Re: The lake: close to the water
The water was deep. It was black from where she stood and it was forbidding. The woman disliked being forbidden anything and still less when it was not external. External could be railed against; helplessness was misery. The water she could imagine a hundred different ways, pulling her under, over her head, the curvature of the prow of one of those little canoes. He might have been the sailing type. She studied him again without being surreptitious. She didn't need it, the dark was forgiving.
"Drink or leave." She turned that over thoughtfully. It was an ultimatum. She disliked ultimatums on principle, she who had will leave her on the side of the lake and was temporarily inconvenienced by regret. Ultimatums suggested motive and she didn't know whose motive meant circulating emotions like party favors. "We could have walked away." She was matter-of-fact about this. "I was curious." Honest. Curiosity made for very dead cats. This one wasn't coming back soon.
He unfolded in height. She could see it, even if she couldn't see him exactly. She could picture him, because she could put together the snapshot that the flame had conjured with the height. The champagne bubbles had all burst and what was left behind was shocking cold, pale as the skin of her arms and of her feet. A drink sounded better. It sounded terrible, actually, but that was what was circulating, thanks to the party favor. A drink might make it easier, and her mouth tasted rancid and like cigarette smoke.
"I am going to follow you." She didn't explain. She didn't ask him to stay ahead and she didn't say why she was going to follow him, she thought it was obvious. His shadow would be very large and she didn't want to stay by the water, but she would, if he followed her or they were in-step. It was not logical, other than in a very small and precise way but she was holding onto that as tightly as she held onto will. Her voice was even and matter of fact.