I. And In The Dark I Can Hear Your Heartbeat

The air was warm and heavy and smelled like summer city nights.

Ryli paused her thinking and took in a deep breath of the familiar scent. It was going to be another good summer, best friends side by side, walking home beneath the sky of endless stars that constantly combatted the bright lights of civilization.

"Well then, what'd you think of tonight?" Shadoe glanced over at her companion, the streetlight illuminating the cheery expression on her face. She slipped her hands out of her pockets and ran her fingers through her hair. Tilting her head up, she caught sight of a full moon that seemed to be continuing its eternal battle against both the lights made by man and the lights set into the sky by God. 

"It was fine, aside from..." She paused. A flash of silver that slinked around the corner just ahead of them caught her eye; but it was gone before her gaze could catch it again, nothing more than a trick of the light. "Mm..."

"It was fine, aside from....?"

"Ah, right. Dirk's drum solo was..."

"Yah. I thought so too."

"I know, right?"

The pair laughed as they rounded the corner. The van was already at the front of the house and she could hear the voices of their bandmates even before she spotted them on the porch. Shadoe dug in her bag for the key as Ryli closed the gate behind them.

"Took you two long enough! We still have to load all the stuff out of the van."

"And I'm hungryyy."

"Quiet, quiet. I forgot I had the key."

"You could have just ridden in the old wagon with us." Corran snatched the key from his friend's hand and unlocked the door, calling an "I'm home!" to nobody in particular. "Speaking of the wagon. You two get to take care of that. While Dirk and I call for a pizza."

The boys rushed inside before anybody could put forth an objection, and as the porchlight flickered on after they had slammed the door, Ryli shrugged. "No big deal. Cor might find his bass pushing up daisies in the front flowerbed tomorrow, though."

"I'd be a fan of that plan, if it didn't endanger the band's future as the most epic, famous, chart-topping group in history."

"Good point." Ryli grinned and swung open the back doors of the rusty, paint-chipped van. "I could just shave one of his eyebrows off while he's sleeping?"

The pair laughed again, still on the adrenaline-induced high of a gig-well-done. As they lugged the instruments and cords and equipment into the little two-story house, the silver glint slinked about several more corners, unnoticed.