Malena
Brady and Chloe stared at each other, in total silence. He could see the frustration in her eyes, which delighted him.
Ch: (bouncing on the railing) Come on, Brady… (whining) tell me…
Br: (eyes widening) Hey, hey, hey… (stopping her bouncing) Just because you're impatient, don't take it out on 'Aphrodite', back there.
Ch: (smiling) Tell me, Brady.
Br: (cooing) Greedy girl… While it is entertaining to see you melting down, I promise you, the wait isn't intentional. It's just that… I've been thinking about what I would say to you, if I ever had the chance. I've been thinking about this, for months, and I thought that I had a handle on it, but every moment I spend with you… there is always, something new, I have to add.
Ch: (smiling) You've been thinking about me, for months?
Br: Yeah.
Ch: How many?
Br: (defensive) What difference does that make?
Ch: B… I want to know…
Br: (sighing) Okay… about… (covering) nine months.
Ch: That long?
Br: Actually, to be honest, it was more like… 20.
Ch: Twenty months?
Br: Yeah.
Ch: (blushing) But we weren't friends until a year ago.
Br: (quietly) I know.
She bit her lip.
Br: Now, I won't bother to rehash our relationship, since you were there. But… I couldn't help being struck by you. (sighing in frustration) Dammit… I don't know where to begin.
Ch: (reassuringly) Well, close your eyes, and say the first thing that pops into your head.
Reluctantly, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Ch: (quietly) Now, what do you want to say?
Br: (quietly) You're a nutcracker.
Ch: (agitated) Brady!
Br: Well, you are.
She glared at him.
Br: I don't see why you're so surprised. Usually, brilliant and extraordinarily talented people are… (smiling slyly) which explains me.
Ch: (trying not to laugh) Whatever, Brady.
Br: Anyway… we are both nutcrackers. We both gave our parents a hard time, but we didn't stop there. We both spread it around, but focusing most of our energy on each other. We both didn't want to admit it, but we fed off of it. We fed off of each other. Then, last summer happened. We slowly stopped cracking each other's nuts, which was always fun and we got down to business: actually having fun. Playing. I didn't want that to end, but it did.
Ch: No, it didn't.
Br: Yes, it did. When Phillip came back, it did. Sure, we still played, but it was infrequent.
Ch: Brady… I was in school and you were working.
Br: No, Diva, that wasn't it. But there wasn't time to wallow in that, because you became ill. There wasn't enough time to think about all the things I thought I've lost. (touching her cheek) I was facing the possibility of losing something bigger. So when you asked me to help you… I didn't hesitate. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect… well, I wasn't expecting the frivolity of last summer. (rolling up her sleeves and looking at her scars) This was what I got. I got reality. The reality of you. Despite your fits of yelling, you are a quiet soul and within the quiet moments, the truth came out. The fear. The desperation. The humiliation. The uncertainty. The helplessness. The depression. The frustration… the tears. And the yelling…
Ch: I yelled at you, a lot, didn't I?
Br: You always have, Diva. So much so, it's kind of endearing… even a little sexy.
Ch: Oh, really?
Br: Yeah. When you get angry, your eyes get really big. They look like they change color too… sort of silvery.
She blushed.
Br: Don't get me wrong. I prefer them, when they're topaz-blue.
She turned redder and Brady couldn't resist the urge to kiss her cheek, so he indulged himself. She ran her hands up his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer, but when he felt her legs around him, he pulled away.
Br: Oh, no you don't…
Ch: (startled) What?
Br: I'm going to finish what I started.
Ch: (grabbing at him) No, Brady. I've heard enough.
Br: No, Diva, I want to finish, before it's too late.
Ch: (resigned) Oh… alright.
Br: Okay… just when I thought I couldn't take anymore of the truth, the nutcracker, in you, came out swinging, fighting all the despair and the degradation. And, in turn, mine came out, fighting all the fears I had about… history repeating itself. You fought for you, like I always hoped you would, in regards to your singing and to your relationship with Phillip. I hoped it was the beginning for you, but then, you started to question yourself, your appeal, just now.
Ch: (embarrassed) Brady…
Br: When I kissed you this morning, I wasn't kissing the memory of you, before leukemia or the fantasy I had. I was kissing the nutcracker, the diva-in-the-making, my bowling partner, my singing partner, my best friend, the infirmed, and the newly healed. The extraordinarily brilliant creature you were, you are, you will be. (caressing her cheek) Don't ever question your appeal. After all, if I can call your 'little girl', back there, 'Aphrodite', then my feelings about the rest of you… (smiling devilishly) Purrr…
Ch: (eyes sparkling) Go on, Brady…
Br: I remember when I saw you on the pier. It was pretty dark and you were wearing baggy, black sweats… despite all of that, I could still make out 'Aphrodite'.
Ch: (embarrassed) Brady…
Br: During your courtship with Phillip, I've seen you, in a variety of sexy outfits. I even remember that time when you wore that sheer white thing…
Ch: What 'sheer white thing'?
Br: That negligee… you know… you wore it, the night I was mugged…
Ch: (smiling) Oh, yeah… well, you never commented on it, before…
Br: Um, hello… I was on the run from the cops and I just had the crap, beaten out of me… (looking at her) But then again, you do have a point…
She giggled.
Br: But back to your clothes. You were always a good-looking girl, especially when you wore floral prints. I remember all the times, when you did… when we went car-shopping, that time at the gazebo… the time I caught you in your slip…
Ch: You acted so cool about it…
Br: The key word is 'acted'. I was mad at you, that day, but you looked so hot in that thing… you made quite an impression… you made me think of Malena.
Ch: (smile disappearing) Who's Malena?
Br: It's more like… what's Malena? (smiling) It's a movie. An Italian movie, directed by Guiseppe Tornetore.
Ch: He directed Cinema Paradiso, didn't he?
Br: Yeah.
Ch: I loved that movie.
Br: Me too. Maybe we can watch it, sometime.
Ch: Okay… but back to Malena.
Br: It was about a young woman who moved to a small Italian town. She was young and extraordinarily beautiful, which immediately put people off. She was married to a prominent citizen, but he was in the Army, so she was alone. Nothing or no one could protect her, except this twelve year old boy named Renato.
Ch: Are you Renato, Brady?
Br: Diva, he was a twelve year old boy, who never saw a truly beautiful woman before. I have, so… let me put it this way… he 'expressed' his appreciation, in a certain way… nightly… usually with a pair of her stolen panties, on his head…
Ch: (laughing) OMG…
Br: Renato and I are alike in this way: we knew the truth. He wanted to learn the whole truth about her and I certainly wanted to know everything about you. Whenever I watch that movie, so many things remind me of you.
Ch: Like what?
Br: Well, Malena, for a start. The dark, brunette hair, falling down to her waist. She also got this look on her face whenever she walked through the square, when all the men and women gossiped about her. This look of disengagement. You get that look, a lot, especially when dealing with the kids at school. I saw that look again, when you were ill. Whenever you look like that, I hear the musical score… this sad, yet romantic thing, that reflected how I felt when I saw you like that. Also, she wore floral prints too, which confirmed to me that few things are sexier, on a shapely woman, than floral prints. (closing his eyes) There was also a scene when she wore a slip…
Ch: (sardonically) Down, boy…
Br: (laughing) Anyway, Malena faced a lot of ugliness, ugliness I doubt would ever happen to you, because of the times we're living in and the way your parents are. Well, the Operagirl.net and the leukemia were pretty ugly… I wanted to help you…
Ch: (reassuringly) You did, Brady.
Br: I did very little.
Ch: Little to you, maybe, but it meant everything to me.
Br: Thank you, Diva. In the movie, Renato did the same thing, and it did help Malena.
Ch: What did he do?
Br: I'm not going to tell you…
Ch: Why not?
Br: Because it will ruin the ending of the movie. You may want to see it or something.
Ch: (sarcastically) Why would I want to see my competition?
Br: Cut it out, Chloe.
Ch: I'm serious, Brady. Malena seemed to get you all hot and bothered.
Br: (exasperated) You are way hotter than she is!
He blushed, in embarrassment.
Ch: Oh, I've got to see this movie, now…
Br: Don't change the subject.
Ch: You're the one who brought up Malena, the goddess of all things beautiful, second only to me.
Br: (flustered) Do you want me to finish of not?
Ch: Go ahead.
Br: The combination of you, in your baggy, black clothes, singing to me, with such honesty and passion, and you, letting me kiss you and you, kissing me back. It was the most romantic thing that has happened to me… so far. You tugging at my clothes and you, allowing me to take off your top… touching your skin and feeling your skin against mine and feeling your lips and your tongue… I thought that was the sexiest thing…
Ch: (breathless) So far…
Br: (smiling) That's right, because then you tickled me, with your hair. Then you were in my bed. The sight of your breasts, in that floral bra, and the sight of the bra strap, slipping off of your beautiful shoulder… (breathless) I'm telling you, Chloe, if the other strap would have slipped, and if I got a glimpse of 'Aphrodite', garbed in, essentially, a bouquet of flowers… (looking in her eyes) Nothing, not even your mother, kicking down my door, would have stopped me from making love to you.
She sat there, stunned.
Ch: (breathless) Believe me, Brady… I wouldn't have stopped you, either.
Br: (touching her cheek) Chloe…
Chloe pulled him to her, nibbling at his lips. She grabbed his hands and placed them on 'Aphrodite'. She pulled her to him, wrapping her legs around him, as he ravaged her.
Ch: (whispering) Come on, Brady… I want to feel 'Zeus' again. (breath, caught in throat) There 'he' is.
He lifted her up, as she ravaged him, pinning her to the wall.
Br: (kissing her) OMG
Ch: (trying to unfasten her jacket) Oh, God.
Br: (touching her hand) Okay, Diva… that's enough. We are at Tuscany's, at my birthday party, with both of our families present. Are we insane?
Ch: (kissing his chin) No, B, we are in heat!
Br: I'd like to stay this way, but…
Ch: (taking a deep breath) I know… (unwrapping her legs) but we can't.
Br: (kissing her forehead) I think it's a good idea if we retreat to separate corners… (looking in her eyes) separate rooms, more like.
Ch: (adjusting her gown) Yeah… I need to freshen up, anyway. Do you need a minute?
Br: (under his breath) More like five.
Ch: (smiling) Okay… I'll see you in the dining room.
Brady watched her as she walked away.
Ch: If you are watching 'Aphrodite', you're defeating the purpose…
Br: (sighing) I know…
~*~
Chloe rushed to the restroom, struggling to unhook her cover-up. She slid it off, studying her very flushed shoulders.
Ch: (to herself) Oh God, Chloe. Not only are you in heat, now you look like you're sunburned.
She turned on the cold water and grabbed some paper towels. She soaked the towels and dabbed her shoulders. She grabbed some more towels and dried herself. She threw the used towels away and grabbed her cover-up, hurriedly re-hooking it. She reached into her purse and retrieved her comb. After smoothing out her hair, she searched her purse for some lip gloss. Just then, she heard a toilet flush. She looked up and saw a smiling Nicole, exiting a stall.
N: (slyly) Hello, Chloe.
Ch: (detached) Nicole.
Ni: (smirking) Thought you were alone, didn't you?
Ch: Yes, I did.
Ni: (coyly) You should've looked, but I understand… you were busy.
Ch: (applying her gloss) That's none of your business.
Ni: That's true. (adjusting her hose) The stalls are too small.
Ch: (glancing at her) They suit their purpose…
Ni: Not for me. I'm too tall… what I was doing, required privacy and a lot of room.
Chloe stared at her, puzzled.
Ni: (bent over) I was having hose trouble… (looking up) And from the looks of it… (smiling) so were you.
Ch: (putting away her gloss) Goodnight, Nicole.
Chloe rushed out of the restroom.
Ni: (mockingly) Goodnight, Diva.