Part 4 (1/2)
-It's not really my birthday.
-I figured that out already, Ghee.
-How?
-Because you wouldn't waste your birthday talking to me, a stranger. You'd spend it with friends.
-If I had any.
-Everybody has friends.
-Not everybody.
-Some people even have too many friends.
-Agreed. How about that drink?
Violet shook her head. -I don't need another drink. I need a cigarette. You want to go have a cigarette with me?
-I don't smoke. But I'll watch you smoke.
-Okay.
Outside, the light had followed its usual progression from gray to dull orange, the color of night in Los Angeles, and Guy trailed Violet around the side of the building so as to be away from the bustle of Vermont Street. Violet pulled out a yellow pack of cigarettes from her small black purse, but before she could use the matches from the bar, Guy leaned in and kissed her.
-You kissed me, said Violet, touching her fingers to her lips.
-Sorry.
-We hardly know each other.
-That's true.
Violet snorted derisively. -Let's go to a different bar, she said.
-Okay. Are you driving?
-No. I came with a friend.
-I'll drive then. Do you need to tell anyone you're leaving?
-No. Do you?
-No.
-Can I drive your car?
-Baby, you can ... actually, no. It's better if I drive. My car's kind of touchy.
-Me too. Violet tossed her unlit cigarette on the ground and dropped to her knees, fumbling at Guy's zipper.
-No, stop. Someone might see, protested Guy.
-That's the whole point, whispered Violet into Guy's ear as he pulled her to her feet. Her tongue darted quickly into the folds of his outer ear.
Guy pulled her close and tried to kiss her again. Violet turned her head away.
-Where are you parked? she asked.
It was approximately at that moment that Guy fell for Violet, fell hard, fell for good. It's not right to say ”fell in love” because it's not clear that either Guy or Violet was capable of love as commonly understood, which would require a certain degree of selflessness, however slight, that may have been beyond the abilities or at least inclinations of both. But Guy was, whatever else, enormously enamored.
What Violet felt was more difficult to determine, because Violet hated showy emotions, but it was clear that she liked Guy, maybe liked him a lot, or so it seemed to Guy, who did not wish to examine or question further his luck.
Violet was the sort of girl who seemed to exist to inspire infatuation. She did this intuitively, without trying, by obscuring her true intent and radiating, at every moment, a kind of pure possibility-promise in human form-that could not and did not fail to attract both the best and the worst kind of man. She took all comers, without discriminating, without judging, for reasons that she preferred to keep to herself, and most of her lovers did not care to question. Because behind that facade of possibility lay a steel curtain of Do Not Enter. Not physically, of course, because that was the easy part, requiring only physical desire and a fear, if you can call it that, of being alone. But emotionally, Violet was remote to an extreme not usually seen in a human being. Almost not actually present, which for anyone interested in a sustainable or long-term relations.h.i.+p-and there were many, some of whom would have left their wives, children, houses, and vital organs behind for her sake-proved an immovable force.
Occasionally she formed attachments, however: men she liked more than usual, and whose companions.h.i.+p she enjoyed outside of the realm of s.e.x, so long as they did not violate any of her inscrutable and often capricious rules. The first and foremost of which, as Guy would eventually learn, was, Do not ask me any questions about myself.
The Echo Lounge was only a two-minute drive from the Smog Cutter, but almost as soon as Guy pulled out of the parking lot, Violet reached for his crotch.
-What are you ... he began, then trailed off as Violet s.h.i.+fted in her seat and bent over his lap.
-We don't really have time, he protested meekly. -We're practically there already.
-Just keep driving, said Violet, without looking up.
-Okay.
Guy kept driving, on unfamiliar streets, panicking whenever he pulled up at a stoplight, as if anyone in an adjacent car was interested in what was going on in his, or would be even if they knew. Los Angeles by its nature attracts only the most self-absorbed inhabitants from all corners of the globe-in other words, if it wasn't happening to them, personally, or at second best to a very famous person, then it wasn't happening at all. The process took all of ten minutes, after which Violet sat up in her seat, licked her lips, and smiled broadly.
-Let's get a drink, she said.
-Okay.
15. GUY AND BILLY DISCUSS PROCEDURE IN RE: PLAN CHARLIE SITTING IN THE PROBABLY STOLEN MINI COOPER IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE KOREAN CHECK-CAs.h.i.+NG PLACE MERE MINUTES BEFORE THE ACTUAL FIASCO.
Are we clear vis-a-vis procedure? asked Guy.
-I'm not even sure I know what that means.
-I mean, do you know what you're supposed to do?