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<strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/hornby_nick/high_fidelity/hornby_high_fidelity.html<br />
Page 110 of 112<br />
6/20/2006<br />
“Cheers,” she says, and clinks her spritzer against my bottle of Sol. Some of her makeup has sweated<br />
off in the heat of the day, and her cheeks are pink; she looks lovely. “This is a nice surprise.”<br />
I don’t say anything. I’m too nervous.<br />
“Are you worried about tomorrow night”<br />
“Not really.” I concentrate on shoving the bit of lime down the neck of the bottle.<br />
“Are you going to talk to me, or shall I get my paper out”<br />
“I’m going to talk to you.”<br />
“Right.”<br />
I swish the beer around so it’ll get really lime-y.<br />
“What are you going to talk to me about”<br />
“I’m going to talk to you about whether you want to get married or not. To me.”<br />
She laughs a lot. “Ha ha ha. Hoo hoo hoo.”<br />
“I mean it.”<br />
“I know.”<br />
“Oh, well thanks a fucking bunch.”<br />
“Oh, I’m sorry. But two days ago you were in love with that woman who interviewed you for the local<br />
paper, weren’t you”<br />
“Not in love exactly, but … ”<br />
“Well, forgive me if I don’t feel that you’re the world’s safest bet.”<br />
“Would you marry me if I was”<br />
“No, I shouldn’t think so.”<br />
“Right. OK, then. Shall we go home”<br />
“Don’t sulk. What’s brought all this on”<br />
“I don’t know.”<br />
“Very persuasive.”<br />
“Are you persuadable”<br />
“No. I don’t think so. I’m just curious about how one goes from making tapes for one person to<br />
marriage proposals to another in two days. Fair enough”<br />
“Fair enough.”<br />
“So”<br />
“I’m just sick of thinking about it all the time.”<br />
“All what”<br />
“This stuff. Love and marriage. I want to think about something else.”<br />
“I’ve changed my mind. That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. I do. I will.”<br />
“Shut up. I’m only trying to explain.”<br />
“Sorry. Carry on.”<br />
“See, I’ve always been afraid of marriage because of, you know, ball and chain, I want my freedom,<br />
all that. But when I was thinking about that stupid girl I suddenly saw it was the opposite: that if you got<br />
married to someone you know you love, and you sort yourself out, it frees you up for other things. I<br />
know you don’t know how you feel about me, but I do know how I feel about you. I know I want to stay<br />
with you and I keep pretending otherwise, to myself and you, and we just limp on and on. It’s like we<br />
sign a new contract every few weeks or so, and I don’t want that anymore. And I know that if we got<br />
married I’d take it seriously, and I wouldn’t want to mess about.”<br />
“And you can make a decision about it just like that, can you In cold blood, bang bang, if I do that,<br />
then this will happen I’m not sure that it works like that.”<br />
“But it does, you see. Just because it’s a relationship, and it’s based on soppy stuff, it doesn’t mean<br />
you can’t make intellectual decisions about it. Sometimes you just have to, otherwise you’ll never get<br />
anywhere. That’s where I’ve been going wrong. I’ve been letting the weather and my stomach muscles<br />
and a great chord change in a Pretenders single make up my mind for me, and I want to do it for<br />
myself.”<br />
“Maybe.”