Lolita's Perception

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎

Thursday: June 10th |1947|
"Hummy...have you ever been married?"
I curiously wondered, glancing up at Hum as I sat comfortably upon his knee. We were getting closer.

It was a sunny, rain drenched Sunday morning. As a dreamy tropical tune played from the transit radio beside Humbert's fold-out sofa, and heavy raindrops pelted the thin window panes, the two of us sat together in his lightly cluttered, yet intensely organized study. All alone.

"Yes. Once, a long time ago." he replied, not bothering to look up as he tapped away on his typewriter.

"How long ago?"

"Well, let's see—we were married on January 2nd, of 1935."

"You're kidding..."

"No, why?"

"That's exactly a day after I was born—same year, and everything!"

Upon hearing that, Humbert smiled. It was an strange flash of a smile: gone in the blink of an eye.

"I'll have to mark that down on my calendar..." he remarked, taking a small leather pocketbook out of the locked drawer of his desk. He then wrote something down real quick, before slipping the little black pocketbook right back from where he got it, and locking up the drawer.

"That wasn't a calendar!" I exclaimed, a soft laugh escaping my lips as my head rolled back against his shoulder.

"No, but it is a place where I write down certain things."

"What sorta things?"

"Certain things in which I find to be particularly important..."

"Like what?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"No fair!" I exclaimed, turning to face him. Just a couple more inches, and I'd be in his lap. "How come you keep it all locked up, hmm?"

Humbert's eyes darted about the room, as if he was getting caught with some sort of awful secret. It didn't last very long, though, as a smile slowly grew across his face, and he began to relentlessly tickle at my sides.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing; squirming around and around in his lap as his fingertips swept across my stomach, gradually landing at the waistband of my shorts. I held my breath in anticipation, watching as his muscular, vein streaked hands moved across my bare skin, exposed by something so innocent: a butterfly summer halter top.

"Exactly where is this coming from all the sudden?" he asked; all the while, his fingers moved in gentle, circular caresses that landed just below my hipbones.

"Oh, I'm not sure..." I dreamily remarked. "I've never really thought about weddings before, but they're sort of a wonderful thing—just elegant—don't you think?"

Humbert chuckled, stroking his thumb across my cheek as he softly spoke.

"I suppose I do,"

"So what ever happened to your wife?" I asked, brimming with curiosity.

"I'd rather not discuss it."

I gave a quick shrug, before turning and wrapping both my legs around him. "You ever wanna get married again?"

"Is that some sort of proposal?"

"No, you dull bulb! I'm just curious..."

"Well, if it were, I'd take you up on that offer in a minute."

A smile instantly grew across my face. Without a second of hesitation, I hugged him tightly from around the shoulders, burying my face within both the back of his neck and silken ebony hair as I softly whispered. "You'd really marry me?"