7

Some minutes had passed, and an idea was beginning to itch into Helen's brain. Her good looking neighbour was right there, observing her, and with his eagle eyes watching all little bubbles that came up her glass. He was right there, palpable, just a few tables and a wall of ethic separated them both. But who cared about ethics, again? Mr. Neighbour was easier to get than a cold on the beginning of fall. He must have so much active hormones and lack of brain no woman was capable of not calling his attention. He was there looking for fun, she was there looking for fun...

No!

No decent woman would have the courage of betraying her husband just because the HE had done already. Revenge is something you eat cold (isn't it what they say?). Besides that, she would be using a person to affect another; Logan himself wouldn't give a damn so she would be affecting herself only. Helen Navarro would be doing nothing besides burring herself deeper into a menu who'd been touched by thousands of hands including the one who'd touched her husband and that was madness.

She looked up again.

Neighbour and Giraffe were back to their talk and had probably forgotten her already. She was pretty easy to forget. Their mouth only stopped moving finally when the clock reached full hour. The men seemed to be friends for a long time because they were so entertreined with the talk. Now and then their eyes would gape sideways at Helen, the lonely woman. Neighbour then laid a hand onto Giraffe's shoulder and smiled, denoting the end of the conversation. Soon, he was opening space through the some tables that separated the washrooms from the bar, and in a blink of eyes he was by her side asking the barman a drink. "Add two glasses, please..."— the cotton of his jacket touched her arm, she felt her skin tingling. "one for me and one for my beautiful neighbour..."

She let out a hip! and turned to see if she had understood right. There he was, with two cups in his hands, grinning down at her. The liquid he held was of extreme brown and smelled like gasoline, she could feel it entering in her nostrils so close it was, and so was Neighbour, whose grin hadn't faded at all and whose voice went as precise and persuasive as a professor's:

"No woman should be crying by her own here. May I invite you to smile? I can pay the bill."

He had already eliminated the space that separated them both. He would soon be breaking the wall and her sense of ethic altogether. How come?

Helen didn't like the way he winked after saying he would pay the bill, because she didn't like him at all, but grasped the glass that was pointed at her and shortly swallowed the drink in only one gulp. He arched an eyebrow when her cup went down hitting the table, clean as though it had never been full.

"Wow, I didn't know you were this kind of person, neighbor." he stated.

"My name is Helen." She extended her hand. He held it, seeing how bare it was of any ring or painting. She hadn't actually understood why she'd given her hand.

"What are you doing here, Helen?"

"Why are you asking? Shouldn't I be here?"

"Well I don't know, I've never seen you here and I am a frequent customer: cheap food, free water... have you noticed this is paradise?"

Helen blushed slightly. How terrible it was in her high school years, when nobody had money for anything and the only place affordable was the famous Warehouse. Helen and her girl friends would stay on the line arguing if it was best to order the 5 bucks hamburger or spaghetti. Hamburger for sure, in Marina's opinion, because they came with fries. Oh, how good it was to be a poor teenager...

"Laughing is much better than crying, heh?" said Neighbour.

Helen closed her mouth, hadn't noticed that his comment brought up old memories from the time she was free and happy and didn't know. He ordered one more drink, passing it to her. "What about this: you share what is upsetting you and I listen."

"Nothing is upsetting me." She said sharply.

"C'mon; I know that you - like everybody else - is here to have fun but trust me, you can't have fun while sad feelings are still into you. Put them out, I can take it. I am so random. You will never find anyone more random to talk about your feelings than me."

HA! She thought, he was such a random... Helen if in her normal state would grimace and ask for him to leave because she was a resolved woman needing space and his presence bothered her intimately. But she had already taken the next shot, and was bulging. Because if Logan had the heart of doing it, she could do it as well. With the same scissors he used to stab her soul she could use it to cut her ties with him. Mr Neighbour's smile was more taking than she'd imagined, and she didn't even know his name.

Thank you for reading! What do you think will happen next? Drinking can be very bad for our conscience :0
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