Page 123 of Only You
She laughed again, the beauty of it soothing his longing. After all these years, all their lives, she was finally right in front of him, ready to try again.
Dani’s phone, forgotten on her lap, buzzed, and they jumped. She looked at the screen groaning. ‘I have to go to practise.’
‘Mind if I walk you to your car?’ ‘You better.’
Dani didn’t bother to hide her smile as they stood up. Their shoulders brushed every few steps as they walked side by side. Jones decided to savour the anticipation. As it was, his condition would be hard on them, and he had enough regrets from his other lives. This lifetime, he refused to rush out of fear.
One way or another, he knew they had a future together.
‘By the way,’ Dani said suddenly. ‘You do know that Demir would have definitely been one of those old-school jazz poets, right?’
Jones smirked. ‘You said the game was called Alternative History.’ She looked at him curiously. ‘Is that a clue?’
He smiled as he gave into the urge to put his arm around her shoulder.
‘I don’t know how much you remember about our next lifetime, but I’ll save you some suspense. Look up the bookBecause I’m Merely a Songby a guy name Dominic.’
Her eyes sparked in recognition, and she looked at him in awe. ‘Poetry?’ ‘Poetry.’
Epilogue
Paris
February 2080
Yousef Gabrie wondered if humans were creatures of the night.
Not to say he didn’t enjoy the day, but a certain energy emerged under his skin when the sun set. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a little easier to remove the thin VR lenses that always covered his eyes, whether for work or to talk with a friend, and just observe the people around him. He took out his vape, dialling down the strength level for his evening smoke before taking a puff.
He didn’t know why he was outside.
His fiancée, Nadia, didn’t care if he smoked inside. They had air filters in every room, so the smell never lingered, and their balcony had a better view of the stars. So many choices of comfort and still he donned his coat around midnight, walking down five flights to the building entrance before stopping at one of the convenience stands for a snack and heading to a nearby bench to smoke while trying to understand the restless energy under his skin.
Some nights, he enjoyed it. It felt tangible and real in a world wrestling with the artificial too often. On other nights, like tonight, he couldn’t help but tilt his head up to look at the stars for answers. He wanted to ask them:
What do you want?
But the universe was nothing if not silent. He sighed before taking another drag. ‘They used to be harder to see.’
Pulling his gaze from the stars, Yousef turned.
The person – she, from the red pinkie ring that indicated her pronouns – was leaning against a nearby lamp post in jeans and a lace hoodie that somehow looked both delicate and street-smart. She smiled at him mischievously as if she knew an inside joke that he wasn’t privy to. He tilted his head curiously, and she pointed to the sky.
‘The stars,’ she clarified. ‘A few decades ago, you would have only ten or fifteen on a good night.’
Yousef looked up again at the hundreds of stars above his head. He couldn’t imagine seeing such an empty sky in the city. ‘Huh,’ he said.
‘Anything particularly special up there?’
‘Only the answers to every question we ever asked,’ she shrugged. ‘Probably. Seems only right the heavens know everything.’
‘Much better than humans, we’re a bit reckless,’ he smirked. ‘But we’re all lucky.’
‘Would a lucky man look so pensive?’
Yousef huffed out a laugh at the odd question. ‘Only if he’s the luckiest one of them all,’ he answered.
A flashing advertisement showed the time. Already thirty minutes had passed, and he didn’t want to leave Nadia by herself for too long. He stood up, straightening his coat. Yet, he hesitated to walk away, noticing that the woman’s attention was still on him.
