AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Polly took another drag of her smoke and turned towards him, dropping her elbows on the table and leaning forward. “So,” she said. “What’s your excuse? Do I really come off as unapproachable?”
“You want to know the truth?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t.”
Chris laughed and shook his head.
“What?” she said.
“You don’t want to know the truth,” he said.
“Yes I do.”
“Then yeah,” Chris said. “You do come off as unapproachable.”
She scoffed and took another drag of her smoke. Her expression was one of disdain. “You men, always afraid to talk to good-looking chicks.”
“It’s not your looks,” he said, the alcohol providing him with the nerve to speak his mind. “It’s your attitude. The way you carry yourself.”
“And how is that?”
“Like you think you’re better than everyone else.”
“I do not!”
“See?” he said, “I knew you didn’t want to hear the truth.”
“But it’s not the truth!” she said, more annoyed than angry. “I don’t think I’m better than everyone else.”
“I’m not saying that you do,” Chris said, dragging on his smoke and blowing the smoke up into the air. “I’m just saying that’s what it seems like. That’s how people perceive it.”
Polly shook her head. “I don’t buy it,” she said. “I think you’re full of shit.”
“You think I’m just making this up as I go along, don’t you?”
She shrugged and took another drag from the cigarette.
Chris laughed humorlessly. “I knew it wasn’t worth the hassle,” he said under his breath.
“What wasn’t?” Polly asked.
“Trying to tell you the truth,” he said. “I knew you wouldn’t hear what I was saying.”
“I hear you,” she said.
“No you don’t. You’re listening but you’re not hearing,” Chris said. “Everything I’m telling you is just going in one ear and out the other. Just as I figured it would.” He pushed the chair back and started to stand. To his surprise, Polly put her hand on his leg.
“Hold on,” Polly said. Her eyes were downcast and she had a pensive look on her face. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll listen. I promise.”
“Really?” Chris said.
She nodded. “I want to know. I want to fix it.”
He thought about it for a moment, then said, “Okay. But not out here. Let’s go inside and have a few more drinks. It’s always easier to talk when you’re drunk.”
Two bottles of wine and an hour later, they were talked out. Polly had been true to her word, listening to everything he had to say. And she’d had a few observations of her own, ones that stung Chris a little bit, but were just as true as the things he’d told her.
All was going extremely well, better than Chris would have ever thought. And then things started going even better.
