All That She Desires: The Stranger Read Online Free Page A

said.
"What's up?"
     
    "You were listening to my CD," she said.
"You said you didn't know me or my music."
     
    "It's not a CD," he said. "They have
this thing now called the internet, and you can use it to listen to music. If
you meet someone and they tell you they're a famous pop star, you can go home
and listen to their songs. Um, what are you doing here?"
     
    "Oh," she said, "Um, I came to ask if
you wanted to share a joint with me. I have this joint." She pulled out
one of the joints. "Do you smoke? If you don't, we could just hang out.
For a while. If you're not busy."
     
    He shrugged and pulled open the door.
"No," he said. "I'm not too busy. Come on in."
     
    Fiona stepped inside. Mike was wearing the same
clothes he had on earlier. They were standing in the kitchen area of the little
cottage, and the living room was directly ahead of them. There were two doors
at the end of the room, presumably a bathroom and a single bedroom. It was an
old place, and like the one she was staying in, it hadn't been updated much.
     
    "Wow," she said. "So, this is where
you live."
     
    He laughed. "Not usually," he said.
"At the moment. Just for the summer really. I need to find a new apartment
in the city for the fall. This place isn't winterized, so I would freeze if I
tried to stay here all winter."
     
    Fiona set her handbag on the small kitchen table and
walked into the living room area. There was a couch and a little TV on a stand,
but they seemed secondary to the easel that was set up next to a folding tray
covered in paints. There was a canvas on the easel. The image on the canvas was
muddy and blurry, done in blacks and purples and yellows.
     
    "I thought you painted houses and cottages and
stuff," she said, stepping forward to look at the painting. "This
is... modern."
     
    "Don't judge that one," he said.
"That's just under layering. As for painting the cottage, that's partly a
favor for Steve, and partly just a cash job."
     
    She looked at him. "Is this what you do? Are
you an artist?"
     
    Mike opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of
beer. "I am working to develop a career as an artist. I guess that would
be the most honest way to put it. I certainly don't make a proper living as an
artist at this point. Would you like a beer?"
     
    "No thanks. I brought vodka." She held up
the joint. "Can I light this in here? Or do you prefer outside?"
     
    "We can smoke it in here," he said.
"I've got the windows open for the paint smell. If you want to smoke
cigarettes though, I'd rather you went outside. That smell tends to
linger."
     
    "Sure." She lit the joint, held in her
first hit, and passed it over to him. "Is that why you need to find a new
place?" she said as she blew out the smoke. "Did you lose your other
place because you're broke?"
     
    He coughed. "I'm not broke," he said,
coughing into his hand. "I just had to move." He took another drag,
passed the joint back and exhaled. He closed his eyes and rolled his head back
for a moment. "If you want to know, I'm going through a divorce, and I
moved out of our place. I figured it would be easy if I just spent the summer
here rent free, and then moved back to the city in the fall."
     
    "Oh, that sucks," Fiona said. "I'm
sorry."
     
    He shrugged and took a sip of his beer.
     
    "On the other hand, fuck it, right?" she
went on. "I mean, get out of it if it's not working, that's what I figure.
I just broke up with my boyfriend a couple months ago. He was cheating on me. I
always kind of figured, because he's such a player all the time, you know? You
know the rapper, Gozzy J? I was going out with him."
     
    "I'm not familiar with him," Mike said.
"I don't really follow hip hop."
     
    "It doesn't matter," she said.
"Anyway, I've been with a bunch of shitty guys, and I've basically come to
the conclusion that love is bullshit, and that most people are fakes most of
the time. Which is a sad way to look at the world, but that's where I am right
now. Even me. Totally fake. I'm