Muted waves from the jukebox.

She held an expression unknown to him. Then, red lips uncoiled into a smile. He looked down at the singular ice cube floating in his amber drink as if to see it melt from such a smile. He swirled his glass, the ice cube clinked. Pushing the front of his hat up he lit a cigarette; a grizzled face appeared in the glow then faded. He stared at the burning match between his fingers and exhaled as she spoke, shielding himself from such beauty. Such otherworldly beauty he thought. The woman whose face glows even in dark. Perfume that floats so gracefully. Lips so red.

’How’d you know it was me?’
‘I didn’t ‘til just now.’
She smiled, ‘You knew all along.’
He waved the match out and grinned. ‘Instinct seems to take precedence over me these days.’
‘Surely, I gave a chase?’ She smiled that smile, ‘a challenge, perhaps?’ and traced the rim of her glass. She was iridescent. Scent in the air. Lips so red.

He inhaled and squinted through the smoke and grinned again.