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“Marty, stop, it’s Ben!” I realised my voice was raised louder than I wished it to be, my panic making it sound more high pitched than usual.

“Jeez, Marty, I was only jumping on her shoulders.  Overreaction much?”

Marty immediately released Ben, who began rubbing his arms where Marty had he
ld him firmly against the wall. “Ben, I am so sorry.
I thought…I didn’t realise…I thought you were stealing her handbag, my ins
tinct took over. I can’t apologise enough.
Really, I’m so sorry.” Marty looked crestfallen. “Did I hurt you, Ben?”

“No,” Ben replied, although
I suspected the answer was yes.
“Mate, you are so fast, you took me by surprise otherwise I would have pushed
back.”
I sensed that Ben’s
male pride was slightly dented.
I decided to step in, to try and divert attention.

“Ben, why we
re you jumping on my shoulders?
Can’t you just say hello like a normal person?” I tried to keep my tone light, to eradicate the annoyance I felt for the int
rusion on my time with Marty.

“Well, I’d just heard that you
got the lead part in the show. Congratulations!
We have to film and ed
it it, as a part of our course.
You know what the costumes
are like for that show, right?
I think I’m going to enjoy this project.” Ben laughed and although I knew he was just joking, I felt an air of
tension emanating from Marty.
I joined in laughing, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh, Ben, don’t remind me! I’m not looking forward to this one little bit.” I tried to steer the conversation away from the costumes, which I knew were going t
o be skimpy, to say the least.
“I have loads of songs to learn, I’d better g
o home and start learning them.
Are
you going to be at rehearsals?”
I was trying to be polite, but I just wanted to get rid of Ben and head home with Marty.

“I certainly will,” Ben smiled. “Especially the dress rehearsals!  See you there, Claudia.” He walked off, giving what I perceived to be a slightl
y odd look to Marty on his way.
Marty an
d I continued on our way home.
He was quiet for a few minutes.

“I shouldn’t say this,” Marty broke the silence, “but I’m incredibly jealous.”

“We’re just friends – like me and you,” I added pointedly.  I didn’t know if the other angels could hear our conversation and I didn’t want to
make any mistakes on my part.

“What will these costumes be like?” Marty seemed preoccupied.

“I haven’
t seen any for this production.
Not even a sketch.” I was stalling and he knew that.

“But?” He wasn’t letting this go.

“But…I saw the movie a few years ago…it’s totally different to the stage version…l
ike,
Lydia
is American in the movie and English in the script.”

“And?” He wasn’t distracted and I hadn’t expected him to be.

“And the outfits were…well…a bit on the skimpy side.”

“How skimpy?”

“Marty, I don’t think we should be having
this conversation right now.” I was desperate to get home.
I didn’t want to talk about this here.

“How skimpy?” Marty caught hold of my arm, not with any force, but with enough presence to make me stop.

“Marty…” I couldn’t have this discussion with him. “Why does it matter?”

He breathed deeply. Then he continued walking.
My shorter legs strug
gled to keep up with his pace.
We we
re back home in no time at all.
The evening was cold, but dry, with just a strong wind blowing au
tumn leaves around our ankles.
He carefully placed his key in the lock and ushered me into the house, gently placing his hand on my back.

The moment we were inside the hallway, he began kissing me, urgently, as though his need to protect me could only manifest i
tself in a physical expression.
I felt giddy from his presence and
intoxicated by his sensuality.
Finally, he pulled aw
ay, reluctantly, from my lips.

“I’m sorry,” Marty
murmured, kissing my hair, breathing in the scent of my shampoo.

“What for?” I was breathless, mesmerised by him, and I’d forgotten the earlier incidents.

“For being too…me…too much.
I’m so sorry about forcing Ben against the wall – I t
hought you were being attacked. I couldn’t hold myself back.
I can’t help thinking about you in skimpy costumes…” He trailed off and started kissing my neck.

“Did you want me to describe what it might look like?” I was flirting, despite k
nowing it couldn’t go anywhere.
Marty made a soft so
und in the back of his throat.
Not a word, but affir
mative nonetheless. I continued: “W
ell, in the film, she wore stockings, suspenders, hot pants, and a low cut black top, with a bowler hat.”

For an instant, Marty pulled me closer, and then he pulled silently away and walked up the stairs.

“Marty, I’m sorry…” I had no idea how to complete the sentence.

Marty walked on in silence for a few more moments and then, without looking back he said:

“No, I’m sorry.”

Chapter 10

I didn’t fall apart this time.
Now I understood why he had to walk away when things got intense and intimate, i
t didn’t make me feel rejected.
In a way, it was flattering – he was so attracted to me that it was unbeara
ble to cope with the closeness.
I decided to keep myself busy, until he came back down stairs, by cooking some dinner. I put Donna’s CD on, in the backgroun
d, to start learning the songs.

I didn’t hear him enter the kitchen, I just felt his arms wrap around my wais
t, as I stirred a pot of pasta.
He rested his head on my shoulder and kissed my neck, as though it was
the most natural thing to do.
I turned around and enveloped myself in him.

“I love y
ou, Claudia,” Marty whispered.

I desperately wanted to return tho
se words, but knew I shouldn’t.
Instead, I kissed him, moulding
my lips to the contours of his.
The pasta started boiling over, reflecting
my explosive, pent-up feelings.
Reluctantly, I withdrew from Marty’s embrace to rescue
the cooking.
The music had changed to a new track, a slower, softer ballad, sung by a
man.
I served up the dinner and
placed it on the kitchen table.
Marty drew me back into his arms and we started
swaying in time with the music.
Our unrehearsed dance f
itted beautifully to the music.
Marty looked in my eyes.

“The lyrics to this song are well suited to us.” He smiled gently, a hint of
bittersweet regret in his eyes.
I hadn’t been listening to the words; I was so absorbed in him.

“Are they?”

“Sadly so.
Listen.”
The music echoed around the kitchen, a melancholy melody underpinning the words that Marty had found so meaningful. On the second refra
in, Marty sang along in my ear.
I tingled and trembled with pleasure. His singing voice was mesmerising. “
This precious secret, why should we hide from the world?
” I laid my head on his chest and he continued singing. “
My head is spinning, heart in a whirl
.
” I understood what he meant about the words, the song could
have been written just for us.
His whispered song carried on, “
Knowing that what I feel is wrong, should walk away, desperate to stay, lost in your beautiful song
.”
The song ended, but we remained dancing, lost in the
rhythm of our beating hearts.

“I didn’t know you could sing.” I whispered, not wishing to
break the magic of the moment.
Marty smiled at me.

“Well, I’m no Claudia Lee.”

“You’ve never heard me sing
, but I’ll take the compliment.
Seriously, how did you
learn all the words so quickly?
Is i
t an angel power or something?”
My heart raced as Marty dipped me sideways for
a dramatic ending to our dance. He kissed me.
“Marty, are you avoiding answering the question?” He sighed and lifte
d me back to a normal position.
I switched off the music.

“I don’t like y
ou thinking of me as different.
I wish I was just normal.” He sat down at the table
and lit a candle with a match. I sat down opposite him.

“I wan
t to know everything about you.
I don’t think of you as differe
nt – you’re just Marty, to me.”
I reached my hand out to hold his and he me
t my eyes.
His face softened.

“Alri
ght, ask me anything you want.”
He sounded resigned to my questioning.

“You don’t have to
answer, if you don’t want to.”
I felt guilty for asking him, but I had to know more about him. “How did you learn the words of the song so quickly?”

“My mind usually picks up on things quickly; I can remember whol
e conversations as they happen.
It came in very ha
ndy for qualifying as a doctor.
I’ve never used it
for singing to someone before.”
He smiled and his dimples made my heart flutter.

“I feel honoured. Truly.
I’ve never had a man sing for me
before.” I smiled back at him.
“What
other powers do you have then?”
I asked, as we started eating, our dinner now slightly cooled, but neither of us bothered by the temperature of our food.

“Well, you already know about my ability to sense things, although that seems to be complete
ly useless when I’m around you.
I can also hear very well – so I hear conve
rsations from rooms I’m not in.
I
am very strong – you know that.
And I can fly.”

I was speechless for a few seconds, and then blurted out, “Where are your wings?”

Marty bellowed his booming laugh at me and
I felt my cheeks turn crimson.
“We
don’t all have wings, Claudia!
It’s a common perception, as we can fly and sometimes leave feathers when we visit people – but not all angels have wings and even those that do, they don’t use them for flying.”

“So, what, is it like Superman? The way he flies?” I knew it sounded stupid, but I couldn’t think of any other way to ask.

“Along those lines, yes.” Marty seemed to find my response amusing.

“Is that what happened today w
hen Ben jumped on my shoulders?
You moved so quickly.”

“No,
that was more of a fast jump.
I still shouldn’t have done that – I don’t think Ben picked up on it, but I moved him a good few feet in less than a second
.
I’
m surprised I got away with it.
We aren’t supposed to fly when we’re dow
n here, so you’ll never see it.
If I flew down here,
I’d definitely get summoned.”

“What
happens when you get summoned?
Like, how do they summon you?” I was afraid of the answer.

Marty rubbed his temples with h
is fingers and closed his eyes.
I could tell
he didn’t want to discuss this.
“Claudia, do you remember the other night, when I didn’t want you to faint?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Th
ere was a good reason for that.
Sometimes, when people faint, they
have an out of body experience.
That is when the soul b
ecomes detached from its body.
When angels summon each other, we lift up out of our bodies in much the same way – our spir
its leave the body and rise up.
I was concerned that, if you fainted, you might have an out of body experience and...” Marty trailed off.

“What? Bump into some angels?” There was so much to comprehend; I had more questions than I started with.

“If they do already suspect a problem here, which I’m sure they do, they might have taken advantage of the situation, if you had fainted.” He looked tense.