Part 12: link
Gwen tells him the seterusnya night. Already wrung out from trying to explain why she’s leaving to both her morning and afternoon students, she decides to get it all out of the way right away, like tearing a bandage off.
Because she really doesn’t have much time.
“Elyan, I need to talk to you,” Gwen says after supper. Tonight she willingly cooked for him, deciding to try and ply him with her good cooking before dropping a nuclear bomb on him.
“What about?” Elyan asks.
“I’m… I’m movin’.”
“Oh. Um, okay. Don’t want to live above your brother anymore? I won’t ask anda to cook makan malam, sister for me so much…”
“I’m movin’ away, Elyan. Out of Memphis,” she interrupts quietly.
“What?”
“I’m fixin’ to alih up north. With… with Arthur.”
“What?”
“We want to get married.”
Elyan leaps to his feet, nearly toppling his chair. “You knocked up? So help me, if he got anda pregnant, I am gon’ kill him,” he fumes, starting for the door as he talks, his hands balled into tight fists. “I don’t care, he’s gon’ die…”
“Elyan Thomas, anda come back here and sit your butt down this instant!” Gwen yells, her voice indignant.
Elyan stops in his tracks. She sounds just like Mama used to. He turns around and comes back to the table, watching her standing there, fists on her hips and api, kebakaran in her eyes. He meekly sits.
“Is that the kind of girl anda think I am? anda think I’m the kind of girl who’d just open her legs for some white man – any man, for that matter – just ’cause he’s handsome and he talks pretty? Is that what anda think of me?” She is yelling full-tilt now.
“Uh—”
“You are my brother, Elyan, anda know that’s not how Mama and Daddy raised us! Even so, I thought anda knew me better than that!”
“So you’re not pregnant?” he asks, his voice very small.
“I am not even gonna dignify that soalan with an answer,” Gwen huffs. “Honestly, Elyan. Is that really what anda think of me?”
“No.”
“Then why was it the first thing anda thought of? atau do anda have somethin’ to confess yourself?”
“No!” his eyes grow wide. “Toya and me ain’t even…” he trails off. “I don’t know why it was the first thing that came to mind.”
“I thought anda liked Arthur now.” She sits again.
“I do. I just wasn’t expectin’… When did this happen?” He’s gone from furious to perplexed.
“When did what happen?”
“You and him. anda been sneakin’ around somewhere?”
“No! I don’t know exactly when atau exactly how. It just did. Then the trial ended, and we both realized – separately – that the thought of never seein’ each other again was… unacceptable.”
“Unacceptable?” Elyan raises his eyebrows.
“Heartbreaking,” Gwen admits. She looks at her brother. “I Cinta him, Elyan. And he loves me. He wants to marry me. We can’t do that here.”
“So you’re gon’ leave me here all alone to go be with Mr. Charlie?” he asks, but he is smiling just a little now.
“You could… come with us. I’m sure people need things fixed and built in Milwaukee.”
“Milwaukee? Why Milwaukee?”
“Arthur has kin there,” she shrugs. “And coloreds and whites can get married there, too.”
“Convenient. But no, I ain’t gonna come with y’all and be no third wheel.”
“I didn’t think anda would. ’Specially considerin’ Latoya’s here.”
Elyan looks down at his hands.
“I do like her, Elyan. Don’t mess it up.”
“Gwen, this ain’t about me and Toya,” Elyan says, looking back up at her. “Who’s gon’ look after me?”
“Elyan,” she says, putting her hand over his, “you’re a grown man. Time to start actin’ like one. anda don’t need me around to keep an eye on anda and make anda supper.”
“I know,” he admits.
“Toya can do that now. If you’ll let her.”
He smiles finally. “When anda leavin’?”
“Saturday.”
“This Saturday?”
Gwen nods. “I’m gonna need anda to send my things after. Merlin will help you. He’s got all the information. anda won’t even need to pay nothin’. Arthur’s got an account set up with the UPS.”
“Oh, Mr. Charlie has money, then?”
“Yes,” Gwen admits with a heavy sigh. “Turns out he’s got money comin’ out o’ his ears. His Mama left him a big, fat trust fund.”
“Oh, so you’re marryin’ him for his money. I can understand that,” Elyan teases.
“Yes, Elyan, I’m marryin’ him for money I didn’t even know he had until after I’d already decided I was gon’ marry him,” she says, rolling her eyes at him.
“What am I gon’ do with this house?” Elyan asks then.
“Well, it’s paid for now. Do whatever anda want. I’m sure anda could find someone to rent the apartment once my stuff is out. atau I know you’ve always thought about convertin’ it to a one-family house. Do that. Make it a nice utama for anda and, oh, maybe Toya. Who knows?”
“I might do that,” he muses.
“So we have your blessing?” Gwen asks. “I mean, not that I need it, anda know I’m gonna do what I want regardless. It’d just be easier knowin’ you’re not gon’ be a… a jive-ass turkey about all this.”
“Just… call me when anda get to Milwaukee,” he says. Gwen jumps up and pulls her brother to his feet and hugs him tightly.
xXx
“Hello?” Arthur jawapan after just a couple rings.
“Hey,” Gwen says. “I told him.”
“Well, you’re alive, that’s good. Do I need to double-lock my doors? atau call Jim and have him send squads past at regular intervals?” he asks.
“No, you’re not in danger. He’s all right, I think. Now, anyway.”
“Was it bad?”
“He accused me of being pregnant.”
Arthur pauses. “We may hear that soalan a lot, Guinevere. Just to warn you. I mean, I know that anda would never… um… but other people…”
“But my own brother? It hurt.”
“I’m sorry, Guinevere.”
“Thank you. And I did let him have it with both barrels about that, too.”
“That’s my girl,” Arthur says, smiling. “Guinevere, is Elyan utama tonight?”
“So far,” she answers.
“Do anda think it’d be all right if I came sejak and talked to him myself? anda know, man to man? Let him know that my intentions are honorable?”
“Um—”
“Yes, I know he’s your younger brother, but he’s also the only family you’ve got left, and…”
“Arthur,” Gwen interrupts him.
“Hmm?”
“I think he would appreciate the gesture. I’ll go down and make sure he stays home.”
“Thank you. I’ll be over in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Gwen says, her hand reaching up to check her hair now.
“Oh, and Guinevere? I Cinta you.”
“I Cinta you, too, Arthur,” she says, smiling.
xXx
It took longer than the promised ten minutes, but Arthur eventually came knocking. When she saw the 12-pack of Budweiser in his hand, she knew what had kept him.
“Arthur…” she says, shaking her head at him.
“Peace offering,” he explains as he walks inside. Gwen is tempted to peek out the door to see if anyone’s looking, but decides against it. That would only look lebih suspicious.
“That might actually work,” she says. He leans in to give her a kiss.
“No,” she whispers. “I want to, but not now.”
“Right,” he nods, a little disappointed, but he understands.
“Elyan, Arthur’s here,” Gwen says, leading Arthur into the living room.
“I figured that when I heard the door,” Elyan says. Gwen switches the Televisyen off.
“I’ll leave anda two to talk,” she says.
“Are anda going upstairs?” Elyan asks.
“Yes. So behave yourself,” she says pointedly at Elyan. As she walks out the door, she hears Arthur clear his throat.
“Beer?” Arthur pulls a bottle from the box and offers it.
Elyan gives him a sideways look, but then takes the bottle. “Thanks.” He reaches over to a side meja, jadual and produces a bottle opener. He opens his bottle and then passes the opener to Arthur.
“Thanks.”
Both men take long drinks from their bottles, each waiting for the other to speak first.
“So…”
“Um…”
Arthur sets his bir down. “Elyan, I Cinta your sister.”
Elyan nods. “She told me.”
“Well, I do. I know it’s not smart and it’s not selamat, peti deposit keselamatan and it’s not even legal, really, but I do. I want to marry her, and she says she wants to marry me. It would really mean a lot to both of us if anda were okay with it.”
“You ain’t askin’ for my blessin’,” Elyan says.
“No, I ain’t. anda and I both know that Guinevere’s gonna do what she wants to do regardless of what either of us says,” Arthur says, chuckling. “I’m simply askin’ that anda accept me as Guinevere’s choice.”
“I Cinta my sister,” Elyan says.
“I know. That’s why it’s important to her that you’re okay with all this.”
“I do want her to be happy.” He takes another long pull from his bottle.
“Elyan, I promise anda that I will make her happy. We ain’t foolish enough to think that movin’ north’s gonna solve all our problems. I can’t promise anda that other people won’t make her unhappy. All I can promise is that I will make her happy and if others upset her, I’ll be there to dry her tears atau hold her hand atau punch someone out, whatever she needs.”
Elyan nods again and takes another drink, draining his bottle. He reaches for another. “Can I ask why?”
“Why what?”
“Why her? I mean, I know she’s special; she’s my big sister. But you’re a handsome rich white boy lawyer. anda could have any gal anda wanted, man, how is it anda fell for a poor colored girl?”
Arthur ponders his bottle, picking at the label with his fingernails. “I don’t see it that way at all,” he says finally, finishing his bir and reaching for another.
“You don’t?”
“Uh-uh,” Arthur shakes his head. “The only thing anda berkata that I agree with is that Guinevere is special. And that she’s your big sister. Just because I could get any gal doesn’t mean I want just any gal. Hell, I recently learned that the receptionist at my office has been makin’ eyes at me for months. I didn’t even notice! And that was goin’ on before I even met Guinevere.”
“She pretty?”
“Yeah, I guess, if anda like that type,” Arthur shrugs.
“What type is that?”
“She looks like one o’ them Barbie dolls. And she’s almost as smart as one.”
Elyan chuckles. “You still ain’t answered my question.”
“Why do I Cinta Guinevere?”
Elyan nods.
“I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s… genuine. Real. Like… anda know that she ain’t puttin’ on a front atau bein’ who she thinks anda want her to be. She’s herself, all the time. And she’s smart. She’s also the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“Strongest?”
“Well, yeah. The way she still made it through college, graduatin’ with honors, even, while takin’ care of anda and your dad, and right after your mama died? I would have just pulled the blankets over my head and telah diberi up.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Elyan says. “But you’re right. I don’t know how she did it. Me and Daddy… we fell apart when mama died. Gwen held us together. And still did good enough in school to keep her scholarship.”
“She’s also beautiful and kind,” Arthur says. “Sings like an angel. And I’ve heard she’s a good cook, too, though I haven’t gotten to sample any o’ her cookin’. Yet.”
“You gon’ get fat, Arthur,” Elyan says, laughing.
“You ain’t.”
“I grew up on it,” Elyan shrugs, as if that explains everything. He puts the saat bottle aside, now empty, and reaches for a third.
“All I know is Monday night, when she left, I thought my life was going to end because I didn’t know how I’d get to see her again. The very idea of not seein’ her again felt like a pisau in my heart.”
“She berkata kinda the same thing,” Elyan admits.
“Did she?”
“Don’t go gettin’ all eager lookin’ there. But yes, she did.”
Arthur chuckles and cracks his third bottle.
xXx
Gwen looks up from her book, hearing a noise. Is Arthur still here? I don’t think I heard him leave. She slides out of bed, glancing at the clock. 11:33. She looks out the window. Arthur’s car is still parked outside.
A thump. Male laughter. They’re drunk. Arthur needs to go home. He can’t sleep here. She sighs and pulls some clothes on, just a pair of Capris and a shirt, and heads downstairs.
“Guinevere!” Arthur’s face breaks into a bleary grin when she appears.
“Arthur, I think anda need to go home,” she says, speaking like she is addressing one of her five-year-old students. One of her naughty five-year-old students.
“But we were gon’… what were we gon’ do?” Elyan asks, his face crumpling in confusion.
“We were… oh yeah. I was gon’ teach anda how to play poker…” Arthur slurs.
Shaking her head, she walks over. “You both have to work tomorrow, and I got things to do, too. Elyan,” she hoists her brother to his feet and points him towards his bedroom, “go to bed.”
“Aw, Gwennie…” he complains, letting her gently push him to his room. Arthur is giggling on the sofa behind them. “Put your damn shoes on, Arthur,” she shoots over her shoulder.
Once she’s gotten Elyan onto his bed, she heads back out. “Come on, baby, I’ll drive anda home,” she says softly, lifting Arthur sejak his elbow.
“Baby…” he repeats, grinning. “You called me baby…”
“Yes, I did, now alih those feet.”
“’Kay.”
She moves with purpose, businesslike and proper, bundling him into her car.
“Wait, this ain’t my car…”
“No, it’s mine,” Gwen says, starting the engine and pulling out.
“How am I gon’ get my car?”
“You should have thought of that before anda came to my house with a case o’ beer. And mind that hand o’ yours don’t go no higher,” she says, his hand having found her knee as soon as she sat. It’s been creeping higher as she drives.
“Oh…” is all he can think to say.
“Maybe Merlin will take pity on anda and drive your sorry tail back over here to collect your car tomorrow.”
“You could…”
“I could not and anda know it. It’s enough I’m drivin’ anda utama now.”
Arthur closes his eyes and leans his head back. “Elyan likes me again.”
“Good. Don’t fall asleep.”
“’M not sleepin’…”
Gwen just sighs. At least he’s an affectionate drunk, not a mean one. He’s actually kind of silly.
A short time later, she pulls up in front of Arthur’s building, helps him out of the car and up the steps.
“Key,” she holds her hand out.
“’Sin my pocket,” he says, grinning at her and angling his hip toward her suggestively.
“All right, then, please take it out of your pocket and I will unlock your door for you,” she says calmly, again using her kindergarten-teacher voice.
“No fun at all…” he mutters, shoulders slumping as he digs into his pocket and puts a key ring in her hand. “That one,” he points, poking his finger into her palm.
Gwen bites back her laughter at him as she unlocks the door and helps him up the stairs, where she unlocks his apartment door.
“Goodnight, Arthur,” she says, placing the keys on the coffee table.
“You’re not goin’ to tuck me in?” he asks, pouting.
“Arthur, it’s midnight. And I shouldn’t even be here.” Again. She looks around and suddenly notices that he’s been busier packing than she has. Of course, he has lebih things than I do.
“Please? I’ll behave…”
“I doubt it,” she says, but relents, taking his arm again and heading to a short hallway.
“This way,” he points.
She takes him into his room and sets him on his katil after pulling the covers back, pulling his shoes from his feet. “That’s all I’m doin’. anda can take the rest off yourself atau sleep in your clothes.”
“Okay,” he says, still pouting slightly, but he is falling asleep already.
Gwen covers him up and kisses his forehead. “Goodnight,” she whispers to him.
“’Night,” he mumbles. “Love you…”
Part 14: link
Gwen tells him the seterusnya night. Already wrung out from trying to explain why she’s leaving to both her morning and afternoon students, she decides to get it all out of the way right away, like tearing a bandage off.
Because she really doesn’t have much time.
“Elyan, I need to talk to you,” Gwen says after supper. Tonight she willingly cooked for him, deciding to try and ply him with her good cooking before dropping a nuclear bomb on him.
“What about?” Elyan asks.
“I’m… I’m movin’.”
“Oh. Um, okay. Don’t want to live above your brother anymore? I won’t ask anda to cook makan malam, sister for me so much…”
“I’m movin’ away, Elyan. Out of Memphis,” she interrupts quietly.
“What?”
“I’m fixin’ to alih up north. With… with Arthur.”
“What?”
“We want to get married.”
Elyan leaps to his feet, nearly toppling his chair. “You knocked up? So help me, if he got anda pregnant, I am gon’ kill him,” he fumes, starting for the door as he talks, his hands balled into tight fists. “I don’t care, he’s gon’ die…”
“Elyan Thomas, anda come back here and sit your butt down this instant!” Gwen yells, her voice indignant.
Elyan stops in his tracks. She sounds just like Mama used to. He turns around and comes back to the table, watching her standing there, fists on her hips and api, kebakaran in her eyes. He meekly sits.
“Is that the kind of girl anda think I am? anda think I’m the kind of girl who’d just open her legs for some white man – any man, for that matter – just ’cause he’s handsome and he talks pretty? Is that what anda think of me?” She is yelling full-tilt now.
“Uh—”
“You are my brother, Elyan, anda know that’s not how Mama and Daddy raised us! Even so, I thought anda knew me better than that!”
“So you’re not pregnant?” he asks, his voice very small.
“I am not even gonna dignify that soalan with an answer,” Gwen huffs. “Honestly, Elyan. Is that really what anda think of me?”
“No.”
“Then why was it the first thing anda thought of? atau do anda have somethin’ to confess yourself?”
“No!” his eyes grow wide. “Toya and me ain’t even…” he trails off. “I don’t know why it was the first thing that came to mind.”
“I thought anda liked Arthur now.” She sits again.
“I do. I just wasn’t expectin’… When did this happen?” He’s gone from furious to perplexed.
“When did what happen?”
“You and him. anda been sneakin’ around somewhere?”
“No! I don’t know exactly when atau exactly how. It just did. Then the trial ended, and we both realized – separately – that the thought of never seein’ each other again was… unacceptable.”
“Unacceptable?” Elyan raises his eyebrows.
“Heartbreaking,” Gwen admits. She looks at her brother. “I Cinta him, Elyan. And he loves me. He wants to marry me. We can’t do that here.”
“So you’re gon’ leave me here all alone to go be with Mr. Charlie?” he asks, but he is smiling just a little now.
“You could… come with us. I’m sure people need things fixed and built in Milwaukee.”
“Milwaukee? Why Milwaukee?”
“Arthur has kin there,” she shrugs. “And coloreds and whites can get married there, too.”
“Convenient. But no, I ain’t gonna come with y’all and be no third wheel.”
“I didn’t think anda would. ’Specially considerin’ Latoya’s here.”
Elyan looks down at his hands.
“I do like her, Elyan. Don’t mess it up.”
“Gwen, this ain’t about me and Toya,” Elyan says, looking back up at her. “Who’s gon’ look after me?”
“Elyan,” she says, putting her hand over his, “you’re a grown man. Time to start actin’ like one. anda don’t need me around to keep an eye on anda and make anda supper.”
“I know,” he admits.
“Toya can do that now. If you’ll let her.”
He smiles finally. “When anda leavin’?”
“Saturday.”
“This Saturday?”
Gwen nods. “I’m gonna need anda to send my things after. Merlin will help you. He’s got all the information. anda won’t even need to pay nothin’. Arthur’s got an account set up with the UPS.”
“Oh, Mr. Charlie has money, then?”
“Yes,” Gwen admits with a heavy sigh. “Turns out he’s got money comin’ out o’ his ears. His Mama left him a big, fat trust fund.”
“Oh, so you’re marryin’ him for his money. I can understand that,” Elyan teases.
“Yes, Elyan, I’m marryin’ him for money I didn’t even know he had until after I’d already decided I was gon’ marry him,” she says, rolling her eyes at him.
“What am I gon’ do with this house?” Elyan asks then.
“Well, it’s paid for now. Do whatever anda want. I’m sure anda could find someone to rent the apartment once my stuff is out. atau I know you’ve always thought about convertin’ it to a one-family house. Do that. Make it a nice utama for anda and, oh, maybe Toya. Who knows?”
“I might do that,” he muses.
“So we have your blessing?” Gwen asks. “I mean, not that I need it, anda know I’m gonna do what I want regardless. It’d just be easier knowin’ you’re not gon’ be a… a jive-ass turkey about all this.”
“Just… call me when anda get to Milwaukee,” he says. Gwen jumps up and pulls her brother to his feet and hugs him tightly.
xXx
“Hello?” Arthur jawapan after just a couple rings.
“Hey,” Gwen says. “I told him.”
“Well, you’re alive, that’s good. Do I need to double-lock my doors? atau call Jim and have him send squads past at regular intervals?” he asks.
“No, you’re not in danger. He’s all right, I think. Now, anyway.”
“Was it bad?”
“He accused me of being pregnant.”
Arthur pauses. “We may hear that soalan a lot, Guinevere. Just to warn you. I mean, I know that anda would never… um… but other people…”
“But my own brother? It hurt.”
“I’m sorry, Guinevere.”
“Thank you. And I did let him have it with both barrels about that, too.”
“That’s my girl,” Arthur says, smiling. “Guinevere, is Elyan utama tonight?”
“So far,” she answers.
“Do anda think it’d be all right if I came sejak and talked to him myself? anda know, man to man? Let him know that my intentions are honorable?”
“Um—”
“Yes, I know he’s your younger brother, but he’s also the only family you’ve got left, and…”
“Arthur,” Gwen interrupts him.
“Hmm?”
“I think he would appreciate the gesture. I’ll go down and make sure he stays home.”
“Thank you. I’ll be over in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Gwen says, her hand reaching up to check her hair now.
“Oh, and Guinevere? I Cinta you.”
“I Cinta you, too, Arthur,” she says, smiling.
xXx
It took longer than the promised ten minutes, but Arthur eventually came knocking. When she saw the 12-pack of Budweiser in his hand, she knew what had kept him.
“Arthur…” she says, shaking her head at him.
“Peace offering,” he explains as he walks inside. Gwen is tempted to peek out the door to see if anyone’s looking, but decides against it. That would only look lebih suspicious.
“That might actually work,” she says. He leans in to give her a kiss.
“No,” she whispers. “I want to, but not now.”
“Right,” he nods, a little disappointed, but he understands.
“Elyan, Arthur’s here,” Gwen says, leading Arthur into the living room.
“I figured that when I heard the door,” Elyan says. Gwen switches the Televisyen off.
“I’ll leave anda two to talk,” she says.
“Are anda going upstairs?” Elyan asks.
“Yes. So behave yourself,” she says pointedly at Elyan. As she walks out the door, she hears Arthur clear his throat.
“Beer?” Arthur pulls a bottle from the box and offers it.
Elyan gives him a sideways look, but then takes the bottle. “Thanks.” He reaches over to a side meja, jadual and produces a bottle opener. He opens his bottle and then passes the opener to Arthur.
“Thanks.”
Both men take long drinks from their bottles, each waiting for the other to speak first.
“So…”
“Um…”
Arthur sets his bir down. “Elyan, I Cinta your sister.”
Elyan nods. “She told me.”
“Well, I do. I know it’s not smart and it’s not selamat, peti deposit keselamatan and it’s not even legal, really, but I do. I want to marry her, and she says she wants to marry me. It would really mean a lot to both of us if anda were okay with it.”
“You ain’t askin’ for my blessin’,” Elyan says.
“No, I ain’t. anda and I both know that Guinevere’s gonna do what she wants to do regardless of what either of us says,” Arthur says, chuckling. “I’m simply askin’ that anda accept me as Guinevere’s choice.”
“I Cinta my sister,” Elyan says.
“I know. That’s why it’s important to her that you’re okay with all this.”
“I do want her to be happy.” He takes another long pull from his bottle.
“Elyan, I promise anda that I will make her happy. We ain’t foolish enough to think that movin’ north’s gonna solve all our problems. I can’t promise anda that other people won’t make her unhappy. All I can promise is that I will make her happy and if others upset her, I’ll be there to dry her tears atau hold her hand atau punch someone out, whatever she needs.”
Elyan nods again and takes another drink, draining his bottle. He reaches for another. “Can I ask why?”
“Why what?”
“Why her? I mean, I know she’s special; she’s my big sister. But you’re a handsome rich white boy lawyer. anda could have any gal anda wanted, man, how is it anda fell for a poor colored girl?”
Arthur ponders his bottle, picking at the label with his fingernails. “I don’t see it that way at all,” he says finally, finishing his bir and reaching for another.
“You don’t?”
“Uh-uh,” Arthur shakes his head. “The only thing anda berkata that I agree with is that Guinevere is special. And that she’s your big sister. Just because I could get any gal doesn’t mean I want just any gal. Hell, I recently learned that the receptionist at my office has been makin’ eyes at me for months. I didn’t even notice! And that was goin’ on before I even met Guinevere.”
“She pretty?”
“Yeah, I guess, if anda like that type,” Arthur shrugs.
“What type is that?”
“She looks like one o’ them Barbie dolls. And she’s almost as smart as one.”
Elyan chuckles. “You still ain’t answered my question.”
“Why do I Cinta Guinevere?”
Elyan nods.
“I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s… genuine. Real. Like… anda know that she ain’t puttin’ on a front atau bein’ who she thinks anda want her to be. She’s herself, all the time. And she’s smart. She’s also the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“Strongest?”
“Well, yeah. The way she still made it through college, graduatin’ with honors, even, while takin’ care of anda and your dad, and right after your mama died? I would have just pulled the blankets over my head and telah diberi up.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Elyan says. “But you’re right. I don’t know how she did it. Me and Daddy… we fell apart when mama died. Gwen held us together. And still did good enough in school to keep her scholarship.”
“She’s also beautiful and kind,” Arthur says. “Sings like an angel. And I’ve heard she’s a good cook, too, though I haven’t gotten to sample any o’ her cookin’. Yet.”
“You gon’ get fat, Arthur,” Elyan says, laughing.
“You ain’t.”
“I grew up on it,” Elyan shrugs, as if that explains everything. He puts the saat bottle aside, now empty, and reaches for a third.
“All I know is Monday night, when she left, I thought my life was going to end because I didn’t know how I’d get to see her again. The very idea of not seein’ her again felt like a pisau in my heart.”
“She berkata kinda the same thing,” Elyan admits.
“Did she?”
“Don’t go gettin’ all eager lookin’ there. But yes, she did.”
Arthur chuckles and cracks his third bottle.
xXx
Gwen looks up from her book, hearing a noise. Is Arthur still here? I don’t think I heard him leave. She slides out of bed, glancing at the clock. 11:33. She looks out the window. Arthur’s car is still parked outside.
A thump. Male laughter. They’re drunk. Arthur needs to go home. He can’t sleep here. She sighs and pulls some clothes on, just a pair of Capris and a shirt, and heads downstairs.
“Guinevere!” Arthur’s face breaks into a bleary grin when she appears.
“Arthur, I think anda need to go home,” she says, speaking like she is addressing one of her five-year-old students. One of her naughty five-year-old students.
“But we were gon’… what were we gon’ do?” Elyan asks, his face crumpling in confusion.
“We were… oh yeah. I was gon’ teach anda how to play poker…” Arthur slurs.
Shaking her head, she walks over. “You both have to work tomorrow, and I got things to do, too. Elyan,” she hoists her brother to his feet and points him towards his bedroom, “go to bed.”
“Aw, Gwennie…” he complains, letting her gently push him to his room. Arthur is giggling on the sofa behind them. “Put your damn shoes on, Arthur,” she shoots over her shoulder.
Once she’s gotten Elyan onto his bed, she heads back out. “Come on, baby, I’ll drive anda home,” she says softly, lifting Arthur sejak his elbow.
“Baby…” he repeats, grinning. “You called me baby…”
“Yes, I did, now alih those feet.”
“’Kay.”
She moves with purpose, businesslike and proper, bundling him into her car.
“Wait, this ain’t my car…”
“No, it’s mine,” Gwen says, starting the engine and pulling out.
“How am I gon’ get my car?”
“You should have thought of that before anda came to my house with a case o’ beer. And mind that hand o’ yours don’t go no higher,” she says, his hand having found her knee as soon as she sat. It’s been creeping higher as she drives.
“Oh…” is all he can think to say.
“Maybe Merlin will take pity on anda and drive your sorry tail back over here to collect your car tomorrow.”
“You could…”
“I could not and anda know it. It’s enough I’m drivin’ anda utama now.”
Arthur closes his eyes and leans his head back. “Elyan likes me again.”
“Good. Don’t fall asleep.”
“’M not sleepin’…”
Gwen just sighs. At least he’s an affectionate drunk, not a mean one. He’s actually kind of silly.
A short time later, she pulls up in front of Arthur’s building, helps him out of the car and up the steps.
“Key,” she holds her hand out.
“’Sin my pocket,” he says, grinning at her and angling his hip toward her suggestively.
“All right, then, please take it out of your pocket and I will unlock your door for you,” she says calmly, again using her kindergarten-teacher voice.
“No fun at all…” he mutters, shoulders slumping as he digs into his pocket and puts a key ring in her hand. “That one,” he points, poking his finger into her palm.
Gwen bites back her laughter at him as she unlocks the door and helps him up the stairs, where she unlocks his apartment door.
“Goodnight, Arthur,” she says, placing the keys on the coffee table.
“You’re not goin’ to tuck me in?” he asks, pouting.
“Arthur, it’s midnight. And I shouldn’t even be here.” Again. She looks around and suddenly notices that he’s been busier packing than she has. Of course, he has lebih things than I do.
“Please? I’ll behave…”
“I doubt it,” she says, but relents, taking his arm again and heading to a short hallway.
“This way,” he points.
She takes him into his room and sets him on his katil after pulling the covers back, pulling his shoes from his feet. “That’s all I’m doin’. anda can take the rest off yourself atau sleep in your clothes.”
“Okay,” he says, still pouting slightly, but he is falling asleep already.
Gwen covers him up and kisses his forehead. “Goodnight,” she whispers to him.
“’Night,” he mumbles. “Love you…”
Part 14: link