TITLE: Postcards
AUTHOR: milak
RATING: K for starters
DISCLAIMER: I don't own a thing.
DEDICATION: This is for Scripted Starlet who asked me very nicely to write something happier.
AUTHOR NOTES: The idea for this story came from two very different places. On ewas the two and half hour drive from my parents in regional Victoria, the second is my general unhappiness at my work who were supposed to send me to New York in December 2006 along witht he rest of the company. They didn't live up to their promise so instead of me getting to visit the haunts of Bobby Goren and Alex Eames I thought I would bring them to mine. The most of the places I talk about will be real and I will provide the names of them at the end of each chapter. That way if you're ever in my town you can take the Bobby and Alex tour:o) Enjoy!
It was because of Alexandra Eames that Goren found himself here. When the idea of travel had first been raised Goren had immediately thought of Europe. His mind returned to army stations in Germany and all that he had experienced as a young soldier. He couldn't deny that a part of him, a large part of him, had wanted to take Alex to Europe and share with her what he had experienced many years ago, and although Eames would never say it to him that was exactly what she was avoiding by suggesting where they were now.
Eames wanted an experience that they could create together. Free from their pasts. The last thing she had wanted was a holiday that would involve her feeling inadequate. She knew it would never be intentional for Bobby to make her feel that way but his knowledge could not be contained and she just knew it would be beyond him not to share with her everything he had learnt wether through reading, watching or first hand experience. So although disappointed at first Bobby had allowed Alex to convince him that he did not want to return to Europe. That was how Robert Goren found himself standing in front of an airport in Melbourne, Australia.
His senses were running on overdrive. Too long spent in the cramped confines of a plane had left him stiff and the recycled air in the cabin had left him dehydrated. Robert had exited the plane in a less than pleasant mood, but now, standing in the open air his senses were excited by all that was new in his surroundings. The air was different, somehow fresher, as it filled his lungs, expanding his chest with a pleasant ache, and the light was uncommon to his eyes. In typical Goren fashion he stood and drank in these differences through each pore, aware yet oblivious to the hustle surrounding him. A hand on the small of his back returned him softly to the moment and he turned to smile at Alex beside him.
They cabbed it into the city and checked themselves into their hotel before heading, by foot, into the Melbourne dusk in search of sustenance. Alex, starved from her diet of substandard airline fare, followed Bobby who paused briefly on the corner closest to the hotel just long enough to gather his senses before striding purposefully into the night.
Five minutes later, as they stood at the entrance of a tiny arcade, Alex was silently thankful for the lonely nights in her bed whilst Bobby had stayed glued to the internet in his own peculiar research mode. Lining both sides of the arcade, in a very European fashion, were the small tables of half a dozen cafes. A jazz band were playing up beat music that echoed around the buildings and out into the city night, accompanied by the quiet tinkle of cutlery and glassware and the intimate talk of diners.
Choosing a quiet candle lit table they talked softly whilst sharing a bottle of wine and dining. They toasted their first holiday together, four weeks to spend on the other side of the world. Far from their work, far from their lives and most importantly far from the prying eyes of people that knew them. Despite the exhaustion cause by international travel Alex noticed the subtle change of energy in Bobby. He leaned a little further back in his chair, his smile was wider and his eyes gleamed with a mischief Alex could not quite fathom.
Once he had been convinced, Goren threw himself into researching this trip to Australia, each night bringing another detail to Alex. Would she like to go interstate? How did she feel about camping? What did she think about travelling the coast? Like everything in the life they had slowly been building together Bobby consulted and confirmed Alex's likes and dislikes, her desires, her wants and her needs. He was at the same time both generous and secretive about his research and as they had stood at the boarding gate he had taken her by the hand and kissed her softly on the lips asking that she trust him to show her a fabulous time. With no hesitation Alex had agreed.
PLACE NOTES:
The hotel is The Vic Hotel in Little Collins St.
The eat in Block Arcade off Little Collins St.