“No, I was told what my future would be. I wasn’t interested, so I refused to try.”
“Then how did you pass high school?”
“My mother knows the director of my school. And she was a large donor.”
“Ah. And you got into the Sorbonne the same way?”
“No, my mother discovered her influence didn’t stretch that far.”
“So how did you get in?”
“I said my motherwantedme to go to the Sorbonne. I did not say I got in. I, how do you say, flamed up because I did not do well?”
She laughed. “You mean flamed out?”
“Yes. So here we are. The genius and the flame-out. Yes? We say that?”
“Not exactly,” she said, laughing harder.
“How would you say it, then? I ask to improve my English.”
“The Genius and the Loser, but that’s awful and untrue.”
“I love it. As if a reality show.”
“But it doesn’t sound like you wanted to go to the Sorbonne anyway. Whatdoyou want to do?” This was rich coming from Sabine, who had no idea about anything.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. What’s the point of even talking about it?”
“They say we’re on this planet for four thousand weeks,” she said. “You’re not going to waste them shrugging your way through life, are you?”
“I am caught.”
“Really? A guy who’s going to inherit a vineyard, who likes to party, and who drives his new car wherever he wants to? I dunno … Sounds like an easy ride to me.”
Aubin turned back to scraping the shutters. The paint flaked off and fluttered down.
She slumped a bit. “That was awful of me. I’m sorry.”
“No, I should be interested in my own future. Feel grateful. Be happy.”
“That’s a lot of shoulds, which I get, because I’m the same. So just for the sake of argument, what would youwantto do, if you had the choice?”
Aubin eyed her. She tried not to flinch under his gaze.
“Make music,” he said. “I make EDM. Electronic dance music.”
She raised her eyebrows, surprised.
“People aren’t necessarily who you think they are.”
“True,” she said. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“I thought I only had to answer one question!”
Nowsheshrugged. A move that made him grin.
“I could take music, I guess,” he said. “I’d have to improve my marks. Then I’d have to find a university that would take me and my bad history. It would be a lot of work. But then you know all about that.”
