Hell Is Other People

“Hello, Fred!” Abby really enjoyed talking to him over the phone. Five days had flown by since the Sartre lecture. “You want to talk to Carol? She’s right next to me…” When Carol tried to reach for the cell, Abby’s smile grew wider. “Oh, you want to speak to me ? How lovely!” Chuckling, Abby was clearly enjoying herself.

“You want to talk about… what ?” Abby’s eyebrows jumped up. “An autoportrait of a beautiful young brunette wielding a monkey wrench…” Carol was suddenly quite eager to cut in but Abby wouldn’t let her. “IS SHE NAKED?” Carol tried to force the cell out of Abby’s hand but all she got was a thunderous roar of male laughter from the other end of the line.

“Before Carol jumps all over me, let me know what the deal is here…” Abby hastened to ask. “Wait a sec – you have the work and now you need to know where to store it… okay?” Abby shot an inquisitive look at Carol.

“Wherever,” Carol whispered decisively. “It can even be brought in here.” She hadn’t really thought about the proper place for it.

“Yeah, have it brought over to the shop, Fred,” Abby informed, “We’ll figure out the rest later on. Hell, should she abruptly want it in her apartment at some point, she can always have it delivered there.” Abby looked inquisitively at Carol. “For future reference, do we still have your spare keys here?”

Carol nodded, anxious for them to finish their all too apparent teasing. “YES!!!” Luckily the bell above the front door jingled and Abby had to quit her call. The customers waited to be served.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do about her?” Abby asked a few hours later. They were having a rather unimaginative office lunch forking their ready-made salads straight out of the plastic containers.

“I suppose you mean Therese?” Carol said demurely not wanting to assume anything.

“No, I mean Queen Elizabeth the II… OF COURSE I MEAN THERESE, YOU NITWIT!” Abby exclaimed poking Carol playfully between the ribs.

“Careful with that Thousand Islands dressing of yours…” Carol laughed dodging her sudden attack, “I don’t want it anywhere near my cashmere sweater…” Tucking in a blonde lock that had just slipped on her forehead, Carol’s entire demeanor did change, though.

“I haven’t decided anything,” Carol continued eventually. “It’s been several days since the lecture and I haven’t heard a thing…” she confided in Abby.

“What were you hoping would happen?” Abby asked refilling their glasses with some dry, chilled Riesling.

“I don’t know…” Carol started. “Something… well, anything, really.” Nothing had come out of their dialogue so far, and it puzzled Carol. “I must’ve misread a whole lot,” she said to Abby, “Assumed too much and blown my influence way out of proportion.” Carol had thought about it enough to almost accept it as the final truth. Soon she would be ready to give in altogether.

“Lenny is about your age,” Abby said quite out of the blue. “So it’s not like Therese doesn’t have a history of falling for older women.” A cherry tomato outwitted Abby’s plastic knife squirting its seeds on her clean, crisp shirt.

“How come I don’t read that as a too promising of a precedent…” Carol scoffed, as Abby was busy swearing at her own clumsiness.

Abby quit dry-washing the front of her shirt for now. “I’m pretty sure she can tell you two apart…” Suddenly pausing, she looked as if she’d been about to say something else as well but didn’t.

“What is it? Go ahead,” Carol insisted. The last thing she wanted was Abby to hold back any of her thoughts on the matter.        

“You know, Carol – you are a handful.” Abby said smiling, “And she’s most likely as well.” Right now she was ready to give up on both the salad and her shirt. “You can’t force anything, you can only nudge things forward if you’re lucky, and if  the timing’s right.” Unapologetically she went ahead and poured the rest of the remaining Riesling to her glass.

“If she’s up to it, she’ll come around,” Abby said matter-of-factly. “If she won’t, it was never meant to be. It’s as simple as that.” Carol looked at Abby and for the first time really came to think of the years, even the decades of the assorted experience she must have accumulated before landing in the happy relationship with Genevieve.

Had she paid attention to Abby’s heartache over the years? Yes, but most likely not to the extent she should’ve had. Had she expressed her true joy over the love she had with Gen? Yes, but most likely not to the extent she should’ve had.

Carol grabbed Abby’s hands and gave them a grateful squeeze. “I’m so lucky to have you,” she said. “So very, very lucky. Thank you.”

Carol skipped the fourth and final photography class. Why, she didn’t know exactly – maybe the fear of going there and being once more ignored was too much all of a sudden. After the Sartre lecture she’d felt drained of energy and she seriously doubted if there was anything more she could try anyway. What can I do that I haven’t done already? Carol asked.

Or maybe she was just being tired. Carol had just returned home after her early bird tour of the nearby antique shops. Even though she usually enjoyed these solitary trips immensely, she had hoped to have Abby’s company this time. For some reason she hadn’t been able to get a hold of her. Oh well… Carol’s thoughts drifted away once more.

If she’s up to it, she’ll come around – Abby’s quip made a lot of sense. She had thought she had made an impression on Therese at the lecture but maybe she hadn’t. I would’ve heard from her by now if I had, replayed in her mind.

“Mom, I’ll be on my way now,” Rindy hollered, as she was about to leave for her friend’s house.

“Do you have everything you need, sweetie?” Carol asked wanting to make sure her daughter was truly equipped for her overnight stay.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” It wasn’t the first time Rindy was having this conversation with Carol, and it was just as unnecessary as always.

“Have a good time! Call me if you…” The door closed drowning Carol’s sentence in its loud bang. Fine, she’ll be fine… she mused shaking her head as she walked back to the living room to have some peace and quiet after Rindy’s not-so-tranquil departure. Just as she had stretched herself onto the couch the doorbell rang again.

“What is it this time?!?” Carol yelled frustrated by her daughter’s apparent inability to be truly organised at any given moment. Sighing, she picked up Rindy’s keys from the little bowl on the side table in the foyer and opened the door just enough to dangle the key chain in the crack. “Forgot these?” she quipped gleefully trying to imagine Rindy’s amusement.

“No.” The voice didn’t belong to Rindy at all. Carol let the door slide open and reveal the brown-haired woman standing behind it. Therese didn’t look particularly happy.

“You missed your last class,” Therese informed Carol sullenly.

“I suppose I did,” Carol replied coolly but the coolness was only skin-deep. “What of it?”

Therese’s stare was accusatory. “You won’t be getting your course diploma.” Carol shrugged her shoulders. “Let me in,” Therese said decisively. “I want to come in.” She almost bumped into Carol who stood in her way for a second. After an uncomfortable silence Carol did let her pass by.

“I’m gonna stay for a while,” Therese told Carol as she was taking off her jacket. “If that’s okay with you,” she added as if remembering her manners at the last minute. Not that it was much of a question either.

“Can I get you anything?” Carol asked taken aback by Therese’s offbeat behavior.

“No.” Therese sat down on the couch right next to Carol. “Where were you?” she questioned Carol.

“When?” Carol asked her brow askew. Therese’s questions seemed to bounce off the walls and ceilings, change directions and altitudes.

“This morning when you didn’t come to the class.” Therese stared at her vehemently.

“Well… I was here. I didn’t feel like it.” For Carol, it was an odd exchange.

“You didn’t feel like it,” Therese repeated monotonously. “You paid over 300 bucks for the course, for four lousy sessions and then you chose not to finish it?” Therese was getting all worked up about it.

“YES?” The conversation was getting on Carol’s nerves. “What the hell do you care? You were hardly interested in my presence there to begin with!” She nearly spat the last words out of her mouth. “And it’s my money and I do whatever I please with it!”

Carol had no idea when and how Therese had gotten so close to her. All Carol knew right now was how the brunette suddenly pushed her on her back on the couch and overtook her mouth with hers so that every sharp word she attempted to plop out thawed into a round, rousing kiss.

She felt Therese’s hands sprung under her top like two silky sparrows fluttering their palm-like wings on her breasts. The blouse was drawn all the way up to Carol’s neck before Therese managed to say anything at all. And it wasn’t like she could’ve really said anything since she was kissing Carol all over, moving her tongue horizontally over her bare torso as if Carol was a huge envelope she suddenly needed to moisten.

“May I?” Therese panted into her ear and it took a moment for Carol to register what she meant. A very short moment it was because Therese’s right hand had already plunged under Carol’s skirt’s tweed exterior. The contact made both women gasp, but it also made Carol wish they could continue what they’d started in the bedroom.

“Therese…” Carol exhaled, reluctant to let go of their full-body embrace for one single moment, “Bed… please, the bed.” Breathless, Therese tilted her chin up in agreement and scoped the distance for what now seemed like all too evanescent an endgame.

“I have to go to the bathroom…” Carol murmured to Therese as she was being undressed all the way to the living room door. “I… have… to…” she continued her voice all garbled as the brunette did away with the remnants of her restraint. “Be…rrright… back,” Carol grunted when Therese cornered her at the side table right below the tall antique mirror. Her chest heaving, Therese looked at Carol, lips half open and eyes dark, dreamy moss.

Okay, Carol breathed in watching herself in the bathroom mirror. Here we go, don’t overthink it. She was smiling happily, uncontrollably. Therese is here, she’s here for me, and we’re about to have… SEX. Smiling goofily, Carol came to think that maybe she should actually join Therese and get on with it. I can’t wait. She heard a series of loud noises outside, which made her wonder if Therese had stumbled onto something on her way to the bedroom. Ready or not, here I come…

“Therese?” When Carol got out of the bathroom Therese was nowhere to be found. Three doors were yanked wide open – the bedroom, the foyer and the front door. Confused, she pulled the front one shut, first taking a careful look around. No sign of Therese outside either. Have I lost my fucking mind or is she plain crazy? Carol couldn’t comprehend what could have happened during that one fleeting moment she’d spent in the bathroom.

Her answer waited for her in the bedroom. It also replied to the question as where Fred and Abby had decided to store Therese’s autoportrait.