Wild Bastard

23

"More like a drink. It was a lousy day" I shrug, so as not to give the guy any more reason to think I am interested in him.

I take another sip and wince.

Matthew takes the bottle from me and does the same thing.

"Yeeeah" He sighs, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from somewhere and lights one.

"Give me" I reach for the pack, but he deftly hides it behind him and holds the cigarette out to my mouth.

I meet his misty eyes, which slid across my face in a peculiarly slow way. A familiar but no less sharp shiver overcame my body, making me swallow loudly. Under an inexplicable hypnosis, I open my lips and let myself do what he wants.

I wrap the cigarette and inhale. I let the smoke go up, and I get an approving smile in return.

"Why did you come to the bar?"

"To see you"

"Can I have my scarf back?"

I carefully watch the reaction on the guy's face. Matthew clenches his teeth and turns away, staring into the watery surface of the pool. He takes a deep breath of smoke and noisily blows out a gray cloud.

"How long have you had it?"

"Almost ten years. Why?"

A few seconds of lingering silence. Matvey turns, and then a familiar thing appears in his hands. I hadn't noticed that it was lying next to him.

" It was my older sister's scarf."

This kind of news makes my nerve endings go right up to my skin.

"What makes you think that?"

"My father gave her things to charity about four years after she died."

The hoarse voice breaks on the last word. Wow. Is there such a thing as a coincidence?

"Maybe it's not hers. There are a lot of the same things in the world"

"It's hers. It was custom-made. Our mother gave it to her for her 15th birthday. Evelyn chose the design herself, the fabric. She drew a sketch."

I feel uncomfortable. For so many years I've worn a scarf, connected in the most direct way with Matthew and his family. It's crazy.

"It's very beautiful" I say, watching as he runs his thumb reverently over the thing. "I remember seeing it out of the huge pile of things piled out of boxes. I wasn't even ten yet, but I clung to it, not wanting to give it to anyone. The older girls wanted to shove idiotic pink dresses at me, but I ran back to my room and hid it under my pillow so that no one would take it away from me."

Matt turns his face toward me and smiles sadly.

"You have good taste, Reenah"

I don't know if it's the right time to ask, but I feel like he's more open than ever, so I'll take my chances.

"Lana told me that Evelyn crashed her car..."

"Yeah, that's what it was for everyone."

"For everyone? And in reality?"

The cigarette is back on my lips. I take an obedient drag, then take the bottle again and take a few sips of the scalding liquid. The lines begin to blur slowly, because my body hasn't even had a decent dinner. The burger I ate at eight o'clock has long been digested.

"Are you sure you want to hear the tale of our family, Reenah?"

"Yeah. You may be a jerk, but something tells me you need a companion now more than anyone else"