697: Still brittle . . .
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 24 concludes
STILL BRITTLE AND BRIGHT, still in Guy’s arms, still in the parking lot where anyone might see them, Ariane said, “Tell me all about it.”
She was surprised to realize that she was teasing and testing him, waiting for him to make a slip, to tell her some lie that she would recognize.
“What?” he said. “Now? I can’t. Tonight. Come on by at eight or so. It’s sure to be a slow night, and I should have everything under control by then. We can have a drink in my room, and talk, and—”
“It’s a date,” she said.
She was acting like a schoolgirl in a movie musical, and she was well aware that she was acting. It was all a fake now, everything between them, and now that she understood that, she was enjoying it. She was playing a part, and he was playing a part, and both were saying things that were not true, suggesting emotions that were not true, putting layers of illusion over the things they actually thought and felt, and Ariane discovered that she liked it that way, for the moment. She liked it just fine. If she had said what she actually felt and thought, she would have told him that he was a simpleton and a thief, and that he wasn’t worthy of her, and if Guy had told her what he actually felt and thought, she would have run home and never returned, but neither of them was going to tell the other anything like the truth, so Ariane was back at Sunrise Cove at a little after eight that night.
Guy was still rushing around, making a show of getting back on top of things after his absence. She stood to one side and watched him work. She knew that at some point he would turn her way and see her there, watching him. When he did, he grinned, and she smiled to let him know what a pleasure it had been to watch him work. It was something he did so well.
“That’s it!” he said, to the various people around him. “I’m beat. Carry on without me until tomorrow.” He threw his hands in the air and began backing away. They let him go, and he came to her.
They ran to his room. They made love. Afterward, Ariane lay against him and spoke into his ear.
“Listen,” she said. “I want to tell you something about me.”
“Mmm,” he said. “Confessions?”
“In a way,” she said. “When I was a girl, I stole things now and then.” She told herself to stay calm, but she didn’t seem to be listening. Her pulse beat in her neck.
“You?” said Guy. He didn’t seem to believe it.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“Because you aren’t the type.”
“Really?”
“No.” He raised himself on his elbow and looked at her. “You might think about it. You might look at something you wanted and think about taking it, but I wouldn’t expect you to do it.”
“Well, I did. Really.”
“Oh, bad girl,” he said, with a wicked grin. “Very bad girl. This calls for a spanking.”
He tried to throw the sheet aside, but she caught it and held it to her.
“Look, this is ridiculous,” she said. The change in her voice made him freeze. “Everything I’ve said is nonsense. I was just making it up. The point is that I found the junk you’ve been stealing, and if I found it anybody else might find it. You’re going to get caught.”
[to be continued]
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, and Where Do You Stop?
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.