Under the Bridge (Jon)

Soundtrack

The night time is frightening for many reasons; muggings, shootings, weirdos… I wasn’t a huge fan of walking around the streets of Chicago at night; especially not in an expensive looking suit and a wallet full of cash. I was confused as to where we were heading. Against my better judgement I didn’t question Ryker as I let her lead me into places I didn’t recognize.
The words do you swim didn’t fully register with me, until we reached a set of steps, leading down to the underside of a bridge. Ryker walked in front of me, tugging on my hand gently; encouraging me to follow her.
I felt anxious as we stepped off the last step; heading into the darkness of the walkway.

“So… this is your special place?” I asked, trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice as we came to a halt. She laughed slightly, her fingers opening a little - before closing around my hand; interlacing.

“No…!” She laughed again, shaking her head, “That’s just foolish.” I laughed too, believing that once again I had made an ass of myself. She dropped my hand and turned around to face me.
I thought she was going to kiss me, but she grinned instead, taking a step backwards.

“Where are you going?” I asked, taking a step forward; moving us back into the same position we had been in just a second ago. Her grin widened as she kicked off her black ballet shoes; reaching up in another swift movement to pull her dress up over her head. “Umm… what are you doing?”

She laughed as she let it drop down on top of her shoes. “I said I was going to show you my special place-”

“I thought it was a place not… ah…” I scratched the back of my head, unsure of what to say. “I didn’t think you meant… sex.”

She turned around, laughing as she leaned over the railing; giving me a full view of her body. Her legs were creamy and smooth under the moonlight. The only thing left covering her was a pair of red cotton panties and a black camisole top. I sighed as I pulled my eyes away from her, trying to figure out what to say, how do you tell a girl that your not looking for sex... “Are you coming?”

I shrugged, still trying to figure out what was going on. She walked back towards me; grabbing my tie in her hands, tugging on it gently. I licked my lips, trying to find the words to stop her. You’re Jonathan Toews for God Sake’s you can’t be caught fooling around with some girl under a bridge…
I looked down at my feet just in time to see my tie fall down around them. My jacket was next, and then my shirt; until I looked back up at her face. “You know… this would go a lot easier if you’d help.”

I cocked my head to the side and regarded her, still trying to figure out what I needed to say to stop this. Instead I stared into her eyes. They were smiling back at me, innocent, adventurous - it was then I realized that she wasn’t trying to have sex with me.

Ryker had asked me about swimming, and she had taken me down to the water to swim; not have sex. Ok but, wait, it’s freeze…
I watched as Ryker turned away from me, walking back to the railing; waiting. I undid the button on my pants, then the zipper. I kicked off my shoes and let my pants drop off from around me; stepping out of them and walking towards her. “So… any reason we’re going swimming… at night… when it’s freezing…?”

“I said I wanted to show you something.” She reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me up to the railing wit her. We both kicked our legs over and sat on the cold metal.

“We’re not… we’re not going in there right? I mean, it’s probably polluted, there’s most likely diseases and, and… please say we’re not going in there…” She gave me one last smile before she let go of my hand and pushed off, splashing gracefully into the dark water.

“Ryker…” I whined as she resurfaced. “Isn’t it… is that safe?”

“As long as you don’t drink it.” She laughed, treading to keep herself above the surface of the water. I sighed as I watched her, wondering how much I was going to regret this in the morning.
I took one last breath and pushed myself off, landing beside her in the water. I pushed myself up, propelling my body towards the surface; breaking through with a loud gasp.

“It’s freezing Ryker! We need to get out… holy shit… why is it so much colder?” She shook her head and started swimming away from me; her feet playfully splashing me with water as I floated, motionless.

She disappeared under the water, coming up a few seconds later swimming towards more open water. “Ryker!” I shouted out after her, getting no response. I groaned and took off after here; pushing myself through the water as fast as I could - catching up to her as we headed towards the ruins of the old Chicago Bridge. “We’re in open water Ryker! We’re gonna get hit by a boat or something…” God this is so unclean… I probably have hepatitis or something now…
I swam beside her as we reached one of the old pillars. She reached up onto the stone, pulling herself up onto a flat rock.

“Coming?” She asked, holding out her hand to me. I reached out for it, grabbing onto a rock with my other hand as I scrambled up beside her. I watched her climb expertly up the stones and metal; trying to focus on where she was placing her hands and not on the red cotton that was moving in front of my face.
“Jon… Jon!” She called my name, pulling me back into the present. I blushed slightly as I followed her up the ruins.

“So what are we doing here?” I asked as we reached the top, sitting down next to each other.

“Well, it’s actually a little after 3 now, and in another hour or so the sun’s gonna be coming up.” She grinned; “it’s like… liquid gold when it hit’s the harbour…” I leaned back and thought about it; I couldn’t remember a time that I ever watched a sunrise… it seemed like a waste of time.

We sat on the stone, talking for a while as the night wore on. I watched the sky lighten as the first of the sun rays began to peak over the top of the harbour; lighting up the water, and the eyes of the girl next to me.

I was in awe as the warm light filtered through the sky, illuminating everything that it touched. It did look like liquid gold; pure, soft, bright…
“So… what did you think?” She asked softly after a while.

“It was… wow.” I said slowly, unable to come up with a better word to describe what feelings were coursing through me. She grinned at me, standing up and jumping off the rock.

“Come on Jon, we have to get you back before your friends think I’ve killed you or something…” I laughed and jumped off too; swimming back with her to the walkway.



“I’ve never watched the sunrise before… I’ve also never swam in my underwear before… or swam in the middle of a bay…”

She laughed loudly, as she spun around to face me; both of us treading inches apart. “I’m sure there’s a lot of things you’ve never done Jon…” She cocked her head to the side and smiled at me, closing the distance in a small stroke.

“Ryker…” I breathed softly; she was just an inch away now. “I don’t think…”

She finished closing the gap, and I couldn’t do anything but stare as she began to move her lips towards mine. Without warning her hand came up and rested - palm down - against my lips. She brought her mouth down to the other side of her hand, giving it a quick kiss before she moved off, pulling herself back up onto the walk way.

She grabbed her dress and pulled it over her head, letting it fall freely as she slipped her shoes back on. “Are you coming?” She reached for my hand and I held it out to her as we walked down the walkway together. “So now it’s your turn…”

“My turn for what?”

“I showed you something special, something personal, now it’s your turn.”

I laughed as we walked slowly, “I’m not sure what I’d even show you… there’s nothing special about me…”

“That’s not true, I saw you last night… I saw you on the ice. You were very special.” She said it so matter-o-factly that I felt compelled to believe her.

“Umm, well… I’ll think of something and let you know…”

She gave me a smile and dropped my hand as we reached the top of the embankment. She waved goodbye to me and I did likewise as I headed back towards the club, toward my car. I took one last look behind me and watched the gently sway of her hips as she danced down the sidewalk; both of us going out separate ways into the day light.