Escape

By: Lara

I was tired of my lady…we’d been together too long. Like a worn-out recording of a favorite song. So while she lay there sleeping I read the paper in bed. And in the personals column, there was this letter I read…

“Oh, GOD, what a day,” Priscilla said as she burst through the front door. “Tell me again why I work? It’s not like we need the money.”

“Because you hate sitting around the house and like to feel useful,” Brian recited. “And then there’s all those years of pharmaceutical school.” Pris smiled and kissed his cheek.

“Hey, baby. I need a shower.” She tossed her purse onto the chair by the door and click-clacked up the steps on her high heels.

Brian sighed and went into the kitchen to check on dinner. While he was home from touring, he liked to cook, but lately he was really beginning to feel as if he was taken for granted. He loved Priscilla; they had been together for almost two years. How could he not love her? She was beautiful, smart, good at what she did, and they just blended well together. Unfortunately, lately Brian was beginning to feel that blend had turned into bland.

“You mind if I read the paper in bed?” Brian asked as Priscilla turned back the covers. She sighed.

“Well, I do have to be up at five-thirty, but I don’t mind, as long as it’s not TOO late.” She climbed into bed and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Not all of us are famous popstars who have weeks off at a time.”

“I work during my off time, too,” he pointed out almost angrily. She smiled.

“I know, honey, I was just teasing.”

“Sorry,” he sighed, feeling as if he was always apologizing. He climbed into bed and opened the paper. “I didn’t get a chance to read this today. We were at Howie’s writing most of the morning.”

“Are they gonna throw you a party for your birthday?” Pris asked, fluffing her pillow before settling in.

“I’m not sure what I want yet. We still have a week. I’ll let you know, I promise,” he said, bending down to kiss her. “Goodnight. I love you.”

“You too,” Priscilla mumbled, already drowsy.

Brian sighed and paged through the newspaper. He started with the sports and worked backwards. When he got to the Living section, he chuckled. It was Wednesday. Wednesday was personal ad day. Some of the ads were so amusing that he couldn’t help but read them. He wondered if what the people described was really what they delivered. He looked over at Priscilla and sighed. She was so beautiful. Her reddish-brown hair fanned out over the pillow, and he could see the chameleon green-brown eyes in his mind even though they were closed. She was everything he wanted…or used to want.

He was about to close the paper when an ad caught his eye. He looked at Priscilla guiltily before reading it out loud to himself quietly. “If you like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain…if you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain.” Brian chuckled at that part. “If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape…I’m the lady you’ve looked for…come with me and escape.”

Brian thought for a long moment. Everything there sounded like something he wanted. He could feel the tropical breezes…taste the sweetness of pineapple and coconut as the mixed drink slid down his throat…feel the refreshing rain against his bare skin…hear the waves crash on the shore as he lay naked on the sandy dunes. He looked at Priscilla again, paused, then got up and padded over to his desk on bare feet. He quietly slid a piece of paper from the top drawer and started to write.

Two

One Week Later

If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain/If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain/If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of a cape/I’m the lady you’ve looked for, come with me and escape…

I didn’t think about my lady, I know that sounds kinda mean/But me and my old lady had fallen into the same old dull routine/So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad/And though I’m nobody’s poet, I thought it wasn’t half-bad…

“Did the newspaper come yet?” Brian asked anxiously as he arrived at Nick’s around eight in the morning. They were all meeting for a day-long session of writing and brainstorming. The new album was flowing incredibly well, and no one wanted to hit writer’s block. Even AJ had agreed to get up and come over early, which was a major endeavor.

“What newspaper?” Nick asked, yawning sleepily. “I don’t get the paper.” He padded to the kitchen to make coffee. “God, HOW can you be so chipper this early?”

“It’s not that early, Nick,” Brian said with a sigh. “You don’t get a paper? You are so uneducated sometimes. I’ll go get one.”

“Why do we need a paper?” Nick wondered.

“Because I want one,” Brian snapped, heading back for the door.

“Get some doughnuts on your way back!” Nick yelled after him.

Brian sat outside the convenience store with the motor running. He tossed sections of the paper aside until he found the Living section. He scanned the paragraphs until he found what he was looking for. Not too shabby, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes, opened them again, and tried to read the words as a woman would.

“Yes I like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain. I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne.” He couldn’t help but grin. That part was pretty damn cute, if he did say so himself. “I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow night, and cut through all this red tape. At a bar called O’Malley’s…where we’ll plan our escape.”

“Hi, sweetheart!” Priscilla gave Brian a kiss on the cheek as she headed up for the shower. “How was your day?”

“Great,” Brian said, his mind wandering back to his ad in the paper. He wondered if the woman would actually meet him. He had included more particulars in his reply, such as which booth he’d be in and what he’d be wearing. He was a very good customer at O’Malley’s, and he knew he could have whatever table he wanted. The only problem was his birthday. It was the next day, and he HAD to find a way to get away from Priscilla. This was all wrong, he knew, but he was feeling more and more bogged down by the relationship. He wasn’t planning on all out cheating on her. He wanted to meet this other woman and see if sparks flew. If sparks flew, he knew he seriously needed to sit down and talk with Priscilla.

“Um, honey?” Priscilla stopped on the stairwell and slowly walked back down. “I…uh…I have to work late tomorrow,” she said softly. Her eyes were guilty. “I know it’s your birthday and I know you didn’t have plans…I’m so sorry. I gave the night pharmacist the night off.”

“It’s okay, Pris, really. We’ll do something the next night,” Brian said, trying not to sound too relieved.

“Are you sure?” Her voice was anxious. Brian nodded and she smiled.

“Thank you for being so understanding, Bri. You’re amazing.” She gave him a big hug and went up the stairs.

Brian whistled as he went into the kitchen, daydreaming of ocean breezes and the sand against his skin.

Three

So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place/I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face…

“Your table is ready, Mr. Littrell.” The host greeted Brian with a warm smile. “Will your young lady be joining you?”

“Not tonight, Theodore. Another friend,” Brian said, smoothly slipping a twenty into the host’s palm. “Keep a bottle of champagne ready for her arrival, please.”

“Yes, sir.” Theodore led Brian to a secluded round booth in the back. Two places were set and a candelabra flickered.

“Excellent. Thank you, Theodore.” Brian slid into the booth and checked his watch. He was ten minutes early. His fingers tapped on the tablecloth as his blue eyes anxiously looked towards the door.

At ten after eight he stood and stretched. She was late. No big deal. She’d get there eventually. Traffic could be hell and…Brian’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, shit,” he gasped to himself. He fell into the booth and ducked his head. The woman handing her coat to Theodore was Priscilla. HIS Priscilla. What the hell was SHE doing there? Obviously not working late. Brian began to fume, then realized if she was seeing someone else it was no worse then what he was doing.

He intently studied a stain on the tablecloth, praying that Priscilla wouldn’t recognize the top of his head. “Excuse me, I was told that the man at this table had half a brain?” A sweet female voice said. Brian smiled. It was her. She had arrived.

“Yes, well, I’ve been told that on…” Brian looked up with a grin and gasped. Priscilla’s eyes widened as she saw who was seated at the table. Brian jumped to his feet. “Priscilla? What…”

“Brian? What in the world are you doing here?”

“I’m…uh…meeting someone,” Brian said, his face flaming red.

“So am I…” Priscilla’s voice trailed off as she realized what was going on. “You like pina coladas?”

“You never told me you wanted to have sex on a beach,” Brian said accusingly.

Priscilla sat in the booth and Brian followed suit. “I said making love, not sex. There’s a difference,” Priscilla said softly. “You never asked.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, then started to smile. “I can’t believe it’s you,” Brian said finally. “Priscilla, I’m so sorry. If things have gotten to the point that you feel the need to look for excitement, it can only be my fault.”

Priscilla reached over and took his hand, shaking her head. “No, Brian. I’m just as much to blame. I know I’ve been living my work and constantly belittling yours. I just…I know that you could totally support us, and I feel so useless sometimes.”

“Honey, no,” Brian insisted. “You do something so important…so useful. I sing.”

“You sing beautifully,” Priscilla told him. He sighed, watching her beautiful face.

“Could you get some time off next month?”

“Since I have about a kazillion days of vacation time I haven’t used, yes, I think that’s possible,” Priscilla said slowly.

“We’re going away. We’re gonna find that beach and drink those pina coladas and find out all the other things about each other that we never knew.” Brian’s eyes were very blue as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “This could turn out to be the best birthday ever.”

It was my own lovely lady, and she said, “Oh, it’s you.”/And we laughed for a moment, and I said, “I never knew…”

That you liked pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain/And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne/If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of a cape/You’re the love that I’ve looked for…come with me and escape.

The End

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