Chapter 21 #2
‘I’m working on something new but it’s a while away from being finished. I have another exhibition in Bergerac tomorrow evening, same old stuff from before with a few additional pieces.’
‘Are you going?’ Archie asks me when I have returned to a normal colour.
‘I didn’t know about it,’ I answer honestly. Florian shifts in his seat.
‘So, Archie.’ Florian changes the subject. ‘What do you do?’
‘I’m a business analyst. Consultancy mainly –finance.’ He adds that last bit in as an afterthought.
‘Impressive.’ Florian’s voice is muffled from a bit of bread.
‘Not really, just got lucky and people haven’t found me out yet.’
‘He’s lying,’ I interject. ‘He’s great, won awards and everything.’ I lean into Archie and he smiles gratefully at me.
‘And how did you two meet?’ Florian persists. My eyes linger on Archie’s, whose gentle smile has now turned into a wry little grin, thinking back to that first awful night that we fell into each other’s orbits.
He shakes his head, wipes the corner of his mouth with a napkin. ‘Oh, it’s a long and very boring story.’
Florian leans forward, resting on his elbows, chin nestled on top of his knuckles. ‘Aren’t they the perfect type for a dinner party?’
I shoot Florian a warning glance to stop but it’s too late; Archie clears his throat. ‘We met at a bar?’ Archie draws out the word and then looks at me as if trying to gauge how much detail he should give. I appreciate his hesitation. It wasn’t my finest evening.
‘You don’t know or…?’ Florian asks pointedly.
‘I think he’s trying to protect my modesty.’ I place a supportive hand on Archie’s, put myself back in the firing line. ‘It was a friend’s thirtieth, his sister’s. We were at this bar, he was there, we talked, I went home with him.’
I notice Florian flinch a little before he catches himself. ‘Must have been love at first sight.’
‘No!’ I say quickly, a little too quickly.
‘I mean I was very drunk.’ Archie’s hand grows a little limp beneath mine and he pulls it away, replacing it with his drink.
‘But he’s been amazing, really wonderful.
’ I try to wrestle him back. ‘I’m very lucky that he didn’t judge me too harshly for that one night. ’
‘So, you’ve been seeing each other for a while—’
‘Jesus, Florian, what’s with the questions!’ Inés interrupts the assault and Florian relinquishes the conversation, leaning back in his chair as if he now knows everything he needs to.
‘Sorry, I’ve never been good with small talk,’ he shrugs, playing with the stem of his glass.
‘Ava, I’m sorry to hear about your incident the other night.’ Inés changes the subject, leaning over the table earnestly. I feel a discomfort start to prickle at my neck.
‘Incident, what incident?’ Archie pipes up with a mouthful of food. Inés looks immediately uncomfortable, aware that she has just put her foot in it.
‘It’s nothing bad,’ I say quickly. ‘It’s the reason I don’t have a car. I got into an accident but I’m fine.’
‘You crashed the car?’
‘She hit a deer so it wasn’t really her fault.’ Florian jumps to my defence and I’m grateful for it.
‘Oh,’ Archie falters, his face dropping slightly before he recovers, ‘so you were in the car too?’
‘Er, no!’ I sweep in. ‘He picked me up, sorted the car situation out, made sure I was okay.’
‘That’s great, thanks mate.’ Archie looks visibly relieved.
‘It’s no problem,’ Florian shrugs. ‘Wasn’t just going to leave her there, was I?’ He laughs out the last bit to try to cover the sourness in his voice.
‘No of course not, I just meant that it’s nice…’
‘We look out for each other, don’t we, Ava?’ It’s the first time that Florian has held my gaze all evening.
‘Yes.’ I nod earnestly. ‘Yes, we do.’
After dessert, Archie drains the dregs of the bottle and looks around at the apartment.
‘Is that the last of it?’ He directs the question at me.
‘I think so.’
‘Fuck. I didn’t realise we would get through so much.’ I think of the four bottles lined up on the table earlier and the bottles I’ll need to take to the dechetterie tomorrow.
Inés bangs her hands on the table as if she has just had a momentous idea. ‘There’s wine at your café isn’t there, Florian?’
‘Yes,’ Florian nods. ‘Whisky too.’
‘Now you’re talking,’ Archie says.
‘Really, shouldn’t we just call it a night?’ I beg.
Florian shrugs. ‘I don’t mind getting it, I mean it’s only around the corner.’
‘You’re sure?’ Archie asks, not wanting to look like a bad host for sending his guest off into the night.
‘Yeah, it’s fine. Ava can keep me company.’ I look around to see if there’s someone else here called Ava, maybe he got Inés’s name wrong? But Florian’s eyes are fixed on me.
‘Me?’
‘Thought you might want to see it again, without other people there.’
‘Oh… I don’t…’ I look at Archie who is looking slightly paler than he has done all evening.
‘You should go, Ava,’ Inés says softly.
‘Yeah.’ Archie’s voice sounds strained. ‘Yeah, you should go.’
Florian is already grabbing his coat and making his way out of the apartment.
‘I shouldn’t…’ I step towards Archie. He slackens.
‘Go on, it’ll do you good to see it again, besides…’ he leans into me, ‘think of the book.’ He presses a kiss into my cheek and jettisons me out of the apartment, leaving me tripping down the stairs after Florian.