Our Reflection

35• Such A Pretty Face, Such Surrow Eyes

Marjorie Blossom POV

Golden Road Brewing was a busy pub on W San Fernando Road and received all kinds of audiences, from young teenagers to adults like me, my husband and their 40s friends. 

Tyler was turning forty and entered the club that his teammates called "The Old Foxes". 

I always thought it was the most ridiculous thing in the world, but I didn't have the courage to tell him and end his partial happiness, besides, I would not gain anything by telling him that The Old Foxes were married men who lost all their youthful charm and if not able to sexually abuse little girls. 

"So, Marjorie, how are things at the bank?  Taking care of my money?!"

Patrick Steinlop, one of Tyler's oldest friends, took me out of my self hypnosis. 

I always noticed how funny that man was to watch;  weighing just over a hundred and twenty kilos, Patrick did not have much height to distribute them, he was only six feet tall. 

He wore gold-rimmed glasses and the lenses were so absurd that they increased the size of his eyes, making him look like an obese owl. 

He had no more hair, just a few tufts on the sides of his head and some hair showing on his nose and ears. It did make me sick. 

"Don't worry, Big P, your money is safe."

I said without much desire and opened a loose smile. 

The fat man stared at me with his owl eyes, studying my low-cut bust. 

This was a big problem with all of Tyler's friends, they didn't care that my husband was right there, they always ate me with their eyes. 

There were countless times when I caught a parallel conversation between them, saying how lucky they would be if they managed to eat my sister and me at the same time. 

Cheryl. Her name passed through my subconscious and I smiled pleasantly and jealously, imagining that she would be flying over some beautiful place right now, accompanied by the students at Château Topaz, along with Melissa, Toni and Veronica. 

I thought about how much fun to be with all those people and, in billiard hours, they would be altered for a bunch of Europeans who are often just there to say that they have heard classical music one day. 

"You are so distant, what happened?"

I turned to face Tyler's eyes and stroked his cheek, feeling a tightness in his chest. 

"You miss Mel, don't you?"

"Yes ... yes, that's it. I can't stop thinking about her."

"Don't worry, she's fine."

"I know that, but it's just ..."

"Joshua! I can't believe you came!"

Tyler cut off my speech to greet a man who looked like he came out of an advertisement for jeans or branded perfume. 

He had black hair, but he has already changed some gray strands that gave him a unique charm. 

The stubble gave him a few more years, but I doubt that it bothered anyone. 

Joshua hugged Tyler tightly and they both laughed out loud, drawing the attention of some present on the Golden Road, who now enjoyed a well-known song that had started playing on the speakers scattered around the pub. 

"I couldn't help coming, Ty. "

The man sat across from me and my body shuddered when I recognized him.