[ A hand coming at her. Missing her face, or it was ever aiming for her face, it lands on her -
On.
Her.
And she goes still and tense, head drawn back and lips parted in shock. And she stares at his hand. And she stares at him.
Did she do something, say something, to invite this? (Touching him? Expressing her own loneliness? Being too kind?)
For a moment, she thinks, somehow, she mistranslated the word 'read' from Dutch to English. That can be the only explanation for. This. (And true, thinking of what led him from 'no fucking' to 'I'll read with you' and his hand on her bodice is so much less upsetting than thinking of the things he's saying.
Poor girl. Pitiless life. Lonely, very lonely here.) ]
Oh -
[ Her hand removes now from his shoulder, hovers above his ill-placed pawing, and then gingerly, she pries herself out of his grasp. Holds his hand in her own, unsure what to do with it now.
Presses the book into it. ]
Here. Here, this one.
[ Perhaps if...she simply doesn't acknowledge it, it will go away. Whatever this 'it' might be. ]
no subject
On.
Her.
And she goes still and tense, head drawn back and lips parted in shock. And she stares at his hand. And she stares at him.
Did she do something, say something, to invite this? (Touching him? Expressing her own loneliness? Being too kind?)
For a moment, she thinks, somehow, she mistranslated the word 'read' from Dutch to English. That can be the only explanation for. This. (And true, thinking of what led him from 'no fucking' to 'I'll read with you' and his hand on her bodice is so much less upsetting than thinking of the things he's saying.
Poor girl. Pitiless life. Lonely, very lonely here.) ]
Oh -
[ Her hand removes now from his shoulder, hovers above his ill-placed pawing, and then gingerly, she pries herself out of his grasp. Holds his hand in her own, unsure what to do with it now.
Presses the book into it. ]
Here. Here, this one.
[ Perhaps if...she simply doesn't acknowledge it, it will go away. Whatever this 'it' might be. ]