“Maybe a smidge. Nothing serious. I knew you could pull through.”
“Pull through with what?”
“With me.”
“You think we’re pulling through?”
“What, aren’t we?”
“Who knows,” I said.
“Definitely not me.” She winked at me.
“There they are, Noa. Come on. Let’s cut the distance a little. Come with me and keep silent.”
Eighty meters… sixty… fifty… forty…
“Don’t approach the bodyguards from the wrong angle, Eran.”
“Hush.”
I waited for the right moment… there.
“This is what the Foreign Affairs Office has to deal with now? Sending people to bail out someone who got mixed up in a ballet show? You think the office has an abundance of time and resources on its hands with all the mess the whole world puts us through?” I kept yelling at Noa in English as we passed the party and the prime minister.
About eleven meters after passing them, I stooped down, as if to fix the buckle on my shoe, and risked a glance at the prime minister.
If you asked me….
Chapter Eighteen
We sat on a bench outside the hotel. I pulled out a joint and lit up.
“Where did you get that from? What are you doing?” Eran asked, looking confused.
He didn’t understand how I could possibly be lighting up while on the job, and even less where I got it.
“Shut up,” I said and took a long hit that ate through half the joint.
“Give it over, come on.” He snatched it and took off another fifth. “I was so worried, Noa. I had such déjà vu, you know…” Eran said. I believed him.
“I panicked, too. Well, it was hardly planned.”
“Right…” he replied, finishing up the last of the nub.
“I made myself a joint and you finish it?”
“You finish on me, then I finish it.”
“Why is it the joint’s fault?” I pressed.
“It’s paying for you,” he replied. “Say thank you. What? Isn’t it a good one?”
“I have another one. I didn’t only meet you yesterday, you know.” I smiled and lit the other. “Here.” I gave him the first hit. “Just don’t finish it all. I’m here too, if you haven’t noticed. I needed to eye up the bell-boy to get it.”
“Look at that old couple over there, walking hand in hand,” Eran said, directing me toward the boulevard in front of us. “Do you know an old couple who walks hand in hand? There are a few options,” Eran continues with his analysis. “Well, three that are more like two. Either they walk along like the couple you see over there…”
“Or?” I asked.
“Or one walks ten meters ahead of the other. If you hadn’t seen them leave the house together, or if you didn’t know them at all, you’d think they were strangers. Though, the woman keeps growling at him to wait for her, or he keeps admonishing her for not keeping up… or perhaps she’s an Izen and functions perfectly, and he’s nothing more than a doormat who’s had a T72 run over him.”
“A T what?”
“T72, Noa. It’s a Russian tank. The only one that, at least in some ways, comes close to our carriage.”
“We’ve got a carriage?” I gave him a cheeky smile.
“Yes, you daft potato.”
Our kiss was a long one. It tasted of cigarettes, which was gross, but so much fun.
“In two days, we’ll pull this off, Noa, then we’ll get back. We’ll build a little bit of peace for ourselves. What do you say? Is it a deal?”
“That’s three options, if he’s nothing but a doormat,” I told him.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s only three options. Walking hand in hand, one walking ahead of the other, and the doormat. Three options,” I concluded. “You so get the meaning of options, don’t you?” I teased.
“There aren’t too many options when it comes to you. The whole function of time seems to skip over you completely.” He smiled at me, those blue eyes of his twinkling.
I smiled back. What else could I do? Out of all of this mess—he’s the one who comes out.
“Look, Noa… there isn’t too much room for games here. You’ll be next to her at the ballet. She saw you today, and I’m pretty sure she noticed you.”
“Yeah? You think she paid attention?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it… I hope, at least,” he added under his breath.
“I heard that,” I told him. “Don’t worry, if for some reason she didn’t notice, then she will very soon.”
“Okay, Noa. I need some quiet after all of this. from you—with you… from all this shit. This joyride.” He smiled at me again. “Don’t forget she’s never alone. You can’t exactly take her to the local MacDonald’s.”
“I don’t eat hamburgers.”
“Right, I forgot,” he said.
“What are you pulling that face for? Are you hungry again?”
“What do you mean again? I haven’t had a thing to eat all day.”
“Neither have I… and now that you said something, I think I might just pass out I’m so hungry.”
“I said something?”
“You brought it up.”
“Guilty as charged. This was the first time I’ve ever seen it happen with my own eyes. And I’ve known you twenty years.”
“Sixteen—how many times do I have to remind you? And seen what for the first time?”
“That you admitted your guilt.”
“I admitted nothing.”
“You just did!”
“That what?”
“That you were the one who started talking about food.”
“Fine,” I gave in.
“Besides… admit you love me.” There went those blue eyes again.
“Fine then, I admit it.”
“Fine?”
“I admit it, I admit it. What more do you want? A written statement?”
“Yes. And make sure to have it notarized.”
“I’m not signing anything for you.”
“Fine. I’ll take your word for it.” He opened the door to our room.
“Haven’t you learned yet not to believe me?”
“No,” he replied.
“Rightly so.”
I jumped on him.
“Let me enjoy a man… tomorrow I’ll have to endure something new, won’t I?”
“Something, indeed,” he said then fell silent. It was because my hair was sliding down his chest, stopping close to his navel.
Having him silent was better.
“Put an alarm on for eight AM.”
“Would you shut up already?”
This time he didn’t reply.
Finally.
Chapter Nineteen
He fell asleep in a matter of seconds, I swear.
Two minutes, and he was
