"Robert Reed - Show Me Yours" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

The young man takes a deep breath and holds it.

"No?" she asks.

"Maybe," he says.

"Maybe is the same as no," she says. "If you think about it."
"How's that?"

"Because every 'no' is just a maybe. It's attached to something you haven't gotten around to doing yet."

"Okay," he says.

She waits.

He puts a hand to his mouth, for an instant.

"Are you going to show me?" she asks.

"Why not?"

"Okay then."

With both hands, he unbuttons his jeans and unzips them and opens them until he is thoroughly exposed.

She studies nothing but his face.

"Now you," he mutters.

Very quickly, she pulls open the robe and then closes it again, in a blur, her face not quite smiling while
she does it.

The young man blinks for a moment, as if trying to decide what he saw. Then he yanks up his pants and
zips them.

"Do you hear her?" she asks.

He doesn't look back. He doesn't even blink now, watching her. With his face changing--smiling but with
a grim, determined quality about the mouth and eyes--he says, "No, I don't hear anything. Nothing at all."

Just the same, he puts a finger to his mouth and turns abruptly, slipping back into the roommate's
bedroom.
****
She waits now, counting to five. Then on tiptoes, she moves back down the hallway, balancing speed
with stealth. The house is old and a floorboard groans, but not too loudly. The door has been closed but
not quite latched. She hears someone moving; a light shows beneath the door. Somebody says a few soft
words--the young man asks a question, judging by the tone. But no answer comes. Standing with her
head tilted forward, the girl breathes through her nose, big eyes dancing and her mouth pressed tiny as
her right hand turns the old glass knob, lifting the workings until she can push at the door without making
much noise.