Author’s note: This is a work of fiction. The only thing real about this story is the music.
“It was twilight on the Fourth of July. Sparkling colors were strewn across the sky.” A woman in a wine-colored dress and strappy heeled shoes stares at the spectacle. She places her hands on the edge of the roof and raises her body slightly above it, savoring the atmosphere of freedom and independence.
On the other side of the roof’s edge is a man dressed in a powder blue tracksuit top and dark denim jeans. He looks at the woman in the wine-colored dress and asks her for a dance while the DJ is playing “Hey DJ” by the World’s Famous Supreme Team. She accepts and the couple slowly walk past the other residents grooving on the dancefloor: some breaking, some shaking and the remainder taking it all in.
The DJ expertly blends the track with the number one song in the country and the crowd hollers in response. The woman in the wine-colored dress humbly receives these cheers with a laugh and a flick of her honey blonde hair. She mouths the lyrics of the song and mimics the dance in her video, the crowd in lockstep with her every move.
The woman in the wine-colored dress continues to play the part until the song finishes and the DJ transitions to another Top 10 hit. She moves closer to the man with the powder blue tracksuit top and wraps her arms around the back of his neck. She can feel herself getting caught in the moment, rekindling an emotion that she once thought was beyond her grasp.
Before she can act on this feeling, rain pours down and the crowd scatters to find the nearest shelter. The woman in the wine-colored dress and the man with the powder blue tracksuit top stay put, refusing to let this spark between them dissipate. Their lips touch just as the woman in the wine-colored dress is pulled away by her entourage and reverts back to being one of the most famous people in the world.
The woman in the wine-colored dress is rushed to her natural habitat: a limo that will take her to her next pre-determined destination. She reflects on the love she almost tasted and dreams of the other life she could have lived. She asks the driver to open the sunroof and she steps through it, looking for a place to hide her sorrow and loneliness. Tears dissolve in the rain as a new melody forms inside her head.
Further Reading
[1] Angelica Jade Bastién, A Star in Motion: On Marilyn Monroe & Loneliness, Madwomen & Muses
[2] Jessi Jezewska, Ode to Rooftops, The Paris Review
[3] Elleza Kelley, Take Me Away, The New Inquiry
[4] Mim Udovitch, Mariah Carey: An Unmarried Woman, Rolling Stone
Further Watching
[1] In the Mood for Love (2000)
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