Life & Times of Rob Pattinson (Chapter Three)
I made a boo-boo on the last one. The last one was actually Chapter TWO, and this is Chapter THREE!
This one is a little less than perfect, if compared to previous chapters. If you don't like it, tell me and I'll edit it. I just really wanted to get it done before going into work.
Anyway...here ya go!
“Ouch! That’s my foot!”
“No, that’s my foot.”
“Yes, but it’s on my foot.”
“I think someone just touched me inappropriately.”
“Sorry, that was me-nice butt-muscles though.”
“You didn’t seriously just compliment my ‘butt-muscles,’ did you?”
“OW! Seriously, what do you have against my feet?!”
Thalia pushed aside the curtain at the top of the stairs, illuminating the five people currently crammed on them. “Sorry,” she shrugged, “Should have warned you it was narrow.”
“And dark,” Louise added, stepping onto the balcony. Lindsay followed close behind, nodding and leaning against the wall to rub her left foot, a small, pained pout on her face. Rob appeared, shaking his head incredulously, his expression looked like he was fighting between being outraged and melting into gasping laughter. Delaney stepped up between both of them, grinning apologetically, a quirky grin on her face. She shrugged, “What can I say? My hands and feet are uncontrollable in dark, enclosed spaces.”
“Your boyfriend must be thrilled,” Lindsay mumbled, pushing off of the wall and moving to stand next to Thalia and Louise.
Delaney narrowed her eyes, but in a playful way. “Past ones have enjoyed it, yes; why wouldn’t they? I mean,” she winked at the actor in their presence, “Robert, isn’t that what men like? An unpredictable partner?”
“I, erm,” he shifted nervously, beginning to regret his decision to join them, “I’m not, er-“
“Oh, for god’s sake,” Thalia interrupted before he could finish stammering, “Don’t scare the man away-at least wait until he’s been drinking to ask him shit like that.” She rolled her eyes and gestured to the only table on the balcony. It was a medium-length mahogany number that could easily fit the five of them, plus maybe another two or three. In the centre of the table were three bottles (one scotch, one ginger ale, and one Club Soda) and a large pitcher (beer, presumably), as well as glasses for all of them. Rob slid his guitar from his shoulder and propped it against the corner of the table before taking a seat, and the women soon joined him. He noted, to his amusement, that no one sat in the seat right next to him-yet another deviation from what most people would do. He took a gulp from his glass, the scotch tickling his throat, burning slightly, before looking each of them over, waiting for them to say something about the show.
It was Lindsay who spoke first. “So,” she smiled, “What do you guys all do?” It threw Rob through a loop, and he mentally berated himself for being so self-involved. He hadn’t really been in the spotlight very long, but he’d already managed to convince himself that every conversation would revolve around him. Way to get a big head, Pattinson, he sighed internally. Still, he snapped to attention; he thought he’d seen all four women in their “career habitats,” but he was curious as to any extra facts.
“I’m a screenwriter,” Delaney offered-Rob had assumed that. “I’ve been doing it forever. Actually, right after I got out of school, one of my scripts got turned into a movie. Creatureland?” She looked around the table, then shrugged, “It didn’t get a lot of publicity. Other than that, I just write and play cello. Sometimes I beta for new games.” She took a glass from the table and filled it with beer, taking a sip.
Rob suddenly raised his eyebrows. “Creatureland-that was the one with Marisa Petroro and Chad Todhunter, right?” Delaney nodded, and he smiled. “Yeah, I actually did see that. It was…interesting. Very gory. I liked the incorporation of zombies and alien bugs-very clever.”
Delaney beamed at him, then turned to Louise. “What about you, hon? What do you do?”
“Oh, I,” she stirred her straw in her pink drink, “I’m a vocal and instrumental major at Musicians Institute. Other than that, I just, you know,” she lifted her shoulders lazily, “Sing at clubs and coffee shoppes for extra money.”
“Where are you from?” Rob wondered aloud. It was the most he’d heard her speak thus far, and her accent was a little thicker now. If he’d been born here, he probably could have identified it.
She sipped her drink, “Texas.”
Thalia perked up, looking uncharacteristically excited, “Hey, me too. I’m from Midland.”
“Really? I’m from Odessa.”
“Wow-we were neighbours.”
Louise smiled a genuine smile for the very first time, and Rob couldn’t help but smile too. It wasn’t that shy little grin she’d been giving everyone-it was a true, full-blown, toothy smile that lit up her face and made her radiate beyond her years. He liked it-it suited her. Just like that, though, the smile was suppressed to a tight-lipped grin and Louise asked Thalia, “So, um, what do you do?”
Thalia tilted her head from side to side nonchalantly. “Mostly just this-bartending, you know? I’m a writer, too, but mostly I just freelance articles for magazines and websites. Every once and a while, I’ll help my brother write a song, but that’s about it.”
Rob waggled his fingers, encouraging more information, “Any songs we may have heard?”
She shifted in her seat, and he could have sworn she looked…embarrassed? “I helped him write that stupid jingle for Suzy’s Celebrity Pet Grooming. You know, that-“ she started humming then, a sweet, quiet sound, “You know you’re beautiful, and we know it, too-so don’t you think your pet should be as pretty as you?” She hung her head, ashamed.
Lindsay laughed loudly, “Oh my god, I hear that song everywhere. To me, it always sounded like it was mocking people.”
“It is!” Thalia insisted, “I hate people that froo-froo up their cats and dogs. I think there should be a special circle in hell for them!”
They all laughed, mumbling agreements. Rob finished his scotch and reached for the bottle in the middle of the table, pouring another two-fingers worth. “And finally,” he said, still smiling, looking at Lindsay, “What about you?”
She pushed a glass to Delaney, who still had the beer pitcher at her side. It returned to her filled to the brim. “Well, as you know, I’m a make-up artist. That’s what I do most of the time, for steady pay. But I also,” she ran her finger over the rim of her cup bashfully, “Model and act when I can-that’s really what I came out here to do, but it’s not going as well as I’d hoped.”
Rob felt for her. He always played it up to sound easy, but he’d had his fair share of struggles getting into the business too. Acting and modeling and even music-nothing came as easily as people would like. It was a constant struggle, he knew that well. “It’s a tough business to break into,” he told her kindly, “But that only makes it more worth it when you get your first, real big break.”
She smiled at him, and it almost took his breath away. Each of these women-they were all stunning in their own way, but no more so than when they smiled. What he felt, in these instances, was not a physical attraction, but more like a glorious witness. Like he was privileged to be in the presence of something so genuine and spectacular. “Thankyou,” she said to him, then asked, “So what all do you do? I mean, obviously we know about the singing.”
“And the acting,” Delaney added.
“And modeling,” Thalia pointed out.
“And writing.” They all turned to look at Louise, who blushed a little, but continued on nonetheless. She was gaining confidence around them. “I mean, you wrote those songs.”
Lindsay’s eyes flew wide, as if only just remembering. “Yeah! I really liked that first one-it’s so relatable and gorgeous. And that last one? That was intense-I’m almost afraid to ask what inspired it.” Everyone could tell, however, by the look in her eyes that this was exactly what she was asking.
Rob laughed and sat back against his seat, sipping his drink. “I’m glad you liked it, first off,” he noted. Then he shook his head ruefully, “It’s about a girl I knew in secondary school. She was dating my best mate, so we were around each other a lot and she…she liked to play the martyr about a lot of things, let’s just say that.” He laughed and took a swig of his drink. “I tried to talk to her-help her out-but I think she just wanted to be miserable. So when she and my friend broke up, we lost contact and then I moved here.”
Thalia cleared her throat and leaned forward, taking a glass and pushing it toward Delaney. “Judging by how you sang that song,” she noted to Rob, nodding thanks to Delaney when she pushed back a beer-filled glass. “She was more than just your ‘best mate’s girlfriend.’”
He stared at her for a long moment, blinking because he couldn’t think of anything more intelligent. He didn’t think anyone would pick up on that. It had been so long since he’d even seen Lisa, but he guessed those feelings he’d once had for her weren’t as faded as he’d thought. More than that, though, he still wasn’t used to people being so outright with him, even if it was something they thought might offend him. So finally he exhaled and forced a tight-lipped grin, shaking his head, “You’re right. I pined after that miserable mess for the longest time.”
Lindsay sighed and filled Louise’s now-empty glass with ginger ale, then lifted her own glass and announced, “To misery!” They all raised their glasses and repeated the word, bringing their drinks to their lips. Before Thalia could take a gulp of her beer, however, a loud static sound erupted from her pocket, followed by, “Tally, you’d better just be having ginger ale!”
She sighed and pulled a small walky-talky out of her pocket, pushing a button and pressing it against her lips. “I know, Lucile.” Then she clanked the device down and pushed her glass aside. “Freaky Irish booze-psychics,” she grumbled under her breath, pouring a ginger ale and taking a sip while the others laughed at her.
Rob noted how easy this was becoming. He knew that none of the women had been very familiar with each other when the night began-about as familiar as he had been-but now they were all sitting around, laughing, breezing through conversation in a carefree way. Almost friends, even if just for a night. Just for a night. The words repeated in his head, and he realized with a start that he didn’t want this to be just for a night. He liked these women-truly, honestly liked them. And not in the way he was used to liking women-for their looks and their adoration for him-but for their personalities and their actions and their strange behaviour toward the world that echoed around the city they called home. And their talents and intelligence, because they all had these qualities in spades. No, he most definitely didn’t want these friendships to end tonight.
So he asked, “Before we leave tonight, would you all mind terribly if we exchanged information?”
“Like an insurance thing?” Louise laughed, giving Rob a brief flash of that happy smile again. “Rear-ended-‘can I get your information?’” It was so strange. Ten minutes ago, she would barely look at him. Now, she was making a joke at his expense.
He laughed along with her. “Right, right; it did sound like that, didn’t it? What I meant was,” he shrugged, “Exchange phone numbers or e-mail addresses or something-I think I’d like to keep in touch with all of you.”
He wasn’t expecting them to stare that way, blinking, incredulous. Finally, Delaney laughed a big, belly laugh that echoed around the balcony and probably could be heard in the crowd below. “Get a load of this guy!” She said, her voice as loud as her laugh, “Honey, you don’t have to act with us-we’re not groupies coming on to you in some dive bar. We have no expectations.” The other three murmured in agreement.
Rob felt his brow furrow as his eyes darted to each woman individually. “No, I’m completely serious,” he tried to convince them. “I don’t meet many people who…I don’t know…treat me like a normal person. At least, not without having some ulterior motive.”
They were staring at him again, and he regretted saying anything. Did he really seem that fake? Or did they just not want to continue this relationship as much as he did? Finally, Louise reached a hand into her purse and dug out a pen and a sheet of paper from what looked to be an address book. “I think you’re serious,” she mumbled, and he smiled his thanks to her. She scribbled something down and handed it to him. Louise Carter - GuitarGirlLou@IndependentCast.org - 555.0134
Thalia continued to study him a moment longer before taking Louise’s paper and adding her own information. Thalia Azure - ItsyBitsyIrishCowgirl@IndependentCast.org - 555.6133
After that, the paper got passed around until it fell back in front of Rob. Del Callaghan - SciFiKickass@IndependentCast.org - 555.3302 and Lindsay Colvin - PrettyInPunk@IndependentCast.org - 555.0007. He smiled and folded the sheet, sliding it into his pocket. He politely asked Louise for another paper from her book and he put down his own personal information four times, tearing the sheet and passing the scraps around. “Now, I’m trusting you,” he said quietly, “To not release my personal information to the public?”
“Never,” they all agreed, then resumed their discussions. They talked for another hour and a half, though it seemed like longer. Conversation shifted from light to serious to angry to light again and again, and Rob was beginning to wonder why he’d always surrounded himself with friends that were men. Sure, they were easier to relate to on a surface level, but you couldn’t talk to men the way you could talk to women. Not if you were another man, at least. This was fun. It was silly, but straightforward, and he could already trust these four to be honest at every turn.
Finally, around midnight, it was Thalia’s walky-talky that broke up the party. “What?” She answered with a sigh when her name was called through it, interrupting a game of (Blank)est Moment at her turn. They were on ‘Grossest Moment,’ and she’d been in the middle of her my-brother-pushed-me-into-a-septic-tank story.
“Tally,” Lucile’s voice came through, thick with sleep, making her accent all the more incomprehensible. “I have to go pick up Mallory from the babysitter and get home to bed, but it’s still pretty busy down here…”
She trailed off, but Thalia caught her unspoken question. “I’ll be right down.”
“I’m sorry to break up your party, love.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She put the radio back in her pocket and stood, “So, I’ve got to get back to work.”
A collective grumble went through the group, but Rob stretched out and mumbled sleepily, “I should be off, too, actually. In fact, I should have been home an hour ago. I’ve got a 4 a.m. shoot tomorrow…today…whatever.”
“And I have class,” Louise said with some relief, as if she’d been wanting to say something for a while, but was reluctant to be the cause of the group breaking up.
Delaney stood also, hitching her huge purse up to her shoulder. “And I,” she sighed, “What am I saying? I’m unemployed and sleep until noon, but I don’t want to sit up here by myself. Let’s go!” She began sweep-gesturing everyone toward the stairs, like herding cattle. Before they descended, Rob whipped around, “Keep your hands to yourself.”
Delaney laughed openly to this, “Fine; I’ll stay away from your butt-muscles.”
“Stay away from mine too, please,” Louise added, disappearing into the dark stairway.
“No promises!”
Rob laughed as he followed the women back to the first floor, where they parted ways slowly, reluctantly.
--
It was near one in the morning when Rob got home, immediately falling into bed as he had a few nights before. Only this time, he was smiling broadly. He look his slip of paper from his pocket and propped it up next to his bedside phone. Maybe tomorrow, he would call. Maybe the day after, so it didn’t seem too odd. Either way, he knew he would try his hardest to see them again. He would try his hardest to keep this connection to the real world, and not the world that blinded him with lies on a daily basis.
This one is a little less than perfect, if compared to previous chapters. If you don't like it, tell me and I'll edit it. I just really wanted to get it done before going into work.
Anyway...here ya go!
“Ouch! That’s my foot!”
“No, that’s my foot.”
“Yes, but it’s on my foot.”
“I think someone just touched me inappropriately.”
“Sorry, that was me-nice butt-muscles though.”
“You didn’t seriously just compliment my ‘butt-muscles,’ did you?”
“OW! Seriously, what do you have against my feet?!”
Thalia pushed aside the curtain at the top of the stairs, illuminating the five people currently crammed on them. “Sorry,” she shrugged, “Should have warned you it was narrow.”
“And dark,” Louise added, stepping onto the balcony. Lindsay followed close behind, nodding and leaning against the wall to rub her left foot, a small, pained pout on her face. Rob appeared, shaking his head incredulously, his expression looked like he was fighting between being outraged and melting into gasping laughter. Delaney stepped up between both of them, grinning apologetically, a quirky grin on her face. She shrugged, “What can I say? My hands and feet are uncontrollable in dark, enclosed spaces.”
“Your boyfriend must be thrilled,” Lindsay mumbled, pushing off of the wall and moving to stand next to Thalia and Louise.
Delaney narrowed her eyes, but in a playful way. “Past ones have enjoyed it, yes; why wouldn’t they? I mean,” she winked at the actor in their presence, “Robert, isn’t that what men like? An unpredictable partner?”
“I, erm,” he shifted nervously, beginning to regret his decision to join them, “I’m not, er-“
“Oh, for god’s sake,” Thalia interrupted before he could finish stammering, “Don’t scare the man away-at least wait until he’s been drinking to ask him shit like that.” She rolled her eyes and gestured to the only table on the balcony. It was a medium-length mahogany number that could easily fit the five of them, plus maybe another two or three. In the centre of the table were three bottles (one scotch, one ginger ale, and one Club Soda) and a large pitcher (beer, presumably), as well as glasses for all of them. Rob slid his guitar from his shoulder and propped it against the corner of the table before taking a seat, and the women soon joined him. He noted, to his amusement, that no one sat in the seat right next to him-yet another deviation from what most people would do. He took a gulp from his glass, the scotch tickling his throat, burning slightly, before looking each of them over, waiting for them to say something about the show.
It was Lindsay who spoke first. “So,” she smiled, “What do you guys all do?” It threw Rob through a loop, and he mentally berated himself for being so self-involved. He hadn’t really been in the spotlight very long, but he’d already managed to convince himself that every conversation would revolve around him. Way to get a big head, Pattinson, he sighed internally. Still, he snapped to attention; he thought he’d seen all four women in their “career habitats,” but he was curious as to any extra facts.
“I’m a screenwriter,” Delaney offered-Rob had assumed that. “I’ve been doing it forever. Actually, right after I got out of school, one of my scripts got turned into a movie. Creatureland?” She looked around the table, then shrugged, “It didn’t get a lot of publicity. Other than that, I just write and play cello. Sometimes I beta for new games.” She took a glass from the table and filled it with beer, taking a sip.
Rob suddenly raised his eyebrows. “Creatureland-that was the one with Marisa Petroro and Chad Todhunter, right?” Delaney nodded, and he smiled. “Yeah, I actually did see that. It was…interesting. Very gory. I liked the incorporation of zombies and alien bugs-very clever.”
Delaney beamed at him, then turned to Louise. “What about you, hon? What do you do?”
“Oh, I,” she stirred her straw in her pink drink, “I’m a vocal and instrumental major at Musicians Institute. Other than that, I just, you know,” she lifted her shoulders lazily, “Sing at clubs and coffee shoppes for extra money.”
“Where are you from?” Rob wondered aloud. It was the most he’d heard her speak thus far, and her accent was a little thicker now. If he’d been born here, he probably could have identified it.
She sipped her drink, “Texas.”
Thalia perked up, looking uncharacteristically excited, “Hey, me too. I’m from Midland.”
“Really? I’m from Odessa.”
“Wow-we were neighbours.”
Louise smiled a genuine smile for the very first time, and Rob couldn’t help but smile too. It wasn’t that shy little grin she’d been giving everyone-it was a true, full-blown, toothy smile that lit up her face and made her radiate beyond her years. He liked it-it suited her. Just like that, though, the smile was suppressed to a tight-lipped grin and Louise asked Thalia, “So, um, what do you do?”
Thalia tilted her head from side to side nonchalantly. “Mostly just this-bartending, you know? I’m a writer, too, but mostly I just freelance articles for magazines and websites. Every once and a while, I’ll help my brother write a song, but that’s about it.”
Rob waggled his fingers, encouraging more information, “Any songs we may have heard?”
She shifted in her seat, and he could have sworn she looked…embarrassed? “I helped him write that stupid jingle for Suzy’s Celebrity Pet Grooming. You know, that-“ she started humming then, a sweet, quiet sound, “You know you’re beautiful, and we know it, too-so don’t you think your pet should be as pretty as you?” She hung her head, ashamed.
Lindsay laughed loudly, “Oh my god, I hear that song everywhere. To me, it always sounded like it was mocking people.”
“It is!” Thalia insisted, “I hate people that froo-froo up their cats and dogs. I think there should be a special circle in hell for them!”
They all laughed, mumbling agreements. Rob finished his scotch and reached for the bottle in the middle of the table, pouring another two-fingers worth. “And finally,” he said, still smiling, looking at Lindsay, “What about you?”
She pushed a glass to Delaney, who still had the beer pitcher at her side. It returned to her filled to the brim. “Well, as you know, I’m a make-up artist. That’s what I do most of the time, for steady pay. But I also,” she ran her finger over the rim of her cup bashfully, “Model and act when I can-that’s really what I came out here to do, but it’s not going as well as I’d hoped.”
Rob felt for her. He always played it up to sound easy, but he’d had his fair share of struggles getting into the business too. Acting and modeling and even music-nothing came as easily as people would like. It was a constant struggle, he knew that well. “It’s a tough business to break into,” he told her kindly, “But that only makes it more worth it when you get your first, real big break.”
She smiled at him, and it almost took his breath away. Each of these women-they were all stunning in their own way, but no more so than when they smiled. What he felt, in these instances, was not a physical attraction, but more like a glorious witness. Like he was privileged to be in the presence of something so genuine and spectacular. “Thankyou,” she said to him, then asked, “So what all do you do? I mean, obviously we know about the singing.”
“And the acting,” Delaney added.
“And modeling,” Thalia pointed out.
“And writing.” They all turned to look at Louise, who blushed a little, but continued on nonetheless. She was gaining confidence around them. “I mean, you wrote those songs.”
Lindsay’s eyes flew wide, as if only just remembering. “Yeah! I really liked that first one-it’s so relatable and gorgeous. And that last one? That was intense-I’m almost afraid to ask what inspired it.” Everyone could tell, however, by the look in her eyes that this was exactly what she was asking.
Rob laughed and sat back against his seat, sipping his drink. “I’m glad you liked it, first off,” he noted. Then he shook his head ruefully, “It’s about a girl I knew in secondary school. She was dating my best mate, so we were around each other a lot and she…she liked to play the martyr about a lot of things, let’s just say that.” He laughed and took a swig of his drink. “I tried to talk to her-help her out-but I think she just wanted to be miserable. So when she and my friend broke up, we lost contact and then I moved here.”
Thalia cleared her throat and leaned forward, taking a glass and pushing it toward Delaney. “Judging by how you sang that song,” she noted to Rob, nodding thanks to Delaney when she pushed back a beer-filled glass. “She was more than just your ‘best mate’s girlfriend.’”
He stared at her for a long moment, blinking because he couldn’t think of anything more intelligent. He didn’t think anyone would pick up on that. It had been so long since he’d even seen Lisa, but he guessed those feelings he’d once had for her weren’t as faded as he’d thought. More than that, though, he still wasn’t used to people being so outright with him, even if it was something they thought might offend him. So finally he exhaled and forced a tight-lipped grin, shaking his head, “You’re right. I pined after that miserable mess for the longest time.”
Lindsay sighed and filled Louise’s now-empty glass with ginger ale, then lifted her own glass and announced, “To misery!” They all raised their glasses and repeated the word, bringing their drinks to their lips. Before Thalia could take a gulp of her beer, however, a loud static sound erupted from her pocket, followed by, “Tally, you’d better just be having ginger ale!”
She sighed and pulled a small walky-talky out of her pocket, pushing a button and pressing it against her lips. “I know, Lucile.” Then she clanked the device down and pushed her glass aside. “Freaky Irish booze-psychics,” she grumbled under her breath, pouring a ginger ale and taking a sip while the others laughed at her.
Rob noted how easy this was becoming. He knew that none of the women had been very familiar with each other when the night began-about as familiar as he had been-but now they were all sitting around, laughing, breezing through conversation in a carefree way. Almost friends, even if just for a night. Just for a night. The words repeated in his head, and he realized with a start that he didn’t want this to be just for a night. He liked these women-truly, honestly liked them. And not in the way he was used to liking women-for their looks and their adoration for him-but for their personalities and their actions and their strange behaviour toward the world that echoed around the city they called home. And their talents and intelligence, because they all had these qualities in spades. No, he most definitely didn’t want these friendships to end tonight.
So he asked, “Before we leave tonight, would you all mind terribly if we exchanged information?”
“Like an insurance thing?” Louise laughed, giving Rob a brief flash of that happy smile again. “Rear-ended-‘can I get your information?’” It was so strange. Ten minutes ago, she would barely look at him. Now, she was making a joke at his expense.
He laughed along with her. “Right, right; it did sound like that, didn’t it? What I meant was,” he shrugged, “Exchange phone numbers or e-mail addresses or something-I think I’d like to keep in touch with all of you.”
He wasn’t expecting them to stare that way, blinking, incredulous. Finally, Delaney laughed a big, belly laugh that echoed around the balcony and probably could be heard in the crowd below. “Get a load of this guy!” She said, her voice as loud as her laugh, “Honey, you don’t have to act with us-we’re not groupies coming on to you in some dive bar. We have no expectations.” The other three murmured in agreement.
Rob felt his brow furrow as his eyes darted to each woman individually. “No, I’m completely serious,” he tried to convince them. “I don’t meet many people who…I don’t know…treat me like a normal person. At least, not without having some ulterior motive.”
They were staring at him again, and he regretted saying anything. Did he really seem that fake? Or did they just not want to continue this relationship as much as he did? Finally, Louise reached a hand into her purse and dug out a pen and a sheet of paper from what looked to be an address book. “I think you’re serious,” she mumbled, and he smiled his thanks to her. She scribbled something down and handed it to him. Louise Carter - GuitarGirlLou@IndependentCast.org - 555.0134
Thalia continued to study him a moment longer before taking Louise’s paper and adding her own information. Thalia Azure - ItsyBitsyIrishCowgirl@IndependentCast.org - 555.6133
After that, the paper got passed around until it fell back in front of Rob. Del Callaghan - SciFiKickass@IndependentCast.org - 555.3302 and Lindsay Colvin - PrettyInPunk@IndependentCast.org - 555.0007. He smiled and folded the sheet, sliding it into his pocket. He politely asked Louise for another paper from her book and he put down his own personal information four times, tearing the sheet and passing the scraps around. “Now, I’m trusting you,” he said quietly, “To not release my personal information to the public?”
“Never,” they all agreed, then resumed their discussions. They talked for another hour and a half, though it seemed like longer. Conversation shifted from light to serious to angry to light again and again, and Rob was beginning to wonder why he’d always surrounded himself with friends that were men. Sure, they were easier to relate to on a surface level, but you couldn’t talk to men the way you could talk to women. Not if you were another man, at least. This was fun. It was silly, but straightforward, and he could already trust these four to be honest at every turn.
Finally, around midnight, it was Thalia’s walky-talky that broke up the party. “What?” She answered with a sigh when her name was called through it, interrupting a game of (Blank)est Moment at her turn. They were on ‘Grossest Moment,’ and she’d been in the middle of her my-brother-pushed-me-into-a-septic-tank story.
“Tally,” Lucile’s voice came through, thick with sleep, making her accent all the more incomprehensible. “I have to go pick up Mallory from the babysitter and get home to bed, but it’s still pretty busy down here…”
She trailed off, but Thalia caught her unspoken question. “I’ll be right down.”
“I’m sorry to break up your party, love.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She put the radio back in her pocket and stood, “So, I’ve got to get back to work.”
A collective grumble went through the group, but Rob stretched out and mumbled sleepily, “I should be off, too, actually. In fact, I should have been home an hour ago. I’ve got a 4 a.m. shoot tomorrow…today…whatever.”
“And I have class,” Louise said with some relief, as if she’d been wanting to say something for a while, but was reluctant to be the cause of the group breaking up.
Delaney stood also, hitching her huge purse up to her shoulder. “And I,” she sighed, “What am I saying? I’m unemployed and sleep until noon, but I don’t want to sit up here by myself. Let’s go!” She began sweep-gesturing everyone toward the stairs, like herding cattle. Before they descended, Rob whipped around, “Keep your hands to yourself.”
Delaney laughed openly to this, “Fine; I’ll stay away from your butt-muscles.”
“Stay away from mine too, please,” Louise added, disappearing into the dark stairway.
“No promises!”
Rob laughed as he followed the women back to the first floor, where they parted ways slowly, reluctantly.
--
It was near one in the morning when Rob got home, immediately falling into bed as he had a few nights before. Only this time, he was smiling broadly. He look his slip of paper from his pocket and propped it up next to his bedside phone. Maybe tomorrow, he would call. Maybe the day after, so it didn’t seem too odd. Either way, he knew he would try his hardest to see them again. He would try his hardest to keep this connection to the real world, and not the world that blinded him with lies on a daily basis.