Night falls on bald mountain. Tea doesn't know if that is really what this place is called, but it's what Todd jokingly calls it. So she goes along with the jest of the evening. Todd has made a fire and the early springtime night is still filled with a crisp, cold bite. Nothing has been discussed about the sleeping arrangements, although Tea did notice early on, that there was only one bed. Todd is sitting on the floor, in front of the fire. He poured himself a drink of whiskey and kept the bottle nearby. Tea sat on the other side of the room, staring at the fireplace and enjoying it's warm glow.
Todd: Are you tired, yet?
Tea: No, why, are you?
Todd: I don't sleep, you know that. Nothing has changed with that part of me.
Tea: Are you still having nightmares?
Todd: (quietly) Yes.
Tea: Even here?
Todd: Especially here.
Tea: Is there any music? I noticed a stereo over in the corner. Does it work?
Todd: Yeah, it works, but I don't really have anything to play on it.
Tea: Is it yours or was it your mother's?
Todd: It was my mom's. She loved to listen to music.
Tea: Does she have anything over there?
Todd: Why? Do you want to listen to some music?
Tea: Yeah. That would be nice. This silence is deafening and definitely unnerving.
Todd: I thought you'd surely be tired by now.
Tea: I'm a little tired, but music would help end this quiet and help me to relax.
Todd: I think she's got mainly classical over there. I don't really call that music.
Tea: I do. I love classical. Is there any Mozart?
Todd: Yeah, there's Mozart. (His mind wonders back to a time when Tea and he attended the opera and returned to Mozart at the Penthouse, among other things.)
Tea: Do you want me to do it, or do you want to?
Todd: (Still thinking about the time in the Penthouse when they almost made love with Mozart playing in the background.) Huh? What? Did you say something?
Tea: Where were you just then? Am I boring you?
Todd: (Embarrassed, especially if she had known what he was thinking about) No, you're not boring me, but the thought of Mozart is.
Tea: Just forget it.
Todd: No, I don't want to forget it. (Thinking again about his previous thoughts.) I'll turn it on.
Tea: Thank you.
Todd: (Looking directly at her) You're welcome.
Tea is surprised by their conversation. She finds her own mind wondering back to a time when they were in the Penthouse. They had just attended the opera together and had come back to the Penthouse to enjoy each others' company. He had turned on the Mozart that time too, but that time, he was faking everything, including his affection for her. Or was he? The whole thing was just a great big mess. Was now the right time to try and clear that up? "Probably not," she thought to herself, but she knew she would ask someday.
Todd turned the Mozart on and played the identical song he had played that night. That night so many months ago. The night he was ready to take her into his arms, carry her up the Penthouse stairs, undress her and hold her in his arms until she stopped trembling. He so wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, how exciting, how desirable. He turned and caught her staring at him. He could see in her eyes, the answers to all his thoughts. She was remembering it too. He knew she was caught up in the past at that moment and was frightened by not only the awesomeness of the moment, but the fact that he knew her that well. He could read her eyes like a book that he couldn't put down. Tea smiled, trying to relieve the pressure, she too knowing that they were sharing a past gone by. A moment that could not be recaptured.
Todd approached Tea slowly, tenderly, gingerly. He held out his hand before her.
Tea: What?
Todd: What, what?
Tea took his hand in hers.
Todd didn't speak again, he just pulled her to him and began waltzing her around the room. Any doubt that Tea had early entertained about Todd faking his feelings for her, this night, or that night, so many months ago, faded away as the music and Todd, took her away.
Todd: Are you still wondering?
Tea: You know me all too well.
Todd: I could say the same about you.
Tea: I think you just did.
Again, she relaxed and just went with the moment. Todd had promised her surprises, and so far, he hadn't disappointed. She knew he would someday physically love her, but it wouldn't be today. It might not even be tomorrow. But she knew he would eventually. But for now, she was content to just enjoy the moment...provided 100% by Todd Manning.
