hope as the sound of a Harley motor roared near her. She ran out of the clearing in the woods near the road, not stopping to think that it might be one of Scoville’s men. Finally, the sobering thought hit her as she stopped running and stood behind a few trees to see exactly who it was.
         “Duke?” Asia questioned to her self aloud. She walked out from the trees and the rest of the way to the road. “Duke, what are you doing here? “ Asia asked.
         “Stevie said you were out here, and it was starting to get kind of dark…he thought it would be a good idea if someone went to see if you were okay,” Duke rambled sheepishly. Asia looked towards the sky and gave a sigh. “Are you okay?” He inquired gently yet concerned.
         “Yeah, I’m fine,” Asia answered. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” she offered.
         “Asia, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be out here alone,” Duke paused. “C’mon, hop on,” he patted the seat behind him.
         “It’s okay, I can walk,” Asia declined.
         “No, hop on. I’m not going to chance you being spotted by the cops, “ he countered. Asia didn’t move. “For Stevie’s sake,” Duke bribed. Asia gave a small roll of her eyes, but then got on the back of the bike. Duke kick started it and it roared to life again.
         Duke pulled the throttle and Asia wrapped her arms around his back, gripping tightly as the feel of Stevie’s coat around her gave way to fresh tears.