Excerpt: Full Moon

He walked me towards home in silence.
The streets were surprisingly quiet. Even though it was a weekday, I expected to see students on the streets. It felt unnatural to see no one stumbling drunkenly homeward or swaggering confidently towards one of the many clubs. I had always been under the impression that weekends were for partying and week nights were for work, even for those who didn’t choose to make their studies their lives the way I had. In Grahamstown, like with everything else, these rules didn’t apply. No matter what the day, no matter what the time, the bars were full and the clubs were pumping. Sign of a student town I guess. But on this particular evening, all was still... like that stillness after the rain has fallen and people haven’t realised it’s safe to venture outdoors yet. It was eerie.
“Listen...” Kalin said awkwardly.
I listened. But he didn’t speak. He seemed to be trying to find the right words. He wore the expression of one who had been completely in control of a situation and then suddenly realised he hadn’t understood the situation at all. His face contorted. I watched it carefully.
Eventually I ventured, “it’s ok.”
I didn’t know why I’d said that. I was interested in what he had to say. But I could see that he was having great difficulty getting things out. I didn’t want to make things more awkward than they were already.
“It never happened?” I ventured.
He gave that half smile again, “If we continue on like this none of our meetings will ever have happened”
“Would be an interesting relationship”
I had used that term casually, as meaning an association between two people. But now I blushed. I was happy for the semi-darkness of the street.
A group of people was approaching us now, they were talking loudly... or perhaps at normal volume. A light mist had fallen over the street while we’d been talking and it seemed to amplify everything. Perhaps, I reflected, that’s why everything seemed so eerie.
As we were passing them, one of them stopped.
“Lilah?”
It was Darren. My heart lurched.
“Hi,” I said, trying to sound casual. Trying to sound pleasant.
“Wow I haven’t seen you in ages!” he said. He glanced at Kalin. “She always seems to be working”.
The group he’d been walking with continued on, telling him they’d see him there... wherever ‘there’ was. I recognised a few of them from the night at the club. That night.
“yea,” I shrugged.
“How have you been?” he asked me. But his eyes weren’t on me. They flickered from me to Kalin to back again. Kalin stood and glowered. I was surprised... it seemed as if a whole conversation happened between their eyes before I could answer him.