Nothing You've Come To Expect - Alex Turner

3. i reckon i just might have broke the ice

It was Alex.
I almost spat my wine out.
"Oh, hello." He said. He seemed surprised to find somebody there.
"Oh, sorry," I set the book down and got up. I felt embarrassed and guilty; after all, not only he caught me staring at him multiple times, now he found me wandering in his house touching his stuff. "I-...I was just looking for a quiet spot where to hide for a little bit." I explained, nervously.
"You know what? Me too." I couldn't tell if he was amused or annoyed. I noticed, then, that he was carrying an open bottle of wine, almost full, and a glass.
"Oh, ok. I'm gonna go then." I said quickly and picked up my purse.
"You don't have to."
Did he just smile at me?!
"Refill?" He lifted the bottle towards me and raised his eyebrows, in an interrogative expression. Those dark, big eyes in mine. I couldn't sustain the gaze, so I looked at my glass.
"Sure, why not?" I let him fill it. "Thanks."
He sat down on the other side of the couch and crossed his legs, the point of his booth pointing straight at me.
I caught a whiff of his cologne and I felt like the temperature raised of a few degrees.
He took a pack of smokes and a lighter out of his shirt pocket.

"So, what are you hiding from?" He picked a cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth and lit it up.
You. I was trying to hide from you, Turner.
"I don't know, I was getting a little...nervous I guess. I don't know anybody. I just needed some peace and quiet for a moment. A little bit of social anxiety, maybe? What about you?"
"Same, I suppose." He exhaled a cloud of smoke before speaking. "With the exception that I know everybody." Oh, his accent.
He was being ironic and I laughed nervously, fidgeting with the corner of the book sitting next to me.
I wondered why he was feeling like that, in his own house surrounded by his friends. He did seem a little down earlier, like he didn't want to be there. I hoped he was ok.
"What you got there?" he asked.
I handed him the volume. I was curious to know what he thought of it. "It's my favorite novel ever. Did you like it?"
"You know, someone gave it to me but I've never read it."
"Oh no, you should! I think you'd like it. It's a total trip."
"How d'you know that I'd like it?"
"I know enough about you to figure that you would." I said, without thinking. I felt my face changing color. He definitely figured out that I was a fan by that point.

He smiled at me again. I didn't know where to look. My eyes fell on the opening of his shirt. I moved them right away.
"I watched the movie a few times when I was a kid." He commented.
"Oh yeah, me too, and I love it, but forget the movie. The book is on another level, completely. It's incredibly profound and the imagery it creates in your mind is unforgettable. It's poetry. It's a hallucination." I'm gesturing a lot.
"Well I'll give it a try, then." Alex seemed intrigued, looking at me rambling about my favorite book.

"I have a similar copy, back at home. I should have someone send it to me."
"Where's home?" he asked. I watched him as he ran a hand through his dark hair, pulling it back. I wished I could do the same; It was longish and wavy and fell beautifully behind his ears and neck.
"Italy"
"Oh, cool. Una Italiana."
"Sì! I moved here only a few years ago."
"Oh, and what compelled you to move this far from home?"
"Love."
"Mmh. Is that so?" He asked as he put off his cigarette in the ashtray.
"Then love has gone, but I stayed." I explained.
"And where did love go?"
"It went...to somebody younger and prettier than me....a month after he proposed." I laughed sarcastically.
"Mmh. Wow! What a fool. Hats off to the dickhead, tho, for finding somebody prettier; it seems like a 'mission impossible' to me."
What?
"Oh, pfft. That wouldn't be very difficult."
"No, no, no. I wholeheartedly disagree with you, ..." he showed me the palm of his hand, inviting me to tell him my name.
"Anna."
Wait, is he flirting with me? Or is he just being nice?
I think I lost some brain cells during that exchange.
"Anna..." he repeated, slowly, making an effort to pronounce the double N in the correct way.
I visibly gulped.