Page 13 of Two Marlboros

“He would like to talk to you. You know, you gave him your card, not mine.”

This time I was the one smiling, but at the absurdity of the situation. “May I ask whose side are you on?”

He burst out laughing, turned away from my desk and made his way out of the office. “I’ll wait for you over there.”

I huffed and rolled my eyes, but he was already gone. I joined him a short time after, and as I entered, I couldn’t help but confirm my first impression of Hayworth. He was wearing jeans and a not-too-tight shirt, over the neckline of which he had folded his sunglasses. He sat uncomfortably on the other side of the desk, one leg resting on the other, but what really struck me was the mischievous smirk on his face.

As he saw me, he began to stare at me, and I cursed the moment I had not told Ashton to go to hell and deal with that hassle. I sat down, finding him facing me: he put his chin on his palm, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair. I felt that he was not taking his eyes off me.

Ashton took a seat next to me, handing me the robbery files. I tried to put off that conversation indefinitely, but finally had to give in to my duty.

“My colleague told me you are here because you remembered new details about the robbery.”

His lips parted in an amused smile, but I had no time to waste, least of all with the guy who was already getting on my nerves.

“Is there a problem? I asked, after which I looked at the files. Unwillingly, it was the same question I had asked him when I had taken his statement.

“No, sorry. I was listening to the accent. Where are you from?”

I sighed and looked at him.

“Brighton,” I finally answered, although I was sure he didn’t even know where it was on a map. “But I guess you’re not here to talk about that.”

“No, of course not.”

I turned to Ashton and caught him grinning like the boy; it seemed they had become a crime syndicate - figuratively speaking, of course. Meanwhile, that Nathan kept staring at me,whereupon, fed up, I looked at him too. But what did he want from me?

“Alright, tell us what you saw.”

He emitted a thoughtful groan, then postured himself by running a hand through his hair. He really looked like an idiot.

“The moment I collided with one of the robbers, I was able to see his face and noticed that he had green eyes. They were like mine, but lighter and icier, if you know what I mean.”

I crossed my arms as Ashton was putting everything on record, as per procedure.

“Anything else?” my colleague asked, but he, in response, simply shook his head.

“Alright, in that case you can go. One signature here, please.”

Hayworth signed, after which the two stood up and shook hands with a smile, and I wondered where they had found the time to become so cordial with each other. Finally, out of mere politeness, I stood up as well and offered them my hand.

“Goodbye,” I merely said.

I emitted a sigh of relief as soon as he walked out with Ashton. After a few moments I got up from my chair to follow them and accompany our guest to the exit, but my partner had already taken care of that. They had stopped outside the building and were laughing and joking as if they had known each other for a long time, but I was sure that Nathan - as I was sure Ashton already called him by his first name - had not been part of my partner’s friendships, at least since before the previous morning. They must have found a common passion, something to share, otherwise I could not explain such behavior. For a moment I suspected that Ashton might also be interested in boys, but from the comments I had heard him make in our six months ofacquaintance I immediately thought it was an out-of-this-world idea.

To tell the truth I was curious, and I was so used to the grayness of my life that those positive emotions seemed almost unreal. It was silly for me to feel any interest in such a thing, but at the same time a tiny, little voice was screaming at me that it wanted to know at all costs what those two were confabulating about, what it was that had made them get so close, so I listened to my instincts and joined them. As they saw me, they both froze, surprised to find me there; the only thing that moved was the gray cloud that came out of Nathan’s mouth.

He smoked.

“Well, will you join us?” asked Ashton, breaking that surreal silence, but I shook my head.

“No, thank you. I don’t smoke.”

My colleague burst out laughing, but I couldn’t help but notice Nathan’s gesture as he raised his free hand in surrender, almost mocking me.

“I meant the talking part,” he clarified.

“Oh, with pleasure. You guys look like you’re having a lot of fun. You laugh and joke like you’ve known each other for all your lives.”

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