Nike sneakers
Bose’s speakers
You’re the best...
money can buy.
“You’re kidding, right?” V chimes in, in his head.
J looks up. She’s not here. But she also...is.
“This is just a draft,” J protests. “I haven’t even made it to the second verse.”
“You’re insulting them.”
“I am not!”
“The best money can buy? You don’t think that’s an insult?”
“Not to them!”
V snort-laughs and sits on the bed. Well, his hallucination of her sits on the bed. It’s not like the bed sags under her weight.
“New York isn’t on her list,” V points out. Then, sarcastically, she adds, “I wonder how it got there?”
“You don’t have to be this way.”
“What way is that?”
J doesn’t want to be having this conversation. Not with an imaginary V. Then again, if she’s imaginary, maybe he can get some imaginary answers.
“Why don’t you love me anymore?” he asks. “Or at least not enough to want to be here right now.”
V looks like he just asked her where she bought her dress. “You don’t want the answer to that question.”
“I do!”
“No, you just want reassurance that I love you.”
“Yes, of course. But I’d still like the answer.”
“I’ve told you multiple times that I’m coming back. I’ve taken great pains to make it clear to you that we aren’t breaking up. Why are you so afraid?”
“You’ve been gone so long.”
V tilts her head to the side. Levels him with a glance.
“You go on tour for months at a time. We’ve never broken up over that. We’ve always managed to reunite. Don’t you think you’re being a little hypocritical?”
“I just don’t understand...”
“What? Tell me.”
“Yes, I’m afraid. I don’t even know why. It’s just...there. And the thing that makes me most afraid is that you don’t seem afraid at all.”
V makes a gesture like she’s putting out a cigarette on the blanket. Then she stands.
“You want me to be afraid,” she says. “That’s fucked up. Now, go back to your stupid sellout song. Although, really, I like it better when you improvise.”
