In-between bits

Even though when I first started writing this account of my involvement with Alex the idea was to torture Natasha with every detail of our emotional and sexual interactions it’s difficult to remember when everything took place. Firsts and lasts are always easy to remember, but in betweens get jumbled around so that events and conversations become blurred and broken.

Alex and I talked on the phone a lot and snatched moments with each other whenever we could. We would speak on the phone almost every day, often in rushed snatches and often many times in a day. If Alex didn’t have to rush away for his next lesson though, half an hour would often slip away undetected and I’d walk back into the cold office at Albert Park, where I was working on promotion for a new film, pink-faced as I realized how long I had been away for. We were so different but we got along famously. Alex had so many stories and I never tire of listening to a good story-teller. I’d ask questions and offer opinions or analyses and often Alex would pause a moment and then compliment my maturity. We would debate the value of money. Alex loved to tease me about my sex drive. I got used to him calling me Lily-pily, which I had never allowed anyone else to do, and then just when I’d gotten used to that he started calling me Lano sometimes too, which was even weirder sounding to my ears.

We have so many tiny stories that I never want to forget but am coming close to forgetting already. I can’t remember so much of the mood and context that transforms a series of events into a story. Nevertheless, a list of events is still worth preserving if it’s all you have.

In the week following our first kiss I fell sick with a cold. When I told Alex he offered to come around with medicine and flowers.“Do you like tulips? All girls like tulips.”He asked for my address but was detained that day and didn’t make it. He said he’d send the flowers. They slipped his mind and never arrived. I didn’t mind; they would have caused awkward questions from my family anyway and I had a warm glow purely from his enthusiasm.