Page 20 of Cursed Daughters
“There’s no…mystery to it.”
“If I wanted a mystery, I’d be reading one.”
“Touché.”
She sat up and peeked at the drawing. It was her. It was usuallyher. He had sketched her general form, the shape of her hips, the dip in her back, her neck. There was not much more to it than that, and yet she felt the movement, the life and the love.
“You should be an artist. Fuck engineering.”
He chuckled. “Yea, that would go over well with my dad.”
“He would adjust, eventually. They seem to let you do what you want.”
“Mmm. So far as it doesn’t get in the way of their vision for my life.”
“And what’s that?”
He shrugged. “CEO of such-and-such, avid churchgoer, married with two-point-five kids.”
“How about artist, avid churchgoer, lover of Mo.”
“I can definitely get behind ‘lover of Mo.’ ”
“It’s a highly coveted title.”
“I’m sure it is.” He wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She obliged, and then leant back to look at him. “Seriously, though, it would be a shame if you didn’t do something with your talent.”
“My mother would have a heart attack if I announced that I was giving up engineering for art. In fact, she would have a heart attack, come back to life and then kill me.”
“What doyouwant, though?”
He shrugged. “I can always draw. It doesn’t have to be my job.” It was a cop-out. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What are you planning to do with your photography skills?”
“It’s…I…”
“Yes?”
“I’ll follow your lead. We can run off into the sunset together—two crazy artists.”
“Sounds good,” and they shook onit.
—
In the evening, he took her to a party at a friend’s house—a girl who hugged them both tightly on the doorstep, enveloping them in a sweet vanilla fragrance, before waving them in. The house was overflowing, people chatting and sipping drinks whilst the stereo blasted “Gin and Juice.” Golden Boy spotted some friends sitting on couches, and they went over. “This is Mo,” he shouted over the music, and the friends moved up so they could both sit down.
“Kalu has never introduced a babe before. You must be really special,” said a boy whose name she’d already forgotten.
“She is.”
Mo beamed. She was having the time of her life. Right up until their host found them. The girl leant in to Golden Boy and whispered in his ear. He frowned briefly, and then sighed.
“I need to help Lisa with something. I’ll be back. Is that cool?”
Mo nodded. What choice did she have? She could hardly say it wasn’t cool. Then it would look as ifshewasn’t cool. Golden Boy kissed her forehead and then he was gone, following Lisa, whose dress barely covered her ass. And his friends were already talking to her again, asking her what uni she went to, and whether it was true that the lecturers there dated their students.
