Leonard strummed the chords. He listened to the rhythm of the music and sighed. He put the instrument down and snatched a bottle of beer from a stack. It was his eighth bottle, and he still had plans in pursuing.
He freely downed the whole thing and tucked it alongside the empty ones. He sighed and picked up his instrument.
Music wasn't a profitable avocation to him as much as drinking was the solution to all his gloating, but it managed to do one thing that not a lot of things did:
It soothes him.
He then played.
He played an amiable song, and his fingers strummed idly to conjure the right but monotonous melody of the song he had in mind.
He played colors and moved himself to dance to the song.
And as he played, he smiled and closed his eyes, and let the music take him.
He fell in love with his own strumming.
"Leony."
He stops.
He doesn't dare to turn around.
"Please look at me."
She pleaded to him, but Leonard didn't move, didn't succumb. His seat was perched close to the edge, and from here he could smell the waft of salt pelting him from down below.
He wasn't scared of falling off-- to stumble from his seat and plummet down into a clumsy painful death, wasn't that perturbing. Her visit was more bothersome, like nightmares cluttering his feeble nights.
As a knot tightened in his stomach, he lend himself the courage he had to talk to her, and hoped the alcohol did not dampen any of that.
"Why are you here."
"I missed you." She sat beside him, stop this cliff. Her presence, the warmth of another soul-- it was tantalizing.
The silver rods casted upon by the moon were enough to form ripples of light across the dark sea. Beyond, Leonard couldn't make out any more expanse of water-- it just... ends. No boats. No islands. Nothing.
He felt the touch of her hand against his shoulder-- the burning touch of a long-lost partner setting his skin off ablaze.
"I'm... I've been feeling better..."
He kept ignoring her, and he still persisted. His eyes glued themselves to the vast, empty oblivion before him, an amalgamation of water, salt, and depth-- the sea.
"And... And, well... This is just a simple apology..."
He didn't reason with his own conduct as his fingers initiated.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step over you. I was selfish, and arrogant, and I got rough..."
It first started with simple plucks, then gradually more weight was applied to the canvas.
"I'm sorry! It's... It was just me, alright? It wasn't you. It's just me. But... But I've put it aside now, and I'm willing to put our differences behind us... For us..."
The colors were sullen and slow-- he continued to play.
"For you..."
The atmosphere flourished into something... congenial. He was escaping from the conversation, and just for a moment he really was.
"Leony."
He stops. He looks at her.
Bleach blonde hair. Lovely pale skin. Brown eyes and lungs filled with grief.
He thought he could be tough-- when his life lived in an upturned boat; when love, direction, inspiration was drained out into the ocean; when all was left was turmoil-- but he was only bleeding like a stone.
"I love yo-"
Leonard put his arms around her to comfort her, and their bodies touched. Their bodies eased into each other, and their love-making seemed endless that night.