I was first alerted to his presence by the soft squelch of the well-watered grass under his feet. I continued to flick through my magazine, half-aware that he was still standing there. I could feel his gaze on me, and began to kick my legs slowly behind me. With a flick of my hair I turned towards him; surveying him from head to foot.
He wasn't a tall man. Stocky, maybe. I could see the faint bulge of chest muscles beneath what was an obviously expensive shirt, but he didn't seem to be particularly muscular. His grey suit sat in stark contrast against his pale skin- he was really very pale. My eyes travelled to his face, where a conspicuous redness was spreading over his white cheeks- this amused me somewhat. I liked the idea of making a grown man blush.
I grinned at him, and the side of his mouth twitched slightly into a strangely sad smile. He seemed unperturbed by my brace, which I had always felt looked too conspicuous in my mouth. He was staring at me- truly staring- and he still had that odd smile on his face. He was distracted when my mother stormed towards us; breaking our connection. I scowled at her as she snatched my magazine away. She never could bear for me to be the centre of attention.
After a short altercation I retrieved my magazine- my mother didn't want me to show her up; not in front of this peculiar guest of hers. I could see the way she was looking at him- her eyes were shining with barely-suppressed desire. She must have thought I was oblivious; but I noticed. I always noticed the way she looked at men- and although this specimen wasn't particularly attractive, I could understand his strange appeal. She gazed at him; her face betraying her desperation. It was almost sad, the way that she batted her eyelids and puffed out her chest like a tropical bird at the zoo. Despite his unremarkable appearance, I sensed that he noticed her stare. I sensed his discomfort.
Tearing her eyes from the curious visitor, she turned her gaze back to me. "Well, at least say hello to Humbert," she said- her voice betraying a hint of impatience. Her eyes were back on him. His eyes were back on me.
"Humbert?" I clarified. I repeated the name slowly, amused by how the unusual syllables felt as they rolled from my tongue. I couldn't help but giggle- his name was such a novelty, and I was hopelessly fond of novel things. I had always hated my own name: Dolores. A name for school teachers and fat old spinsters. Nobody called Dolores ever became a star. But Humbert? That was even worse- a positively laughable name. It made me re-evaluate my own, and he smiled as I voiced this thought.
"Can I call you 'Hum'? That's a swell name for a man of such distinction! I'm good with nicknames."
I was warming to him already- mother tried to tell me off, but Hum just smiled his one-sided smile at me. "You can call me whatever you like, Lo," he replied softly. Lo? I liked that. Lo was a novel name, too- like Humbert. Lo and Hum. Mother didn't seem to like our chat; she was fidgeting with a cigarette, which her tightly clenched lips held in a vice-like grip. She mumbled something and wandered off- seemingly with the intention of leading him off with her. He didn't go.
"So, you might be staying with us?" I queried, turning back to my magazine.
"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm most certain that I am."
Something in his tone made me turn to him; surveying him once more with interest. I peered at him from behind my hair, and he held my gaze. I twitched my nose, but it didn't distract his eyes from mine. There was something about the way he looked at me that made me feel as though I was the only thing he could see- or perhaps the only thing he wanted to see. It was curious for me; my mother usually looked past me as though she didn't want to see me at all. I told Humbert about her, and about how he ought to skip on over to the next town if he knew what was good for him.
"Dunno why you'd want to stay here."
He closed his mouth and gulped, and I noticed his jaw tensing. I had a distinct sense that he most certainly didn't know what was good for him. He carefully dampened his lips with his tongue before speaking again.
"I have my reasons, Lo… I have my reasons."
I did not know, then, what his reasons were- but I suspect that even if I had, I would have acted no differently. How could I deny this man, whose gaze made me feel like the starlet I so desperately wanted to be? And so, on that first day, my life and his became irrevocably intertwined in ways that neither of us could have known- and that neither of us could ever have escaped.
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