Page 77 of You + Me – Against the World

Vadim and I exchange an unfazed look, the kind that says: Let them talk. A look that smiles, a look that doesn’t care, a look meant only for us.

Between jokes and jabs, the evening rolls on. Our unlikely quartet begins weaving fragile bonds, threads intertwining until they form an inescapable web. Felix steals food from Clémentine’s plate. Clémentine swats his hand away. Felix claps Vadim on the shoulder. Vadim ignores him, choosing instead to look at me again. Clem and I with our shared memories, and the two guys with their endless shenanigans… We somehow become a happy little gang, despite ourselves. Four people who, for the span of a single dinner, seem to forget that they had every reason never to meet. And above all, never to love each other.

***

“I thought they were never going to leave,” I say, dropping onto the couch.

“Ah-ha! Now it’s time for my favorite part of the night…”

“What, being alone with me?”

“No, the part where Alma Lancaster is going to admit she was wrong and that this evening was an excellent idea!”

Vadim comes to lie down next to me, his head resting on my thighs. He looks up at me with a grin.

“Well, Clem and Fe didn’t hit each other, Clem only judged you a little bit, and your buddy barely even got on my nerves… Yes, I think we can say it was a success. I bow before you. You’re a genius, Sir Arcadi.”

“Say it again!” Vadim beams, closing his eyes.

“Move over, O Great One. I want some tea.”

“You’ll have to get past me first!”

“No problem.”

Vadim gets up and locks the door, closes the curtains, and turns off the light. A near-complete darkness wraps around us. We have fun finding our way back to each other by touch, with only our whispers and shivers to guide us. Then, lying on his couch, our arms and legs tangled together, we hold each other so tightly it feels like we could merge into one.

“I couldn’t have dreamed of anyone better than you for my first love,” I say to him softly.

“So, what are you dreaming of now?”

“You quitting your college assignment hustle.”

That wasn’t what he expected. But I think about it all the time, despite never talking to him about it.

“No, I mean what do you dream about for yourself?”

“I don’t know… maybe getting married some day?”

“Too cliché. Something really crazy, Alma! Something you dream of doing but don’t dare to.”

“Umm… getting a tattoo.”

“But I could take you to get a tattoo right now,” he groans, pushing me away. “No, I’m talking about a real dream. The thing you want more than anything in the world.”

“Okay, I want to have a child.”

“Accepted. That’s on my list, too. But something bigger, crazier, something that you absolutely want to do before you die.”

“Hmm… walk up the steps at the Cannes Film Festival in an haute couture dress with a slit all the way up the leg?” I say it hesitantly, but immediately realize it’s far too specific to sound like a dream I made up on the spot.

Vadim sits up, his eyes widening in amusement. “Oh yeah? Wait, I have to write this down somewhere.”

“No! It’s so narcissistic… Forget I ever said it.”

“I’m going to make a list,” he says, jumping up to grab something to write with. “Tell me everything that comes to mind!”

I turn on a small lamp near the sofa as he comes back and lies on his stomach next to me.