"James Patrick Kelly - Chemistry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

the money was. They'd lived together off-campus their
senior year in East Lansing; Glenn had a four handicap
in golf and wanted her to wear stupid hats when he was
in the mood for sex. He told her a little more about
Marsha, how she'd taught him how to sell and how she
apologized for her Caesarian scar the first time they'd
made love. He said the best times together were when she
let him drive her Porsche 717 and Lily laughed and said
Glenn had a Mazda Magic which he had never let her drive
but that once when he went home for his grandmother's
funeral she had swiped his keys and cranked it to 110 on
I 96 and had never told anyone until now so they pressed
their bodies hard against each other and kissed until
their lips were numb and Lily wondered what it cost to
rent an encounter room on the sixth floor.
By eleven the clearing was too small for them. It was
time to see if their newfound infatuation was portable.
They started strolling hand in hand up the slate path
before she realized she had left her purse behind.
Almost everybody had in the welcome garden paired up and
dispersed; there were only enough dancers to make two
sets. Lily thought she detected a note of desperation in
the music. As the dancers promenaded, the caller warned
them:
Hurry up strangers, don't be slow,
You'll never fall in love unless you do-si-do.
Maybe the band was ready to pack up. As she watched Old
Man Skintights bravely circling the floor, she wondered
what it would feel like to get enhanced and then not
find anyone to fall for. A refund wouldn't really cover
the cost of being iced out at a neuromance palace. She
remembered her first glimpse of the welcome garden, when
it had bubbled with exotic possibilities. Now it seemed
as flat as yesterday's champagne.
"They gave us four or five hours," she said. "At
midnight we all turn into pumpkins."
Steve had zero tolerance for melancholy. "This way." He
aimed her at the elevators.
"No," she said, "let's walk up."
"Two flights?"
"Oh, we have to peek at shops on the fourth floor," she
said. He looked doubtful. "Maybe get something to eat?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Well, what if I am?"
He colored; it was the first time she had seen him
embarrassed. "Sorry." He turned reluctantly toward the
stairs but when he tugged at her to follow, she let him
go.
"Steve, what's the matter?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe it's just that I