Page 17 of Pierced

“Monsieur Chevalier? Will you be returning to your table?” an approaching busboy asks.

I glance at where Myrtle and… what’s her name… are taking a seat. My table faces them directly. I could sit there and stare at them. Or stare at her. I could try to get her to pay attention to me. Not because I need the attention, but because… because… because…

“Monsieur? Your table? Will you be returning to finish your meal?”

“No, no. I think I’m done.”

CHAPTER FIVE - MYRTLE

“By the way, I haven’t told you yet, but I love your name.”

“Oh.” I smile at Pearl. “Well, thank you. Yours is exquisite as well.”

“When I was a kid I hated my name. It was so awful. People called me Grandma all the time. I suppose you got that too.”

“I’m sorry? What?”

“People, you know. Making fun of your stuffy name?”

I pause, honestly considering this. “No. Never. I didn’t have friends. Or enemies, for that matter. I grew up in a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania. Just outside Philadelphia. My mother was the school librarian.”

“Of course she was,” Pearl laughs. “That makes total sense.”

“Does it?” I ask.

“Yes, well, you have a… librarian thing going on, right?”

I look down at my sheer lace blouse. “This doesn’t say ‘librarian’.”

“No,” Pearl says. “It’s not your clothes. Well, it kinda is. It’s your hair, maybe. The bun.”

I pat my head. “It’s a French twist.”

“Right,” Pearl says. “Sorry, of course it is. But the pencil skirts—”

“Not librarian. My mother never wore a pencil skirt.”

“No, you’re right. I’m trying to tell you that you’re… you know. Sexy. In that sexy-librarian-slash-secretary way.”

I raise my chin and then give her one nod. “OK. I’ll accept that.”

And then she winks and says, “Dominatrix way too.”

“Exactly,” I say, smiling. “That is the look I’m going for, so I’m very happy you picked up on it.”

“Myrtle, everyone is picking up on it. You’re going to rock this class so hard, the whole TDH will think we’re having an earthquake. By the way, who was that man you were talking to? One of your subs?” She winks at me.

“Not yet,” I say, glancing over where Pierce was standing. “But he will be.”

Pearl snickers.

“He’s my boss.”

“What?”

“Yes. And he owes me. So he’s decided to take my class. In fact,” I say, pulling my brilliant revenge plan into something more coherent. Something more diabolical. I like Pearl. I could get used to her being around. And I’m OK with community center classes too. But only as a vehicle to deliver my revenge on Pierce.

That thought is so delicious, I almost snicker.