Flash 40
This week’s prompts:
Guest Prompt Diva Brenna Lyons makes her second appearance on our stage with this gem: “Did you ever notice that the things people hate about you are the same things you hate about them?”
I offer these alternate prompts:
Use these three words: White Castle, cyanide, evolution
or
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever"
or
have a character use a foreign accent, one that isn't his own
and finally, our special Thanksgiving prompts:
turkey, stuff, wing and pilgrim
or
immigrants, Led Zeppelin and thanks
Love in the Windy City
Chicago was amazing; Ben hadn’t been to a big city since a trip to Philly many years ago.
“You’re going to get your face stuck to that glass if you’re not careful.”
Ben turned away from the window;Tom’s smiling face made his heart soar. ‘I’m just so excited.”
“Yeah, you’re like a kid in a candy store.” Tom’s arms wrapped around his lover from behind as they both enjoyed the view from the eighteenth floor of their hotel.
“Are we going to get to sight see or are you going to be stuck at the conference all weekend?” Ben made a pout appear on his lips, a match to his begging eyes.
Tom released Ben from his embrace to look at the schedule he had in a folder on his IPad. “It says I have to go to a panel on safety and public awareness this afternoon at four. It’s only eight. Let’s go have breakfast and then go take a walk around.”
The hotel had an all-you-can-eat-breakfast buffet until eleven. Tom and Ben chowed down on omelets, pancakes, and bacon. Juice and coffee rounded out their meal and then they were out the door, into the bright sunlight.
Since Tom had been to Chicago a few times, he acted as tour guide. The hotel was right near Millennium Park; there was so much to do within walking distance. They went to Wrigley Square and saw the Millennium monument. “It looks like a Greek temple, doesn’t it?” Ben snapped some shots.
Next they wandered across the BP Pedestrian Bridge. It was a girder-like structure that connected Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
“Let’s go to the Sears Tower, Tom. I always wanted to go.”
“You mean the Willis Tower.”
“Huh?”
“The Sears Tower. They changed the name in 2009. Sears’ naming rights expired and a British insurance company bought it. Hence the Willis building was born.”
“Wow, you’re a wealth of information aren’t you, Einstein?” Ben grabbed a kiss from Tom. They didn’t worry about how it might ‘look’ to passersby. If they had a problem with it, too bad. They’d discussed how they were going to act in public at the beginning of their relationship; they’d known far too many gay couples that hid in the shadows. Well, Ben and Tom decided they weren’t going to hide. They weren’t going to make out like bunnies in the street, but they weren’t going to be afraid to hold hands either.
“Do you want to go out on the ledge?”
“The ledge?”
Tom pointed to the four box-shaped windows they could just see from the street, way up towards the top of the building. “It’s an observation area on the one hundred third floor. Come on, let’s go.” Before Ben could say anything, he was dragged into the building and whisked up in the elevator to the Skydeck.
“Isn’t this great?” Tom looked out at the Chicago River. Ben was squeezing his hand so hard, he thought he’d lose circulation. “Ben?”
“I forgot to tell you heights are not my favorite thing.”
“No, you didn’t tell me. We could leave…” Tom started to move away from the view.
“No, this is something I’ve been wanting to work on. It’s not that bad. I just get a little dizzy.”
“I’m here for you, baby.” Tom wrapped his arms around him and held his man as they stood next to the windows and he waited for Ben to let him know what he wanted to do.
“It is breathtaking,” He was shaking a bit, but when he was cocooned in Tom’s arms he felt so much better.
Ben had had enough excitement and they decided to go back to their hotel and rest before Tom had to go to his meeting. On the way back, they stood in Cloud Gate, right next to the ‘Bean’ sculpture, in Millennium Park.
“It looks kind of weird. You can see yourself in it.” Ben stood admiring the way his image reflected back on the metal sculpture.
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” Tom said as he studied Ben’s image. Turning to look at the man next to him, he smiled his big gorgeous smile.
“I love you Tom.”
“Love you too, Ben. Let’s go back to our room, I’m kind of tired.”
“Too tired to…” Ben wiggled his eyebrows at his lover.
“Never.”
They made it back to the room in record time. Resting came some time later after their first round of lovemaking, one of many on that weekend. It was their way of celebrating Thanksgiving a bit early.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Here is a list of this week's flashers:
I love these guys.
ReplyDeletethanks West <3 I do too. I am thinking of turning them into a full length story
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