Page 37 of Strings

After ten minutes of silence, the quiet starts to get to me. “Should we turn on some music or something?” I ask.

“Oh,nowyou want to listen to music.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, drop it already. You’ve chewed that bone long enough. Drop it like a good boy and let’s move the fuck on. It’s over. I have no intention of attending any more rehearsal dinners as your fake girlfriend, so you don’t have to worry about it happening again.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

He presses a button on his steering wheel and Eminem’s “Greatest” blasts through the speakers.

My eyes almost pop out of my head as I playfully swat at him. “What-the-fuck-is-this?TheSebastian Mikhail Corronov likes Eminem? Holy fucking shit. And just when I thought there was no hope for you, you go and totally redeem yourself!” I start bouncing in my seat and throwing up my hands like I’m in a pit at his concert.

I gaze over at him as I bang my head to the beat and he laughs. “Don’t pull a muscle in your neck.”

I sing the chorus to him as he drives. He’s smiling now and it makes me feel… something.

I continue to watch him for a moment and his smile fades. He lowers the volume. “How do you know my middle name?”

Uh oh.“You told me.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes. You did. On the plane.”

He pauses and thinks for a second. “No… I did not. How did you know my middle name, Talia?”

“Wow. I didn’t realize the memory started to fade at thirty. Maybe I should start a journal of my memories now while I’m still young.”

He turns off the music. “I have a photographic memory. I remember everything. You Googled me, didn’t you?” He smirks.

“No! I most certainly did not!”

“Yes, you did. You wanted to know more about me. Aw, babe… I’m touched.”

“I did not Google you. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Did you like what you saw?”

“I saw nothing. But I doseea cocky son of a bitch who thinks he poops gold blocks.”

“What’s the saying… the lady doth protest too much?”

“Fuck you.”

“You seem to tell me to fuck off every time you get caught in a lie.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“I don’t, huh?”

“No.”

I cross my arms and stare out my window.

We ride in silence for twenty minutes. If he thinks I’m going to cave this time, he’s wrong.

He breaks the silence. “I Googled you, too, except I couldn’t find anything.”