[lj idol] week eighteen | "incomplete, shaken up realities..."
[made of make believe]
*
“Everything’s fine,” they tell her.
Somebody repeats it then, with emphasis and a condescending shoulder pat, “I promise you, everything’s fine.”
She’ll discover later it was not the first lie they’d told her.
“I’m good,” he smiles, his teeth clenched together and his lips forced into false cheer.
Yesterday he’d gone with “I’m great,” a last minute decision that had worked far more effectively than he’d expected it to.
He’s saving “I’m so much better now,” for tomorrow morning’s inevitable inquisition.
The stranger sitting opposite her at the table smiles and nods and scrawls notes on a piece of paper in writing too small for her to read.
“And do you still manage to cook your own dinner?” he asks, eyebrows raised, pen poised.
She remembers chicken, and salty roast potatoes with crispy skins and lashings of gravy made from scratch.
“Oh, yes,” she says, “Oh, yes, of course…”
The invitation comes via email, all capslock flail and exclamation marks. She hits reply with her breath held: Can’t wait, she taps out, her finger-tips numb, I’ll see you there…
Just one more, he mutters to himself. Nods once, firmly, as though the up and down of his chin will make all the difference.
It’s hours later then, and his car keys are twisting, twisting, twisting ‘round his thumb.
“It wasn’t me,” she says, and her little lip pokes out into the pout she’s long ago learned to use to her advantage.
There is paint on her fingers and the yellow footprints across the living room carpet are too big and too small to belong to anyone else.
She is sticking to her story, regardless.
The kiss she falls into is familiar, her hollows following the exact fit of his curves.
“There’s no one else,” she promises, wraps her arms around his neck and shuts her eyes.
“There’s only us…”
*
previously on...
introduction | jayus | the missing stair | in another castle | nobody can ride your back if your back's not bent | build a better mouse-trap | step on a crack, break your mother's back | yes, and... | the recency effect | barrel of monkeys | open topic | confession from the chair | chekhov's gun | a terrible beauty has been born | scare quotes
*
“Everything’s fine,” they tell her.
Somebody repeats it then, with emphasis and a condescending shoulder pat, “I promise you, everything’s fine.”
She’ll discover later it was not the first lie they’d told her.
“I’m good,” he smiles, his teeth clenched together and his lips forced into false cheer.
Yesterday he’d gone with “I’m great,” a last minute decision that had worked far more effectively than he’d expected it to.
He’s saving “I’m so much better now,” for tomorrow morning’s inevitable inquisition.
The stranger sitting opposite her at the table smiles and nods and scrawls notes on a piece of paper in writing too small for her to read.
“And do you still manage to cook your own dinner?” he asks, eyebrows raised, pen poised.
She remembers chicken, and salty roast potatoes with crispy skins and lashings of gravy made from scratch.
“Oh, yes,” she says, “Oh, yes, of course…”
The invitation comes via email, all capslock flail and exclamation marks. She hits reply with her breath held: Can’t wait, she taps out, her finger-tips numb, I’ll see you there…
Just one more, he mutters to himself. Nods once, firmly, as though the up and down of his chin will make all the difference.
It’s hours later then, and his car keys are twisting, twisting, twisting ‘round his thumb.
“It wasn’t me,” she says, and her little lip pokes out into the pout she’s long ago learned to use to her advantage.
There is paint on her fingers and the yellow footprints across the living room carpet are too big and too small to belong to anyone else.
She is sticking to her story, regardless.
The kiss she falls into is familiar, her hollows following the exact fit of his curves.
“There’s no one else,” she promises, wraps her arms around his neck and shuts her eyes.
“There’s only us…”
*
previously on...
introduction | jayus | the missing stair | in another castle | nobody can ride your back if your back's not bent | build a better mouse-trap | step on a crack, break your mother's back | yes, and... | the recency effect | barrel of monkeys | open topic | confession from the chair | chekhov's gun | a terrible beauty has been born | scare quotes