SINCE THE TIME IMMEMORIAL

Sun gently cascaded over the hollow trees and stumpy hilltops, basking the rich, green grass in faint, golden shimmer, as the warm, summer breeze swayed stems in playful manner. Crickets sang lonesome while lake-bordering forest played the music of nightingales, painting serenely the image of a place outside of the world’s borders. Lakeside house stood tall, its four walls wooden and laminated, painted over in dim, maroon red. It had two windows, on opposite, side walls, and was roofed red. Perched at the porch were hanging bells and chimes, while beneath them a single, round table stood etched into the wooden platform beneath, surrounded by two, tall stools.

Seated atop the stools were two figures, their expressions writing a very much different story than the one of their surroundings; Tyson was sitting topless and barefoot, wearing only boxes, his entire body glistening in sweat. His expression was crestfallen, eyes half-closed, hair dried by its roots. He was sitting lurched backwards, his arms in a freefall at his sides, appearing listless. Opposite of him sat Aya, wearing only a black bra and panties and black shades covering her exhausted eyes. Her hair was still dripping wet, shimmering faintly even in the porch’s shade. She had her legs crossed over, body leaned toward the table as one of her arms rested atop it, while her head rested atop that arm. A strange silence hung between the two, as neither moved an inch for nearly fifteen minutes straight.

“Let’s have our own honeymoon, she said,” Tyson mumbled as he cocked his eyes sideways and glanced at Aya. “It’ll be tons of fun, she said.”

“Of course sweetie, let’s go someplace where the sun shines, he said,” Aya replied in kind. “It’s totally not because I want to see you in a swimsuit or anything.”

“Why the fuck would I want to see you in your swimsuit?!! I see you naked every day!!” Tyson cried out, but quickly grew listless yet again as though the last bit of energy was sapped from his soul.

“Seeing me naked is not the same as seeing me in a swimsuit!” Aya cried back. “It’s the different spectrums of hot!”

“I see you in your underwear every day too!!”

“Bikinis aren’t the same as bra and panties.”

“… really? They’re really not?”

“Of course,” Aya said. “Ask any woman and she’ll tell you the same.”

“… look, nobody’s complaining that you guys show too much skin when you wear them!” Tyson said. “You don’t have to make shit up just to excuse it!”

“Bikinis are tighter and they wrap around places better.” Aya said.

“Bikinis and underwear are two completely different things.” Tyson said without hesitation.

“… why didn’t you dip yourself into the lake? I feel like crying whenever I look at you.”

“I’m meditating.”

“On what?!”

“The meaning of life.” Tyson said as he closed his eyes.

“…………..” Aya stared at him for a moment before sighing. “I’m the meaning of your life.”

“… wow, that was depressing.” Tyson said, glancing at her. “Is anything wrong?”

“… I had my period this morning.” Aya said.

“……….”

“……….”

“So we’re stuck on this fucking mountain for a week and we can’t even have sex?!!”

“… sorry. I miscalculated.” Aya said.

“… ah, it’s fine. We can always just talk.” Tyson said. “But, then again, we’ve been talking for nearly two years. I don’t think there’s even a topic we didn’t cover.”

“Rape?”

“Let’s not go there.”

“Pedophilia?”

“OI!!!”

“Wringing?” Aya mumbled.

“What’s that?” Tyson asked her.

“… extracting certain liquid by twisting certain place—“

“I’ll wring your damn neck, shut up!” Tyson cried out as he subconsciously squeezed his legs together. “Aah, why the hell did we even come here… those two are having fun on the beach, picking shells, eating strange foods, regretting eating strange foods, meeting strange people, checking out better-bodied girls…”

“You don’t have to hide your true intentions by listing billion other things beforehand.” Aya said.

“Oh, so, those two are now on the beach, checking out great racks and potential cameltoes…” Tyson said.

“I never understood the obsession with those,” Aya said as she began playing with her hair slowly. “What’s the big deal?”

“In and of itself?” Tyson said. “Meh. Coupled with colorful imagination? He, he…”

“… you can just google them, though.”

“Yeah, but it’s different, you know? It’s like when you see an amazing car in a picture versus when you see it parked next to you. It’s still the same, but it’s different.”

“… I can’t believe you’ve nearly graduated with English degree. It’s depressing.” Aya said, sighing.

“Oh, screw you! It’s, you know, one of those feelings that you can’t really explain.” Tyson said. “Like when you suddenly find yourself thinking ‘oi, didn’t I dream about this exact thing happening? Why does it feel so familiar?’ or when you’re on the toilet and you have to sneeze, so you have to figure out which hole should be prioritized, or when you refuse to have sex ‘because you don’t feel like it’.”

“… how in the fuck did you even manage to group those three together?!” Aya exclaimed as strongly as she could. “And what do you mean ‘because I don’t feel like it’?! I’ve never said that! And really, remember those two weeks when we had sex every day at least twice? Do you really want to go through that again?”

“… even when I brag about it to the guys, I nearly break out in tears.” Tyson said as he shuddered for a moment.

“So guys really do brag about that kind of stuff, huh?”

“Of course we do,” Tyson said, smirking. “Seeing that jealous look in guys’ eyes is like a drug to me.”

“We should get you into rehabilitation then.”

“I’ll skip.”

“Like you skipped floor last week pretending it was lava?” Aya asked, smirking.

“Ah, that really was fun,” Tyson replied without a hint of embarrassment. “It brought me straight back to the childhood.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Childhood?”

“Yeah.”

“… hmm, somewhat, I suppose,” Tyson said, sighing. “But it’s yet another of those feelings I can’t really explain. It’s like when you suddenly get an urge to eat something specific, but nothing really triggered it, you know?”

“Nope.”

“Liar.”

“Never.”

“If I wasn’t exhausted to the point of dying, I’d burst out into laughter at that obvious lie.” Tyson said.

“Oh, so the trend is to burst out into laughter when you hear a lie nowadays? Didn’t know about it.”

“Spend less time sleeping and more time exploring the world.”

“And so the pot calls the kettle black.”

“What do you mean? I spend at least fifteen minutes each day reading about worldly news.” Tyson said, puffing his chest out weakly.

“Right, of course. How can I forget about the Mr. Worldly here.”

“It’s okay to be jealous. Just don’t show it. Then it’s ugly.”

“So I’m ugly, huh? It’s been a while since you’ve called me ugly.” Aya said.

“What are we doing here?” Tyson mumbled, sighing in despair.

“… perhaps it’ll be better during the night,” Aya said, smiling faintly. “To tell you the truth, city life is exhausting. Whether it’s work or college, everyone’s always asking you out for coffee or to check out new shopping place or some other shit. I thought we were supposed to be living in the age of introverts.”

“You’re underestimating people’s necessity for approval.”

“Wow, that’s something really profound coming from you.” Aya teased.

“Hmm, what can I say… I’m a truly insightful man.”

“Then insight me this, oh the wise one,” Aya said. “Why do you think I asked you to come here?”

“I said I’m insightful, not omnipotent.” Tyson said, smirking. “Why?” he added.

“… we both needed a break,” Aya said. “We’ve been working while attending classes for over half a year. You can’t tell me you don’t feel like cocking a gun one of these days and shooting the world up.”

“If you were ten years younger, and I was twenty years older,” Tyson said. “We could go God Bless America on their asses.”

“Can’t we just be Bonnie and Clyde?” Aya asked.

“Nah, those two are just psychopaths.”

“And what are Frank and Roxy? Saints?”

“Heroes we need, but don’t deserve.” Tyson said, stroking his chin.

“Eh, if killing people was the answer, World War II would have cleaned us up real nice.” Aya said.

“… thank you, though.” Tyson said, looking at her deeply. “I really did need a break.”

“What, getting hit on by desperate-for-grade freshmen is no longer a viable vacation for you?” Aya asked, smirking.

“Eh, at least they were creative at first,” Tyson said, sighing. “Now they just show up, flash me a condom and ask ‘hey professor, can we do something about that grade?’.”

“What do you tell them?”

“Sure we can, sweetie. Here’s a book. Read it. Come again in September.” Tyson said, grinning.

“…”

“It’s okay to be possessive,” he added, smiling. “Great gods of sex said so!!”

“Gods?”

“Of course! A guy god with a big dong for guys, and a girl god with gigantic rack for girls! Equality baby!”

“… why did I even ask…” Aya said, smiling faintly.

“We should hit up the beach next summer as well,” Tyson suddenly said. “This fucking place is depressing.”

“… I like it.” Aya said, glancing out toward the lake.

“Eh? Why? And if you say something cheesy like ‘because you’re here with me’, just keep in mind that my cheeks are already burning red. You don’t want to kill me, do you? Wait, don’t answer that. Better yet, let’s just stop talking.”

“… it reminded me of our first date,” Aya said, smiling gently. “Well, the end of our first date. When we sat on the bus-stop’s bench, all alone, surrounded by nothing and no one. If it was at least our third date, I’d have screwed you right then and there.”

“… ah, don’t remind me of that catastrophe,” Tyson said, sighing. “I’ve finally begun outgrowing the ‘awkward boyfriend’ part of me, and here you are, reminding me of it.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll never truly outgrow it.”

“… go to hell.”

“Nah, I’d rather sit here and stare at the cutest hell-spawned creature to ever grace our planet Earth since the dawn of time.”

“… oh mother of …” Tysom mumbled, burrowing his head into his bosom.

“Or is it better to say ‘since the time immemorial’?”

“…”

“Heeey, Ty…”

“…”

“Earth to Ty, you alive?”

“…”

“Answer me!”

“…”

“Tsk. Fine. I won’t even blow you.”

“Since the time immemorial sounds way better!”

“… pft, ha ha ha…”