Let’s Stay Where We Are

Your phone rings. You should answer it but you don’t. Instead, you look at me with a look I am still trying to decipher even after all this time together. It’s a look of adoration I think, but I can’t understand how it hasn’t faltered as the novelty of our relationship wore off into familiar predictability. Your phone rings again interrupting my thoughts. You should answer it, I vocalize this time. You answer me with a head shake. I go forward to turn it off myself but you toss it towards the back of your car far from my reach. I look back at you slightly annoyed and you pull me closer in your arms in an attempt to appease me.

I shouldn’t give in this easily but I always do. I always give in to the warmth of your arms. Your grip has this capacity to make me forget whatever may have been a source of conflict. You know this too, always using this technique slyly to distract me. I don’t mind though. I don’t mind being tricked into a familiar and comfortable place like your embrace.

We stay like this for what feels like an infinity, locked in each other’s hold. Your phone resumes its endless ringing and you chuckle. It’s not that bad, you murmur into my ear. The ringtone is our song. I roll my eyes. We do not have a song, I retort back.

I always found the concept of our song to be ridiculous. How could one single track encompass an entire relationship? How could one concoction of lyrics and melody capture the delicacy of two people in love? How could any love story be itemized into a single song? I couldn’t fathom it.

But you have. You decided at your first sampling that this was our song. You decided that this Australian brother sister duo of Angus and Julia Stone would be the spokespeople for us. Just listen, they sound so different, you say trying to convince me. They’re not different, I reply, they’re just hipsters like you. Says the girl who is in love with a hipster, you say with a smirk. I roll my eyes yet again.

We are about to run out of words as the Australian duo takes over with their melody, “Sylvester Stallone.” You don’t even like him or any of the Rocky movies, I say. Shh and just listen, you murmur into my ears pulling me closer. And I do, letting the duo recite your favorite verse.

Just stay where you are
We talked at the bar
Walked out on the street
You walked in my heart
Wanted to breathe
There’s gold in your hair
Just stay where you are

The moonlight glistens across your face as you close your eyes to listen. I should be listening but instead I am taking the time to admire you. You look so peaceful in this moment, the epitome of content listening to your favorite song, or our song, as you would insist. And I think I get it even though I won’t ever admit it. I know why this song is our song. It’s somewhat of a cliché but it fits our most defining moments. We met at a bar just like the Australian duo recite. This song played in the background when you walked in my heart. We talked for hours that night. You wouldn’t let me go even when my friends came to retrieve me. Just stay where you are, were the words you kept telling me. And I did, never once leaving your side after that night.

Just stay where you are
Is that what you want
I’ll close up the bar
I’ll close up the shop
Let’s take what we need
And sit in your car
Let’s stay where we are

I went home with you that night and every night after. What was a short trip to East Coast became a permanent move I never anticipated. You enthralled a West Coast girl with your cheesy hipster charm and even after all these years, it still hasn’t worn off. Time has passed but here we are, sitting in your car nonetheless. We should leave, drive home or to whatever our intended destination originally was. But in this instance, we stay huddled in your car parked under the stars and night sky. We stay where we are, never yielding from each other’s company.