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She had long brown hair and emerald green eyes which weren’t actually cold, just a bit chilly. She loved expensive perfumes and wildflowers. As for cigarettes, well, she could afford a couple from time to time, but mostly in a company. Her name was Jane and that’s already more than you need to know.
He was a brilliant young man with great prospects. One day he would surely become a writer, of course if he managed to find the right words and tamed his temper. He was both an attractive and repulsive type, all because of the way he talked: “words are like poker: sometimes you get a good combination and sometimes you just don’t,” – he used to say quite often those days. His name was Mark. Mark Rodgers, and to say this means to say nothing yet.
She worked as a croupier but in fact the main task was to encourage the clients to spend more money. Well, Jane got beauty, grace and she was reasonably smart not to show her brains to men, which was just enough to make her irresistible.
And he in his turn, worked at a morning program on TV as a creative director. He was ironic, intelligent and criminally charming, which was just enough to make him dangerous.
When they first met she was leaving out, into the night, with a random guy. And Mark was just about to lose all of his money for that day, but when he saw Jane something reflected in his head, so he won a double sum. He privily started to call her “my muse”. And what about her? She didn’t even notice anything uncommon, only maybe the guy suddenly began to seem such a wrong choice, but she couldn’t explain why.
The other day they met again. His publisher finally accepted the manuscript, so Mark was currently not available to his mind, as he was jumping on the cloud nine. In fact he was almost dancing while crossing the street and it was obvious he wasn’t able to notice a woman on the curb.
“Hey! Where the hell are your eyes?” she resented furiously standing back to her feet.
“Oh, I’m so sorry ma'am, I didn’t mean to”, Mark started to apologize anxiously.
“Of course you didn’t, otherwise you’d be in big trouble, kid”, she measured him with an angry glance, but wonder, she wasn’t angry anymore and she surely didn’t like it.
“What can I do for you to make amends?” he asked hopefully.
“Oh, you’d better do nothing, coz I bet you can’t do anything without spoiling it”, she said leaving.
“Can I at least know your name?” he shouted after her.
“Jane”, she turned round, “and as for your name I just don’t wanna know it”.
“Ok then, Jane”, he smiled, “see you around”.
She whispered something to herself and walked away while Mark was even happier than before: after all he found out her name. That encouraged him to go to her workplace every evening.
But long months it didn’t seem to change anything. When Mark entered she gave him a usual brief look, sometimes she smirked and that was it. Ok, he nearly knocked her down in the street and they hardly know each other but what should he do to attract her attention? To come in, being dressed as a hamburger? A chicken? Lady Gaga? What? He would do anything only not to see her leaving with new guys over and over again. When Mark tried to talk to her, to buy her a drink or even simply to smile, she didn’t seem to give a toss. So by the end of the second month he had been deeply desperate when she suddenly came across to him.
“Why are you here?” she asked looking straight into his eyes.
“What a delightful and unexpected meeting!” he said with irony, “I’m playing poker as you see”.
“I didn’t ask what you are doing. I asked why”, she said still without shifting her gaze.
“Well, because of you, I guess”, he brazenly glanced back.
“Ok, but why?” she finally got confused and soft.
“I don’t know”, he answered, “you look gorgeous and you seem to be something more than you pretend to be and … you brought me luck”.
“Oh, really, did I?” she replied wonderingly.
“Yes, you did. Two months and two days ago. Don’t you remember anything special about that day?”
“No, not really”, she lied, or maybe not, because at that very moment she didn’t notice anything for fair. Things started to change only after they met: in fact she found it harder and harder to choose random guys.
“Anyway, I’m sure, something happened that day”, he shrugged.
“Do you mind coming to my place? There’s too much noise here”, she said calmly, which even stung Mark: how many times did she need to repeat this so that she could feel free when asking someone to spend a night with her? But he didn’t refuse anyway. It was a rare chance for him, maybe not for hundreds of previous men, but for him indeed.
Thirty minutes later in a taxi they found themselves in a small but appealing flat. Surprisingly, but she didn’t know what to do. And he didn’t want to do anything, actually. They exchanged puzzled glances. For some reason she asked:
“Do you think I’m nice?”
“Yeah, sure”, he replied honestly, which made her laugh.
“What a fallacious and naive judgment, kid! But I like you, you’re sweet.”
“Well, may I ask you a question then?” he blushed.
“You already did; do you want to ask another one?” she laughed again.
“Yes please”, he pretended not to notice her laughter.
“Ok, have a try then.”
“Why can’t you be with just one man?”
“Who told you I can’t?” she lifted an eyebrow.
“Well, if you can, then why don’t you?”
“Because I haven’t found anyone so far, whom I would like to see beside me every single day and night.”
“Then why can’t you just wait for him alone?”
“That’s complicated, kid”, she sighed.
“And what if I am the guy?” he gave her a look.
“You might be, kid, but aren’t you too self-assured?” she smiled.
“No, not really”, he smiled too.
“I'm afraid of the dark”, she said suddenly.
“What?” Mark dazed.
“Exactly what you’ve heard. That’s why I can’t stay alone at night.”
“If that’s all, I think I can help you overcome this fear”, he winked.