Seize the Day - NaNoWriMo Attempt - Chapter 4
So my NaNo project? Completely rewriting the Tomorrow Trilogy so that it's no longer a trilogy and mostly focuses on Jazz and Savin's story, in a tighter, more abridged sense. I'm sticking with the title Seize the Day for now, because it still fits a lot of the "theme" that seems to be present in the book. Yay NaNoWriMo!
Previous chapters:
1 | 2 | 3
“So -- how did it go?” Mari asked, smirking at Savin as the two of them sat down in their booth at a local diner. There were various vintage posters and vinyl records adorning the walls, the booths small and personable. It was probably his favorite place to be, aside from the hospital and home. “I haven’t seen you smile this much in months.”
Savin only grinned in response, picking up his menu. “Mari, you have no idea,” he began, flipping the flimsy laminated pieces of paper open. “One, he didn’t sneak out while I was sleeping -- and we did it again after we woke up.”
Mari snickered into her straw, catching it between her teeth. “Sounds like your kind of guy -- you gonna see him again?” she asked, closing her own menu as she looked Savin in the eye.
Savin’s grin faltered, somewhat, as he looked down at the menu before him. His eyebrows bunched together in concentration. “I don’t think so,” he said after a while, trying to keep his disappointment out of his voice. “He wouldn’t give me his number and I’m pretty sure he only pretended to take mine.”
“That’s too bad,” Mari said with a sigh, leaning against the back of her booth. “I don’t even know why you’re looking at the menu so intently -- it’s not like you’re going to get anything new.”
Savin scoffed in mock-offense, looking up at Mari over the edge of his glasses. “Look, one day, you’re going to say that, and I’m going to prove you wrong and order something entirely different, just to fuck with you.”
“Uh huh, sure, Dr. Bates, I completely believe you,” Mari said, a sly smile playing on her lips.
Savin shook his head, closing the menu and sitting upright. Their waitress came by moments later, and he made a point of ordering almost the exact same thing as his usual, except with a minor change in sides. Mari snorted when she heard his order, unable to suppress her laughter. When the waitress left, Mari smirked at him. “So -- would you have sex with him again if the opportunity presented itself?” she asked, sipping at her soda.
“I dunno -- that would require seeing him again, which I told you, I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Savin said, unwrapping his straw. “He clearly wasn’t interested in anything other than sex, y’know? And the sex was good, but -- I think I might just prefer to let it be just a one night thing.” He frowned to himself as he took a sip from his own drink, avoiding Mari’s gaze as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Mari sighed and shook her head in exasperation. “When’re you gonna think about settling down Savin? You’re starting to get a little old for these one-night-stands.”
“I already tried that, remember?” Savin muttered, giving Mari a little half smile. “You’re the longest relationship I’ve had, and we’re not even dating. Maybe I’m just not meant to settle down. It’s not like anyone wants to seriously date, let alone marry, a doctor, except other doctors, y’know?”
“True,” Mari said, frowning a bit to herself. “Did you at least get his name?”
“‘Jazz,’” Savin answered, failing to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke. He cleared his throat, hoping his skin was dark enough to hide the blush he could feel forming on his cheeks. “He didn’t give me a last name.”
“Sounds like he really didn’t want you to be able to find him,” Mari murmured. She reached across the booth and patted Savin’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Savin shrugged, pulling his arm out from under Mari’s hand. “I already told you, I didn’t think I was gonna see him again -- and with good reason, apparently.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed as he noticed the lack of notifications. He then put the phone down on the table and brushed his hair away from his forehead, pursing his lips together. “Maybe I should have pushed harder to get his number -- but he probably would have given me a fake or something.”
“Probably,” Mari said, folding her hands together and resting her chin against them. Savin could feel her eyes on him and frowned, avoiding her gaze as he downed about a third of his soda. “You gonna watch the Emperor’s Address tonight?”
Savin let out a scornful laugh. “‘Course not,” he muttered, shaking his head. “The Empire can go fuck itself, for all I care. Going to war with the United is what got us into this recession in the first place.”
Mari frowned behind her hands before giving a slight nod of her head. She leaned in close again, lowering her voice so that it could barely be heard over the accompanying din of the diner. “I heard there’s an underground movement in the works,” she began, glancing around the diner. “They call themselves the Resistance. They want to break the Empire up -- give the colonies autonomy and turn it into a democracy, like United.”
“So?” Savin said with a snort, catching his straw between his teeth. He chewed on the end of it for a moment before taking another sip of his drink. “Sounds like a damn good idea, if you ask me. Maybe shit’ll be better for the people, if they split this whole thing up.”
Mari gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe,” she said, looking out the window. “I dunno, it sounds too good to be true, y’know? Would becoming a democracy and splitting the Empire up really help anyone? Or is it just gonna cause another fricken war?”
“Why wouldn’t it?” Savin asked bitterly before smiling at the waitress as she placed their plates of food in front of them. He glanced at his bowl of soup, the one he had ordered just to mess with Mari, and felt his smile deflate a little. He waited until the waitress had walked away before continuing to speak. “It’s not like Emperor Callahan’s just gonna let the Resistance or whatever it’s called have the Empire -- that would require him to give up his perfect fucking life, y’know?”
“Good point,” Mari said with a sigh. She picked up her burger, bringing it close to her lips before frowning slightly at Savin. “I wonder if the Emperor’s even going to say anything about it?”
“Doubt it,” Savin answered, picking up his spoon and dipping it into his soup. He could tell Mari had her eyes on him, with the way a slight, teasing smile formed on her lips. “Why risk creating mass hysteria? It’s not like the general public knows that this ‘Resistance’ even exists. I mean, you said you heard something about it. Doesn’t mean it actually exists, y’know?”
Mari nodded, taking a bite of her food and chewing it thoughtfully. She never once let go of the burger, her eyes focused on something just outside the window next to their booth. “True. But you gotta wonder if the Emperor’s going to publicly address the existence of it. I mean, why else would he be calling a special Emperor’s Address?”
Savin shrugged his shoulders. After all, he didn’t know the answer to that. Who knew what sort of things went on in the mind of their Emperor? He sure as hell didn’t know, and he was never going to know, considering he was only a lowly peon. .
“I guess we’ll find out,” he said finally, pushing his soup aside.
***
Later that night, Savin found himself alone in his apartment. Normally, the silence of it comforted him, the blank walls soothing in a way the hospital could never be. Tonight, though, he found himself collapsing restlessly on top of the couch, flipping through channels on the tele-screen, intent to find something to watch, and yet finding absolutely nothing.
Sighing, Savin settled on one of the local news stations and tossed the remote aside once he was certain the volume was low enough to not be distracting. He picked up a nearby medical textbook and began flipping through the pages. Once he settled on a page, he picked himself off the couch and moved to the nearby, oversized armchair.
Years ago, he used to curl up with Mari on that very chair, her legs draped over one of the arms as she lay across his lap. It was the only surviving thing from their previous relationship, and one of the few comforts he really had within his apartment. He sat down in it properly, feet resting against the floor as he settled into it, the book propped open in his lap.
As much as he tried to concentrate on the words, his eyes continuously glazed over, becoming unfocused as his ears strained to catch the words coming from the tele-screen. The Emperor’s Address would be starting soon, he knew. Despite his usual lack of interest in politics, his conversation with Mari played again in his mind.
What if there really was a Resistance? What would creating such a thing even accomplish? It wasn’t like they could change anything -- and there was plenty Savin knew they could change. Sighing, Savin slipped his finger between the pages of his book, the thin sheets of paper sticking together and refusing to come apart. He glanced at his phone, which sat as silent as ever, despite his vague hopes it’d ring, and frowned.
Maybe he should watch the Address, just to tell Mari that for once, he was a good citizen of the Empire. He snorted to himself, imagining the wicked grin she’d get on her face, and how she’d grill him afterwards, asking him which parts he believed and which he didn’t. Might be worth it to see her come alive like that, he told himself.
As his fingers reached for the remote, he focused his attention on the screen, his eyes widening as the camera panned over those sitting behind the Emperor’s podium. His jaw fell open, and he found himself unable to look away from the screen, not even as he blindly turned the volume back up. There, to the right of the Emperor’s podium, sat Jazz. Except that couldn’t possibly be Jazz, with the way his hair was perfectly coifed on top of his head. And that suit? It fit him perfectly, giving the young man a much more distinguished, royal look to him.
Except, even with only having spent a night with him, Savin couldn’t possibly be mistaken. He scrambled to pick up his phone, dialing Mari’s number and putting the phone to his ear. “Hey, Mari?” he stammered, turning the volume down on the tele-screen once again. “You watching the Address?”
“Not yet,” came her response. Her voice wavered with confusion. “Why, what’s up?”
“I think I’m going crazy,” Savin said, still unable to look away from the screen, “but I think I see Jazz sitting behind the Emperor’s podium.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Savin. There’s no way that Jazz is sitting behind the Emperor’s podium,” Mari snickered into the phone. “Man, you really have it bad if you really thought -- holy shit!” Savin couldn’t contain his own quiet chuckle as Mari continued to mumble things under her breath. “That -- that can’t be right. There’s no way that’s the kid you picked up last night -- what the hell was he doing at a dive bar like that? Without the Emperor’s Guard? There’s no way...”
“So it’s not just me who thinks that guy looks like Jazz,” Savin stated, clearing his throat. “That can’t actually be Jazz, can it? I mean, only the Emperor’s Council can sit back there, right?”
“And family,” Mari answered, clearing her own throat. Savin heard her mumble something into the phone that he couldn’t quite make out. “Emperor Callahan has a son, doesn’t he?”
“I don’t fucking know -- I’m not the one who pays attention to this shit,” Savin murmured, settling further into his armchair. He switched which hand held onto the phone and put the remote back down on the little end table marking the corner between the couch and his chair. “There’s no one on the Council named Jazz, right? That totally wouldn’t fly, right?”
“Not at all,” Mari said with a quiet laugh. “Hold on, I’m looking shit up right now.... Oh my god.”
“What?”
“Savin -- his name’s not really Jazz. It’s -- his name is Jasper -- as in Prince Jasper,” Mari breathed into the phone. "He's the Emperor's son."
Savin felt as though the rest of the world had collapsed all around him. He still couldn't pull his eyes away from the tele-screen, every bit of his attention focused on Jazz. "He's -- oh god," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "You mean I slept with the fucking heir to the throne? What the fuck?"
"No wonder he didn't want to give you his last name," Mari said, a nervous chuckle escaping her before she sighed into the phone. "No wonder he didn't even give you his number, either -- how the hell did he even manage to go out in public without an entourage of guards? Like -- you didn't feel like you were followed when you took him home last night, did you?"
"No!" Savin cried, nearly choking on his own spit. "But -- what if I was? What if like, the Emperor's Guard was fucking watching us the whole time -- oh, Christ, Mari, I can't -- there's no way. That can't be him."
"Savin, his full name is Jasper. Doesn't Jazz sound like a nickname for that? Y'know, like how some people call you Sav instead of Savin?" Mari reasoned.
Savin groaned, putting his head in his hands for a moment and shaking his head. "I guess I really won't ever see him again," he said after a while, shutting off the tele-screen and tossing his remote aside. "I mean, what the hell could the Prince of the Empire really want with a lowly surgeon like me?"
"Well, you are one of the best surgeons there are," Mari said, as if the words would comfort him. "I mean, he could have just told you who he was -- it wasn't like he had to go and hide who he was from you, you know?"
"I guess -- but then I wouldn't have fucking believed him, then, either," Savin said with a sigh. "It's funny -- he didn't really talk or act like royalty, y'know? He seemed like such a normal guy."
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Mari asked. "I mean, I doubt you would have let him spend the night if he had been a dick, no matter how pretty he was."
"Yeah..." Savin frowned and turned his eyes towards the ceiling of his apartment. "I dunno, Mari, it just -- it all seems so weird, y'know? Like, I had sex with the Prince of the Empire. How many people can say that?"
"Well, considering it took you all of five minutes to get him to go home with you -- probably a lot," Mari said, a hint of amusement lacing her voice.
Savin snorted, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Maybe. He did seem rather...experienced, so I couldn't have been his first. He was a little nervous, though. It was really cute."
"Maybe he was nervous that the Guard would find him and interrupt the two of you," Mari suggested. Savin managed another laugh at that, easing himself a little more into his couch. "Anyway, Savin, the speech's about to start. I'll let you go so I can actually pay attention to it."
"Thanks," Savin murmured, finally pulling his eyes away from the ceiling. "I think I'm gonna go to bed. Got an early shift tomorrow, might as well get some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan. G'night, Savin."
"'Night, Mari."
Savin hung up his phone with a sigh, putting the small electronic device to his lips for a moment. He debated turning the tele-screen back on, but decided against it. It wasn't like he would pay any bit of attention to the Emperor's speech, anyway. The night before swam through his mind, images of Jazz -- of Prince Jasper on his back overtaking his vision. The noises Savin had elicited from him -- it was hard to imagine that the same man he took home the night before was the heir to the throne of the Empire.
It wasn't like it really mattered, in the long run. Jazz hadn't taken his number from him; he didn't have Jazz's number, either. And while he now knew Jazz's full name, it wasn't like that would do him any good, either. A chance encounter, that's all it was. A one-night stand, and that's all it could ever be.
Savin shifted his weight on the couch, a slight frown forming on his face when the weight of it all hit him. He really would never see Jazz again, and he'd never be able to get to know him better.
And somehow, the very idea made his heart ache.
Next Chapter
Previous chapters:
1 | 2 | 3
“So -- how did it go?” Mari asked, smirking at Savin as the two of them sat down in their booth at a local diner. There were various vintage posters and vinyl records adorning the walls, the booths small and personable. It was probably his favorite place to be, aside from the hospital and home. “I haven’t seen you smile this much in months.”
Savin only grinned in response, picking up his menu. “Mari, you have no idea,” he began, flipping the flimsy laminated pieces of paper open. “One, he didn’t sneak out while I was sleeping -- and we did it again after we woke up.”
Mari snickered into her straw, catching it between her teeth. “Sounds like your kind of guy -- you gonna see him again?” she asked, closing her own menu as she looked Savin in the eye.
Savin’s grin faltered, somewhat, as he looked down at the menu before him. His eyebrows bunched together in concentration. “I don’t think so,” he said after a while, trying to keep his disappointment out of his voice. “He wouldn’t give me his number and I’m pretty sure he only pretended to take mine.”
“That’s too bad,” Mari said with a sigh, leaning against the back of her booth. “I don’t even know why you’re looking at the menu so intently -- it’s not like you’re going to get anything new.”
Savin scoffed in mock-offense, looking up at Mari over the edge of his glasses. “Look, one day, you’re going to say that, and I’m going to prove you wrong and order something entirely different, just to fuck with you.”
“Uh huh, sure, Dr. Bates, I completely believe you,” Mari said, a sly smile playing on her lips.
Savin shook his head, closing the menu and sitting upright. Their waitress came by moments later, and he made a point of ordering almost the exact same thing as his usual, except with a minor change in sides. Mari snorted when she heard his order, unable to suppress her laughter. When the waitress left, Mari smirked at him. “So -- would you have sex with him again if the opportunity presented itself?” she asked, sipping at her soda.
“I dunno -- that would require seeing him again, which I told you, I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Savin said, unwrapping his straw. “He clearly wasn’t interested in anything other than sex, y’know? And the sex was good, but -- I think I might just prefer to let it be just a one night thing.” He frowned to himself as he took a sip from his own drink, avoiding Mari’s gaze as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Mari sighed and shook her head in exasperation. “When’re you gonna think about settling down Savin? You’re starting to get a little old for these one-night-stands.”
“I already tried that, remember?” Savin muttered, giving Mari a little half smile. “You’re the longest relationship I’ve had, and we’re not even dating. Maybe I’m just not meant to settle down. It’s not like anyone wants to seriously date, let alone marry, a doctor, except other doctors, y’know?”
“True,” Mari said, frowning a bit to herself. “Did you at least get his name?”
“‘Jazz,’” Savin answered, failing to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke. He cleared his throat, hoping his skin was dark enough to hide the blush he could feel forming on his cheeks. “He didn’t give me a last name.”
“Sounds like he really didn’t want you to be able to find him,” Mari murmured. She reached across the booth and patted Savin’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Savin shrugged, pulling his arm out from under Mari’s hand. “I already told you, I didn’t think I was gonna see him again -- and with good reason, apparently.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed as he noticed the lack of notifications. He then put the phone down on the table and brushed his hair away from his forehead, pursing his lips together. “Maybe I should have pushed harder to get his number -- but he probably would have given me a fake or something.”
“Probably,” Mari said, folding her hands together and resting her chin against them. Savin could feel her eyes on him and frowned, avoiding her gaze as he downed about a third of his soda. “You gonna watch the Emperor’s Address tonight?”
Savin let out a scornful laugh. “‘Course not,” he muttered, shaking his head. “The Empire can go fuck itself, for all I care. Going to war with the United is what got us into this recession in the first place.”
Mari frowned behind her hands before giving a slight nod of her head. She leaned in close again, lowering her voice so that it could barely be heard over the accompanying din of the diner. “I heard there’s an underground movement in the works,” she began, glancing around the diner. “They call themselves the Resistance. They want to break the Empire up -- give the colonies autonomy and turn it into a democracy, like United.”
“So?” Savin said with a snort, catching his straw between his teeth. He chewed on the end of it for a moment before taking another sip of his drink. “Sounds like a damn good idea, if you ask me. Maybe shit’ll be better for the people, if they split this whole thing up.”
Mari gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe,” she said, looking out the window. “I dunno, it sounds too good to be true, y’know? Would becoming a democracy and splitting the Empire up really help anyone? Or is it just gonna cause another fricken war?”
“Why wouldn’t it?” Savin asked bitterly before smiling at the waitress as she placed their plates of food in front of them. He glanced at his bowl of soup, the one he had ordered just to mess with Mari, and felt his smile deflate a little. He waited until the waitress had walked away before continuing to speak. “It’s not like Emperor Callahan’s just gonna let the Resistance or whatever it’s called have the Empire -- that would require him to give up his perfect fucking life, y’know?”
“Good point,” Mari said with a sigh. She picked up her burger, bringing it close to her lips before frowning slightly at Savin. “I wonder if the Emperor’s even going to say anything about it?”
“Doubt it,” Savin answered, picking up his spoon and dipping it into his soup. He could tell Mari had her eyes on him, with the way a slight, teasing smile formed on her lips. “Why risk creating mass hysteria? It’s not like the general public knows that this ‘Resistance’ even exists. I mean, you said you heard something about it. Doesn’t mean it actually exists, y’know?”
Mari nodded, taking a bite of her food and chewing it thoughtfully. She never once let go of the burger, her eyes focused on something just outside the window next to their booth. “True. But you gotta wonder if the Emperor’s going to publicly address the existence of it. I mean, why else would he be calling a special Emperor’s Address?”
Savin shrugged his shoulders. After all, he didn’t know the answer to that. Who knew what sort of things went on in the mind of their Emperor? He sure as hell didn’t know, and he was never going to know, considering he was only a lowly peon. .
“I guess we’ll find out,” he said finally, pushing his soup aside.
***
Later that night, Savin found himself alone in his apartment. Normally, the silence of it comforted him, the blank walls soothing in a way the hospital could never be. Tonight, though, he found himself collapsing restlessly on top of the couch, flipping through channels on the tele-screen, intent to find something to watch, and yet finding absolutely nothing.
Sighing, Savin settled on one of the local news stations and tossed the remote aside once he was certain the volume was low enough to not be distracting. He picked up a nearby medical textbook and began flipping through the pages. Once he settled on a page, he picked himself off the couch and moved to the nearby, oversized armchair.
Years ago, he used to curl up with Mari on that very chair, her legs draped over one of the arms as she lay across his lap. It was the only surviving thing from their previous relationship, and one of the few comforts he really had within his apartment. He sat down in it properly, feet resting against the floor as he settled into it, the book propped open in his lap.
As much as he tried to concentrate on the words, his eyes continuously glazed over, becoming unfocused as his ears strained to catch the words coming from the tele-screen. The Emperor’s Address would be starting soon, he knew. Despite his usual lack of interest in politics, his conversation with Mari played again in his mind.
What if there really was a Resistance? What would creating such a thing even accomplish? It wasn’t like they could change anything -- and there was plenty Savin knew they could change. Sighing, Savin slipped his finger between the pages of his book, the thin sheets of paper sticking together and refusing to come apart. He glanced at his phone, which sat as silent as ever, despite his vague hopes it’d ring, and frowned.
Maybe he should watch the Address, just to tell Mari that for once, he was a good citizen of the Empire. He snorted to himself, imagining the wicked grin she’d get on her face, and how she’d grill him afterwards, asking him which parts he believed and which he didn’t. Might be worth it to see her come alive like that, he told himself.
As his fingers reached for the remote, he focused his attention on the screen, his eyes widening as the camera panned over those sitting behind the Emperor’s podium. His jaw fell open, and he found himself unable to look away from the screen, not even as he blindly turned the volume back up. There, to the right of the Emperor’s podium, sat Jazz. Except that couldn’t possibly be Jazz, with the way his hair was perfectly coifed on top of his head. And that suit? It fit him perfectly, giving the young man a much more distinguished, royal look to him.
Except, even with only having spent a night with him, Savin couldn’t possibly be mistaken. He scrambled to pick up his phone, dialing Mari’s number and putting the phone to his ear. “Hey, Mari?” he stammered, turning the volume down on the tele-screen once again. “You watching the Address?”
“Not yet,” came her response. Her voice wavered with confusion. “Why, what’s up?”
“I think I’m going crazy,” Savin said, still unable to look away from the screen, “but I think I see Jazz sitting behind the Emperor’s podium.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Savin. There’s no way that Jazz is sitting behind the Emperor’s podium,” Mari snickered into the phone. “Man, you really have it bad if you really thought -- holy shit!” Savin couldn’t contain his own quiet chuckle as Mari continued to mumble things under her breath. “That -- that can’t be right. There’s no way that’s the kid you picked up last night -- what the hell was he doing at a dive bar like that? Without the Emperor’s Guard? There’s no way...”
“So it’s not just me who thinks that guy looks like Jazz,” Savin stated, clearing his throat. “That can’t actually be Jazz, can it? I mean, only the Emperor’s Council can sit back there, right?”
“And family,” Mari answered, clearing her own throat. Savin heard her mumble something into the phone that he couldn’t quite make out. “Emperor Callahan has a son, doesn’t he?”
“I don’t fucking know -- I’m not the one who pays attention to this shit,” Savin murmured, settling further into his armchair. He switched which hand held onto the phone and put the remote back down on the little end table marking the corner between the couch and his chair. “There’s no one on the Council named Jazz, right? That totally wouldn’t fly, right?”
“Not at all,” Mari said with a quiet laugh. “Hold on, I’m looking shit up right now.... Oh my god.”
“What?”
“Savin -- his name’s not really Jazz. It’s -- his name is Jasper -- as in Prince Jasper,” Mari breathed into the phone. "He's the Emperor's son."
Savin felt as though the rest of the world had collapsed all around him. He still couldn't pull his eyes away from the tele-screen, every bit of his attention focused on Jazz. "He's -- oh god," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "You mean I slept with the fucking heir to the throne? What the fuck?"
"No wonder he didn't want to give you his last name," Mari said, a nervous chuckle escaping her before she sighed into the phone. "No wonder he didn't even give you his number, either -- how the hell did he even manage to go out in public without an entourage of guards? Like -- you didn't feel like you were followed when you took him home last night, did you?"
"No!" Savin cried, nearly choking on his own spit. "But -- what if I was? What if like, the Emperor's Guard was fucking watching us the whole time -- oh, Christ, Mari, I can't -- there's no way. That can't be him."
"Savin, his full name is Jasper. Doesn't Jazz sound like a nickname for that? Y'know, like how some people call you Sav instead of Savin?" Mari reasoned.
Savin groaned, putting his head in his hands for a moment and shaking his head. "I guess I really won't ever see him again," he said after a while, shutting off the tele-screen and tossing his remote aside. "I mean, what the hell could the Prince of the Empire really want with a lowly surgeon like me?"
"Well, you are one of the best surgeons there are," Mari said, as if the words would comfort him. "I mean, he could have just told you who he was -- it wasn't like he had to go and hide who he was from you, you know?"
"I guess -- but then I wouldn't have fucking believed him, then, either," Savin said with a sigh. "It's funny -- he didn't really talk or act like royalty, y'know? He seemed like such a normal guy."
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Mari asked. "I mean, I doubt you would have let him spend the night if he had been a dick, no matter how pretty he was."
"Yeah..." Savin frowned and turned his eyes towards the ceiling of his apartment. "I dunno, Mari, it just -- it all seems so weird, y'know? Like, I had sex with the Prince of the Empire. How many people can say that?"
"Well, considering it took you all of five minutes to get him to go home with you -- probably a lot," Mari said, a hint of amusement lacing her voice.
Savin snorted, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Maybe. He did seem rather...experienced, so I couldn't have been his first. He was a little nervous, though. It was really cute."
"Maybe he was nervous that the Guard would find him and interrupt the two of you," Mari suggested. Savin managed another laugh at that, easing himself a little more into his couch. "Anyway, Savin, the speech's about to start. I'll let you go so I can actually pay attention to it."
"Thanks," Savin murmured, finally pulling his eyes away from the ceiling. "I think I'm gonna go to bed. Got an early shift tomorrow, might as well get some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan. G'night, Savin."
"'Night, Mari."
Savin hung up his phone with a sigh, putting the small electronic device to his lips for a moment. He debated turning the tele-screen back on, but decided against it. It wasn't like he would pay any bit of attention to the Emperor's speech, anyway. The night before swam through his mind, images of Jazz -- of Prince Jasper on his back overtaking his vision. The noises Savin had elicited from him -- it was hard to imagine that the same man he took home the night before was the heir to the throne of the Empire.
It wasn't like it really mattered, in the long run. Jazz hadn't taken his number from him; he didn't have Jazz's number, either. And while he now knew Jazz's full name, it wasn't like that would do him any good, either. A chance encounter, that's all it was. A one-night stand, and that's all it could ever be.
Savin shifted his weight on the couch, a slight frown forming on his face when the weight of it all hit him. He really would never see Jazz again, and he'd never be able to get to know him better.
And somehow, the very idea made his heart ache.
Next Chapter