Overblown

            It started with a handshake. Two hands from opposing genders, gliding into one another, griping on tight, and moving in sync. That’s all it took for the rumor mill to fly into action with that week’s new propaganda against Ophelia and Oscar.

            Some said they were friends, some said lovers, some said enemies. The truth was, they didn’t know one another at all. The handshake was just a formal greeting, an introduction. Their eyes shining at one another and the ‘blush’ on Ophelia’s cheeks were also imagined things. Their eyes glassy from the liquor, and Ophelia a little too tipsy to drive that night, were all things that were overlooked when everyone recalled how they looked that evening when they first met. When she was introduced to him by a mutual acquaintance so that she would be able to get a ride home, no one noticed how drunk the other was.

            Liquor was a landmine waiting for the pressure. On the streets, racing through street lights and growling down open roads, it was a miracle that both had made it home safely. Hours later, in the morning when children were running off to school, the two would read the papers and see their faces, a report on false romance just to turn up the heat.

            Ophelia would be offended, Oscar would scoff in disgust. The two would never see each other again.