The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 4 - Le Calme Avant la Tempete(The Calm Before the Storm):

Bower Apartment, 12:43 PM/Friday/April 14th/2011

Room 412, Brien's kitchen

Silence alongside a longing shock is still consuming the room while Brien makes lunch for both him and Sarah. Cooking a small amount of well-seasoned chopped beef on the stove, with a microwave hanging above, is Brien. While Sarah leans on the island only a couple feet to the right side of the stove and counter. Behind them both is a large window. Out this large window you can see the military barricading certain streets and boarding up some small shops or other kinds of buildings. 

"Do you think this is gonna last forever," asks Sarah, who's now wearing a hoodie and jeans Brien is lending her.

While moving the chopped beef around the pan, Brien responds, hesitantly but confident, "... I hope it does, but by the looks of things outside. I can't tell. All I'm sure of is that we will be okay. Sarah… you and I are gonna' make it through this."

Sarah, who looks to be hesitating to say something, walks up to Brien and stares at the food he's making, then she asks "what are you making?"

"Probably just some tacos," Brien says, "I got some tortillas in the cabinet up there and I have some other stuff in the fridge if you're okay with that?"

Slightly smiling, Sarah looks Brien in the eyes and says "I'm okay with that."

Briefly they both stare at each other sharing a moment with each other, a pure moment in a dark time. Somehow these two people who barely knew each other became more than friends in a single night. Leaving Brien to cook the food, Sarah walks to the window, where she sees tanks, helicopters, and trucks filled with soldiers rolling in. Tires screech on the pavement and all the subsequent noises echo through the tight-knit city. 

"The beef is complete madam," Brien tells Sarah.

While walking back over to Brien, Sarah responds, in a serious yet joking tone, "thank you for your… precious meat," she knows what she said and she stares deeply at Brien.

This lecherous moment makes Brien stare her deep in the eyes before he responds with a chuckle and says "well… that wasn't on my bingo card for jokes you'd be makin'. But t'was a good one."

Now with a giggle, Sarah looks at Brien as she tells him "I guess I feel more comfortable around you," then she continues to stare deeply at him with joy.

"Seems like a good thing to me," Brien responds, now trying to change the subject, "I'll get the other stuff for the tacos."

Kinda shot down by the changing of subjects, Sarah responds, "someone doesn't like a little fun."

While opening the fridge Brien freezes for a millisecond before telling her "how about this? We eat lunch. We do whatever for a little bit and then we head to my friend Kenny's party. how 'bout that 'eh?"

More excitement fills the still scared Sarah, who doesn't quite know what she's doing herself, "sounds good to me," then she realizes something, "didn't the thing on TV tell us not to go to gatherings or whatever?"

"Yes, it did. But I promised my friend I'd go and I might feel safer and more comfortable if you came to," Brien says while smiling, "you'd make a great plus one."

Quickly convinced by the sneaky charm of Brien, Sarah says "you're lucky I'm like," she hesitates for a moment, "in love with you."

Surprised and taken aback by the use of the word love, Brien asks "you love me?"

"I guess I do," she nervously says, "y'know I believe in love-at-first-sight and you were the first person that really made my heart-stop."

Even more surprised by this, Brien responds "I feel the same way, I'm still a little… I think shocked by this," he says teasingly with a smile, "I wonder if there's someone out there who loves you as much as you love me… hmm?"

"Oh stop acting like you weren't the one who had a whole note written about how beautiful I am," Sarah responds, teasing him back.

"Aye, aye too far darlin', too far," Brien says with a smile as he lays out the rest of the taco ingredients, "now let's eat, I'm bloody starving," he says in his light smooth Irish tone.

Lovely this couple seems as they eat in the kitchen sharing laughs trying to move past the gloom that's moving along outside. Bite-after-bite they take off their food as the military does so too on the streets blocking things off and very distant gunshots are heard as if a war was happening in the distance. Only thing distracting the wonderful, yet short-spanned couple is romance and in the back of their usually shy-minds fear. Once they finish their meal, the plates are put in the sink to be cleaned later and Sarah goes to take a shower as Brien waits for her in his bed watching TV. 

In the washroom, Sarah looks in the mirror, missing her clothes, looking at herself as if this is the first time she saw a smile on her face. As the mirror steams up she begins to cry, not sad tears this time, but tears of happiness, because of something that she sees as monumental in her life. Steam finally swallows the mirror, and Sarah enters the shower letting the warm water run down her back, her breasts, and her legs as she washes her hair. As she moves her hair, her emerald green eyes become more apparent and almost mystical through the steamy air. Water glistens on her body not only making her look other-worldy, but like an angel from a plane far above. 

Back in Brien's main room, less neat than before. Brein waits, due to pure curiosity of what Sarah will want to do once she enters the room. Nerdily though Brien searches through an old stash of DVDs for a movie she might like, not expecting there to be a big event between the two. While he searched for something to do, the water sounds from the bathroom stop. Now anticipating Sarah to re-enter the room, Brien waits sitting on the floor for her. The bathroom door opens, and footsteps begin to walk in the direction of Brien being heard through the thin-wall. 

"So are you ready," Sarah asks, in a confident voice trying to cover up her nervousness, "I don't really know what to do myself, but it's  a learning experience," she says with Brien's bright white robe barely covering her body.

Somewhat confused by these advances. Brien says, trying to seem like he's following along, "yes of course, I'm ready," then he stares up at her from the floor like a lost puppy.

"Well um," Sarah begins to slowly untie the robe, "I… I think I wanna kiss you."

Still dumbfounded by what he's witnessing, Brien responds "oh… me too. I mean I've been wanting to kiss ye' for such a long time."

Quickly the robe falls down and Sarah asks "is this okay with you?"

Now understanding what she meant, Brien responds "oh uh, yea this is alright," nervous, but in the same boat as Sarah, "what should I do?"

"Just come here," she lightly says with a slightly demanding tone, "we can learn together."

On his feet now, Brien sunters over to Sarah. While he makes his way across the room he takes his shirt off. Now chest to chest with her they kiss for the first time and then they stare deep into each other's eyes with a smile on both of their lips as they begin to kiss more and more. Until suddenly Sarah pushes Brien back on his bed and things begin to steam up similarly to how the bathroom did before.

At the clock's steady pace it reached 3 o'clock after ticking for nearly two hours. Sun shining in through the window above the television blast down on Sarah and Brien. Both of them lying next to each other in Brien's bed covered by only a blanket now staring up at the ceiling with a smile on each of their faces. Unable to speak after realizing what they had just done, not because of the awkwardness, but because of the fact they embraced each other. Not for lustful reasons, but for the reason of love and actual care. 

"That was… an experience," Brien says with a light smile trying not to look  surprised. 

"Yeah… it really was," Sarah says with a similar face to Brien, but with a more reflecting look, "I still can't believe that we enveloped each other."

Nearly confused by the choice of wording, Brien says "I like the way you say it," then they fall silent for a second, "I'll uh go get us some water or something."

As Brien crawls out of bed, lifting a pair of boxers up his legs, Sarah says "thank you… for bringing me in."

"No problem," Brien says as he stands up and leaves the room.

Alone now, Sarah pulls the blanket down slightly. She then stares up at the ceiling thinking about what she just did. Not in a bad way, but with a romantic stare. Love feels alive in the room. Messy dark red hair sits on Sarah's head as she joyfully stares at the ceiling waiting for the return of the man she loves