ANTIQUE DUNCAN PHYFE TABLES

Drinking. 3

Hien's apartment was just outside downtown. It was much further than the rest of ours. It was a quiet neighborhood without any stores or distinguishable features. There were only houses, apartment buildings, and street lights. She pulled her coat around her shoulders and all three of us got out to escort her to the door. We walked up the stoop as if we were stepping through a shallow river so as not to alert the landlady whose room faced the street. I noticed a “No Smoking” sign posted on the metal gate. Next to it was a “Beware of Dog” sign.
“There's no dogs though,” Hien said when she saw me looking at it. “Do you any of you need some water or need to use the bathroom?”
“I do,” I said.
“I'm alright. I'll wait in the car for you,” Dave said.

Hien lived in the master bedroom. I followed her shadow down the hall. The blue glow of a TV leaked out into the hallway from the first door on the right. “That's the land lady's room. She's a bitch. I don’t like her,” Hien whispered over her shoulder. I kicked a box as we we walked through a set of French doors. It made an audible crump. “I'm sorry, the place is still a mess.” She flicked the light switch.

There were clothes piled up on one side of a queen sized bed. In the corners of the room were cardboard boxes full with clothes. Papers were scrawled across an L shaped computer table and hid a laptop and a Wacom tablet. On the shelf above them was a set of prints I had sent her a long time ago as a birthday gift.
“Somethings never change. It even smells like your dorm.”
“Not even. Bathroom's over there,” she said. She threw her coat onto the bed and stood in front of her chair with her hands clasped to her forehead and her bangs shoved up out of the way. She looked as if she had been working all night, “God. What time is it?”
“It's almost four. Should I take my shoes off?”
“It's okay. Don't worry about it.”

She was sitting in front of her computer when I came out. I sat down on her bed and looked at my watch. It was exactly four. If Emily was awake, she'd be upset. I withdrew my cell phone from my coat pocket and checked for missed calls. There was only a message from Dave, “Should I go?” it said. I put it back into my pockets and left my hands in them.
“What are you going to do the rest of the night or morning? I know you're not going to work. You just wanted to come home.”
“Get online. Then probably go to bed.” She rotated her chair around to face me. She had changed into a red Bjork t-shirt and blue pajama bottoms that had pattern of clodus. The black dress she wore earlier was hung over a bed post next to me. I took my hands out of my pockets and set my palms on top of the duvet. It felt like brand new suede.

I waited.

“I guess I should head home,” I said.
“You should.” I stood up and walked to the edge of the door. “It was nice seeing you. Good night.”
“Me too.Good night.”

“So what's up?” Dave said.
“Nothing.” I buckled my seat belt.
He drove me home.


“You smell like alcohol,” Emily mumbled. I had stripped down to my boxers and was laying in bed. She appeared to be sleeping when I came in. Her breathing was shallow and I was watching the side of her body climb up and down in the dull light. A silver line that bent around her shoulders and the folds of the linen sheets that were tucked underneath her armpit. The blinds and window were open. Birds were making their morning calls from a distance. The sun would be coming up in an hour or so.

I showered in the bathroom downstairs so I didn't wake her up. I brushed my teeth and shaved. I was about to put on after shave but decided not to in the end. I thought I was going to work but I was just going to bed. I noticed a lone line across my the middle of my forehead. I always had it. I couldn't remember when I didn't. It looked deeper than it use to be. I inched up to the mirror and raised my eyebrows and observed the valley that formed in my skin. I moved my fingertip across it.


“I love you baby.” I pursed my lips around her upper lip and pulled back softly. “Hey...,” she said with her eyes closed. It grew silent, the birds stopped. It was a sudden vacuum of sound. I reached underneath the sheet and set my hand between her legs, my palm rested at the top edge of her left thigh. I lifted my forefinger and pivoted it back and forth, brushing her with the side of my knuckle. “What's gotten into you,” she breathed.
“I just missed you.”

All systems go!