Читать книгу Someone Like You - Timothy James Beck - Страница 13

Vienna’s sandwich seemed to lose its flavor, so she dropped it and brushed crumbs from her hands, saying, “That’s not the worst of it. The little bitch’s mother came up and dragged her away, saying, ‘Come on. You don’t want her waiting on you.’”

“Ew!” Davii exclaimed. “How hateful.”

“Nasty,” Derek agreed.

“You never get used to prejudice,” Vienna said, shaking her head. She absently tore the crust from her discarded sandwich. “I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir.”

Derek and Davii looked at each other and grinned, singing, “Hallelujah!”

“I thought so,” Vienna said, finally smiling.

“Back home,” Derek began, after thinking it over, “boys in cars used to yell things at me. But nothing like that’s happened in a long time.”

“I hate it when guys do that,” Vienna said. “Why do they think people can understand them when they’re buzzing by at fifty miles an hour?”

“Because they’re stupid?” Davii guessed. “I used to get threatened all the time in high school. This one guy picked on me every day. I even had a girlfriend at the time, and he’d still call me a fag and throw things at me.”

“What did you do?” Derek asked.

“I slept with his girlfriend,” Davii said matter-of-factly.

“Rock on,” Derek said in awe.

“Solved all kinds of problems,” Davii said. “My girlfriend broke up with me. His girlfriend broke up with him. And even though it didn’t endear me to him, at least he stopped calling me names. Who wants to be known as the guy whose girlfriend dumped him for a fag? There’s always a way to fight back.”

“Reminds me of Darlene Patterson,” Vienna said. “I hated that snotty little bitch. She’d follow me around, making up new lyrics to ‘Four Women’ with my name in it. ‘My hair is nappy. My clothes are borrowed. What do they call me? They call me Vienna.’ One time she put gum in my hair. She thought I couldn’t do anything, because I was the preacher’s daughter. I had to love the sinner and hate the sin. All that crap.”

“What did you do?” Derek asked.

Vienna shrugged and said, “I hated the sinner and scratched her eyes out after school. I got a licking when my mother found out, but it was worth it to see that skinny-assed bitch run crying. I don’t approve of violence, but—”

“Oh, no. Not you,” Davii interrupted.

She glared at him, then continued. “Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself. If you’re being forced down, you have to claw your way up again.”

“When I’m forced down, I find that it helps to relax the muscles in my throat,” Davii said, and ducked when Vienna threw her bread crust at him. He pointed at her and shouted, “Oppressor!”

“Oh, please,” Vienna drawled. “You don’t know oppression. Oppression is putting lipstick on women with chapped lips. Oppression is doing someone’s eyeliner, then realizing she has pink eye. Oppression is putting polish on someone’s toes.”

“That can be sexy,” Davii countered.

“Maybe on a guy,” Vienna conceded.

“I’ve only been selling for a couple of weeks, and I’m already grossed out by people’s feet,” Derek stated. “I never thought feet were particularly sexy. Before this job, I might’ve been convinced otherwise. But now? No way. Some of the feet I’ve seen are just nasty.”

“Please stop,” Davii begged, waving his sandwich. “I’m eating.”

“We do what we have to do to get by,” Vienna said.

“Amen, sister!” Davii exclaimed.

“How does a woman with such religious parents end up living with a gay man?” Derek wondered aloud.

Vienna smiled, thinking about her father. He was always her rock. Not to mention the buffer between her and her mother when they’d get into arguments. He was the kindest and noblest man Vienna had ever known, the ruler against which all the men in her life would forever be measured.

“Daddy always said that love is love,” Vienna said. “Love doesn’t follow creed, race, or whatever mental roadblock you want to put in front of it. Love is from the heart and soul. It has nothing to do with our bodies.”

“Speak for yourself,” Davii muttered.

“I think that’s wonderful,” Derek said.

“Daddy knows the Bible cover to cover,” Vienna stated, “and he knows a lot of people twist its meaning to fit their own agenda. He never preached hate, only acceptance. As long as two people love each other, what’s the harm in that?”

Derek looked at his watch and groaned. “I have to get back to work. I wish Natasha had gone to your daddy’s church.”

“Praise be to God,” Vienna said, rolling her eyes. “I still have a half hour. I’ll see you later.”

As Derek left, Davii said, “I love to watch him walk away.”

“It might help your agenda if you flirted with him once in a while,” Vienna said. “Especially when he’s actually at the table.”

“I can’t help it if I’m subtle,” Davii said demurely.

“Please. You’re about as subtle as a fox in a chicken coop with a red rubber glove on his head.”

Davii pondered her words and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Daddy would’ve said it better,” Vienna admitted. “Why do you need me to feel out the Derek situation? Why don’t you just ask him out?”

“How do I say this?” Davii asked aloud. He thought for a moment, idly making trails in a blob of ketchup with a french fry. “Derek’s not like the guys I usually date.”

“Fuck,” Vienna clarified. “I’m sorry, but you don’t date.”

“Fine,” Davii admitted, dropping the french fry and throwing up his hands in defeat. “He’s not like the guys I usually pursue. He’s sweet, has integrity, and he’s smart.”

“He has a boyfriend,” Vienna reminded him. “I’m the result of a broken marriage. I’m not too fond of the idea of interfering in theirs.”

“They’re not married,” Davii said.

“Unfortunately, that’s not an option for them. But that’s a lunchtime topic for another day. I get the idea that Derek needs friends, not a new boyfriend. I know I said I’d help you, but—”

“He makes me want to be a better person, okay?” Davii blurted. “There. Happy? I see Derek and want to be more like him. I’d like to end up with a guy like him. And from what you tell me, if this current boyfriend of his doesn’t appreciate him, why can’t I?”

“Fine,” Vienna relented. When Davii grinned like a boy who’d worn down a parent to get a puppy, she added, “But I mean it—I’m not wild about interfering. Give me a little more time to feel out the situation.”

“If you need any help feeling him out, let me know.”

“I’m about to be late,” Vienna announced and began collecting her things.

“Do you need another shot of Drayden’s Kool-Aid?” Davii asked.

“Our customers are our neighbors, and we must always treat them as if we’re in their backyard,” Vienna intoned, speaking in a zombielike trance. She brightened and said, “Nope. I’m good to go. See you tonight at the Galaxy.”