Oil & Diamonds from The Beasts by By Toutatis

He was in oil and she was in diamonds
“Let’s drink to evil” they clinked as the sun slowly dipped its head below the peaks
And a warm breeze blanketed and separated them from the rest of the quiet rooftop bar
Scattered islands of humanity encircled by keen-eyed early-season waitresses
Who scanned the aisles and rictused for tips

They ate dirty rice without embarrassment
Chased lonely grains around checked placemats
Ordered drinks for each other with varying degrees of success
A vodka tabasco concoction and something with absinthe
The ice broke as quickly as it does with strangers in strange towns
And they laid out their hurts like tarnished cutlery on the table in front of them
And new words came out
And fresh drinks arrived
As the darkness stole across the street

Closing time they stumbled down to Main Street and were swept up in the evening crowd
A tide surging later into Saturday night
They circled around the obvious for all of five seconds
As a ring of tanked-up teens circled them like a centrifuge
Cheering them on before staggering towards the sounds nearby
They pushed through the throng enfolded and protected in their own two-scene
Before breaking onto the quiet bridge that led out of town

He walked her home, higher into the mountains
And they stopped at every perfect corner

An unforgiving morning came to a condo under the peaks
And numbers sank into the recesses of a pocket and a purse
Stepping stones are no use underwater
Oil & Diamonds they’d said
This one’s for evil

• Alternative
• alternative rock
• by toutatis
• indie
• piano
• the beasts
• United Kingdom