Page 83 of Two Marlboros

Just a Kiss

(?La Bouche - Be my lover)

The watch on my wrist suggested that it had been at least twenty minutes that Nathan had arrived, and almost ten minutes that he had been talking. He had told me about what had happened with his father, the way he had defended his brother. He paused only to inhale the last cigarette in his pack and blow out the smoke, with such speed that I immediately sensed his nervousness.

“...So, my father pushed me, and I fell on my face. Can you see?” he asked, pointing to his face. It was dark, though, and I couldn’t see much.

“Come a little closer,” I replied, only to regret it a moment later. He shortened the distance quite a bit, and all that remained to divide us was the smoke from the cigarette burning between his fingers.

I scanned his face and avoided looking into his eyes, because I feared that even with a glance he might sense that my heart had begun to beat faster than it should have. His eyes were looking for me, I could sense it, but I feigned a renewed interest in the excoriations he must have on his face, but I could not see them. It was too dark.

“It’s not noticeable,” I just told him.

He smiled and brought his cigarette to his mouth. He inhaled more quietly, then threw the smoke out away from me.

“That’s good.”

I felt annoyance when I realized that maybe I wouldn’t be so irritated by being inundated with his smoke. By him.

He had a nice profile. Not that I was surprised, because he was a good-looking guy, from any angle. And he was in that moment, too, when he lightly wet his lips to make room for his cigarette, which, however, remained in midair. The next moment he was looking at me. I should have looked away, but his eyes had imprisoned me.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. “That I smoke too much? Or that you will have smelly clothes?”

I giggled in embarrassment and lowered my eyes for a moment. “Both,” I lied.

“Then I think you’ll have to resign yourself for tonight. And I didn’t think you’d ever accompany Ash to a club.”

I shrugged, looking for a believable lie. “I’m trying to do something different, get a change of scenery.”

“I could use that, too. I really need a distraction.”

“You already have California, don’t you?”

He took a puff, but it took him a while to exhale.

“I haven’t received confirmation yet, although I think it’s coming soon. And it’s a long time away anyway.”

If Nathan had fallen off my radar, it would have been only good. He had a hold on me, and on my body especially, that I didn’t like at all. When I was with him, I felt like I was transported to another dimension - a dimension where Oliver had less and less room.

“So,” he spoke again, taking the last puff and crushing his cigarette in the ashtray he brought with him, “how are you going to dress tonight? You’re not going to come like that, are you?”

I looked at myself but didn’t notice anything unusual about my attire.

“What’s the problem?”

“Should I start with the shirt in the pants or the buttoned cuffs?”

How insolent could he be? Yet a smile came to my face.

Without even asking permission, he put his hands on my hips. Immediately, he began to pull my shirt out of my pants. He grazed my skin with a fingertip: his fingers were cold, and that touch made me flinch a bit.

“Don’t get too excited, huh.”

“Your fingers are ice cold.”

He adjusted my shirt the best he could, but didn’t seem bothered by the fact that, at the bottom, it was quite wrinkled.

“Yes, sorry. It’s always like that, summer and winter.”

---