Stella

My first piece is written in the sense of the nameless character narrating the story, it’s done with an American slant but the actual idea for the story comes from many ideas such as movies, personal experience and a lot of imagination.

I hope you all like it.

....

All the boss did was keep admonishing me and suggest I take a vacation, get away from it all, take a break – so I did.

Countryside retreats, lakes and mountains were never my thing, I was always more at home in a city and by that I mean a city by night. Neon lights festooning the darkness and sleazy back street seedy bars where there were people like me – creatures of the night. That’s what I craved.

Travelling light, I disembarked from the train; the journey had passed without event, only the voices in my music player headphones for company. I hailed a weather beaten cab and headed for the hotel, I lowered the window to breathe in the sea air but it was masked by the smell of fast food restaurants and fumes, bad idea I mused whilst winding the window back up and gazing across at the setting sun hanging there like a cheap bauble.

The hotel was a sleazy back street flop house but that’s how I wanted it; a place to rest my head not some candy arsed joint with room service. After unpacking my few things I took a shower and made a point of dressing down, I wasn’t intending to hit the attractions, I was heading to the bars where real people would be, people with vices, people that were ten time losers like me, places where I could blend in and be left in my moody solitude.

Heading out into the night, the moonlit transition had taken effect, hawkers were trying to foist cheap watches on gullible tourists, pimps plied their trade under drab crimson neon signs and shrill car horns pierced the night time congestion.

I didn’t walk in a particular direction; I lacked purpose and probably looked every inch a tourist despite my dress down garb. Suddenly without warning it began to rain, weighty droplets slammed into my face before it suddenly turned into a deluge, pulling my coat around me I hastily looked for a bolt hole and a place to get a beer. It wasn’t long before I noticed a bar in a secluded alleyway and headed that way from the main street and the chaos of people rushing to find shelter.

Opening the door I was greeted by a wall of smoke and sound, it took my eyes a second to focus to the murky interior; moving to the end of the long bar I flicked my wet fringe away from my eyes and began to look around me. Nobody really acknowledged my entrance; the few melancholy customers seemed pre-occupied with their own hard luck stories or sat with glazed expressions. I signalled the barman and ordered a beer.

‘Something to succour your thirst friend?’ he enquired with a half interested tone

‘A beer’ I replied flatly

Hoisting myself on a stool at the end of the bar I removed my damp coat and handed it to the barman who’d returned with my drink and offered to hang it in a dry place out the back. I scoped the bar, it seemed to be a place of dead beats, losers, truckers and desperado’s that had all seen better days, sipping on my chilled beer I felt like I belonged here already. The music was retro, the décor was decadent, sapphire neon signs hung awkwardly behind the bar and a small circular pole dancing podium graced the corner of the dingy crooked table strewn room.

Time passed and the beer began to relax me, the nostalgic music improved my mood and I exchanged some meaningless conversation with the bartender as I sat away from it all at the end of the bar. More people had ventured in and the place was at least verging on lively, an enthusiastic cheer erupted when a girl adorned in a bikini that looked like it had been thrown on and nearly missed, began to pole dance. Zombie-like the girl circled the pole and went through half risqué motions whilst beer bellied truckers leered at her and made vociferous lewd suggestions.

Then I noticed her through the wispy cigarette smoke at the opposite end of the bar, her face looked pallid in the hazy neon glare, her ghostly visage was framed by shoulder length straight ebony hair and slender spectacles bridged her delicate nose – she half smiled at me as our eyes met. As my eyes lingered on her it was like she was challenging me to look at the dancer gyrating behind her but I wasn’t interested in the characterless stripper, I was drawn to her instead.

Our eyes duelled for a little longer before I pulled away and asked for my coat, I’d had too many beers and the journey had drained me. I cast one last glance her way and gave her the slightest of smiles before heading into the cold rainy night and the harbour front; I needed some sea air after my unexpected encounter.

A deep sleep and a lazy day was what I needed and that’s what I got but the next night I once again braved the lashing rain and headed to the same small backstreet bar. The woman at the end of the bar had been intriguing me all day – I just had to go back to see if she was there.

It was a carbon copy of the night before, with me sat there sipping beers and exchanging small talk with the guy working the bar but this time I was sober and I clocked the dark haired goddess as she glided in. I felt my jaw beginning to drop as I stared at her appraisingly, my interest all too unsubtle and obvious. None of the other goons sat at the bar expressed any interest, they were too busy guzzling beer and waiting for the stripper to make an entrance, but looking at the dark haired vision I could see she must have seemed kind of corporate to them. Tonight she was wearing her spectacles again and a black pinstriped suit that neatly hugged her feminine curves, the white stripes in the suit reflecting the subdued light; she almost appeared to shimmer as she moved.

I needed to get a grip, so deliberately I looked down as she took her seat at the opposite end of the bar, but it was no good. I couldn’t avert my gaze for more than a few seconds, but when I did look she stared back and smiled; I thought my heart was going to stop.

Who was this woman and why was she having such an effect on me?

Then to my astonishment she began to walk over to me, her eyes fixed on me all the time she walked behind the line of inebriates at the bar, she perched lightly on the stool beside me.

‘May I join you?’ she asked softly

I nodded in disbelief and tried to appear confident as she eased fully onto the stool and introduced herself.

‘Hi, I’m Stella, can I get you a drink?’ she enquired with a warm smile that sent my heart reeling

I didn’t want to offend her so I asked for a beer and tried to look relaxed.

‘I’ve not seen you around here before, are you on vacation?’ she enquired

And that was the start of a conversation that went on late into the night; as each minute passed I could feel myself falling deeper and deeper in love with her. She was far more intoxicating than the beer, her dulcet voice, her dark sable hair, her smooth pale complexion, her laughter - everything she seemed to say and do entranced me - and she knew it.

When the bar closed we headed to the long curved harbour and the sea wall overlooking it. The rain had stopped and there was an invigorating chill about the air. A solitary cab would pass us now and again and the neon lights from the buildings reflected on the gloomy waves lapping against the sea wall. To me it seemed a perfect night. Dodging puddles we walked slowly, chatted, laughed and then she held my hand tightly. I was starting to feel somebody again and I don’t mind telling you it felt damn good. I turned to her, watching her dark hair shift slightly with the breeze, we stopped and she hugged me before hailing a cab from the almost empty road beside us.

‘I’ll be there again tonight,’ she said.

Leaning in close she gave my lips the briefest of butterfly kisses and was gone just like an illusion, with a sharp intake of breath I dared a smile even though I still didn’t believe my luck.

I continued my walk, the sea breeze was delicious, my head was swirling and my heart was full of undulating waves of desire.

One day blurred into the next as I spent my time in bed to stay sharp for the nights and my rendezvous’ with Stella. It wasn’t easy to sleep during the day, beer helped but Stella was constantly on my mind. There I lay in a patina of sweat, the cacophony of traffic below me, my mind swimming. What was this woman doing to me?

That night we met as usual again, but instead of staying in the bar we headed to Chinatown to grab some noodles before our usual harbour side walk. As ever I was completely wrapped in Stella, the way she moved, how she spoke, in fact every little gesticulation she made. Tonight she was garbed in a black t-shirt, black jeans and a long dark brown coat that hung just above her crimson converse sneakers. There was something wrong though, she didn’t seem her usual self this night, she seemed strangely subdued. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she placed a finger on my lips to silence them.

‘I can’t see you tomorrow and perhaps for the next few days,’ she said softly yet firmly.

‘But I go home in two days!’ I interjected pulling back slightly.

‘Look, we’ve had fun, let’s not forget that.’ she remarked as she swallowed back and tried to force a smile.

We looked at each other for several moments before Stella leaned in and gave me the longest most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced. I held her tight, my arms circling her svelte waist before moving up her back to hold her even closer to my pounding heart. Then she pulled away and darted into the road to hail a passing cab. She didn’t look back this time, maybe she was upset or perhaps she was hiding something, but she disappeared as swiftly as she always did. My heart sank.

The sound of the sea reached out to me and drew me over to the harbour wall. Leaning on it I sort of wish I smoked, because my hands seemed restless, my throat tight – I could feel tears begin to well up in my eyes. I can’t recall how long I gazed upon the dark sea that night, taking in the air and listening to the soothing sounds of the waves. It would seem that the sea had been my other constant companion on the vacation.

When the next night came around I headed out to the bar again even though Stella said she wasn’t going to be there. The night passed, but I didn’t really have any inclination to drink; my eyes seemed to be constantly looking over at the entrance door. Circling the rim of my beer bottle with my finger I could feel the dour persona I had before the vacation returning, it was then the bartender interrupted me.

‘Listen buddy, I feel I oughta level with you, Stella usually drops by here on her nights off; if you want to find her I suggest you try this place but you may not like what you find.’

With that he gave me a card that said ‘The Regent Escort Lounge’, the address looked to be on the outskirts of town in some shady neighbourhood. After asking the barman for rough directions I headed outside and threw myself into the road to stop the next passing cab oblivious to cars hooting and drivers cursing me. Ten minutes later and I was standing outside of the place on the card, breathing hard and feeling the sweat cascade down the back of my neck. I paid the cab driver and headed inside.

In the opulent foyer I was greeted by a curvaceous blonde woman sporting a skimpy red basque; she demanded an entrance fee before I could enter the lounge behind her. I hastily paid and pushed the doors open, my throat began to contract. There was a plush bar area up ahead, but I hung back in the shadows to survey the scene.

There she was. There was Stella, cavorting in the skimpiest of bikinis on some balding fat businessman’s lap as he wedged money into her bra as she giggled and sipped wine.

Stella was a hooker.

I didn’t watch any longer, neither did I want to cause a scene, why should I? Stella had been something special to me that vacation, something more than a friend.

With a heart of stone I walked in a daze back to the harbour, to the sea.

‘Oh how the sound of the sea comforts.’