Page 18 of Two Marlboros

“How come you changed your mind now?” he pressed me.

Because you’re too clingy, I wanted to tell him. Instead, I came up with a much, much better idea. I flashed the most convincing smile I could muster.

“Because I’m dating a guy. It seems like it’s serious.”

He gaped a little and sketched a smile in turn, uncertain whether to laugh or not at that statement. In the end he merely frowned.

“You...” He was just incredulous as he opened his mouth without any sound coming out. “Really?”

“Is it so unlikely?”

“No, no.”

He said it with little conviction in his voice, so much so that I wondered if the fact that someone might actually be interested in me was an exceptionally relevant event. “It’s just that I thought you weren’t interested.”

“It was just bad luck. But now I think I’ve met the right one.”

“Oh yeah? I’d be really curious to know what the right guy is like for you.”

I snickered at the satisfaction of finally getting rid of the clingy being that was Steve.

“He’s tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed, very manly. He’s a cop, you know?”

I had described my supposed boyfriend like Alan and could not tell if that was good or bad. Steve smiled mischievously.

“I didn’t think you liked certain games.”

And he mimicked two wrists joined by a pair of handcuffs.

“Look Alan is very romantic; he can’t stay away from me for more than five minutes.”

“Ah, is that his name?”

I bit my tongue. I had a feeling that before long I would regret revealing his name.

“That’s right.”

Steve nodded slowly, then crossed his arms over his chest. Suddenly, however, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind. This was my chance to get rid of Steve - forever.

“And of course,” I added, then, with a hint of excitement, “he’s going to accompany me to the party on Saturday. You’re there too, right?”

“So I can watch you stand in your little corner and make out?”

“Well, that’s what college parties are for, after all.”

Steve went back to approaching me in that way I hated, but I could no longer back away, because I was already back against the wall in that little burrow away from prying eyes. He encircled my waist with both hands, and I stiffened.

“I have to go now, though,” I asserted, to get rid of him.

“I’ll be really curious to meet him.”

He came up to my face as if to give me a kiss on the cheek, but stopped a moment before. “Bye, little star.”

He walked on, but I retorted before he was too far away to hear me. “And don’t call me ‘little star’.”

“You’re right, sorry.”

He moved closer again and I flinched, but I couldn’t keep his lips from coming close to me again, though without touching me. “Bye, honey.”

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