Aria Remains
CHAPTER THREE

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‘Hi,’ she said, the utterance of just one word betraying her nervous surprise.

They all stood in silence for several moments as Aria shook Robert’s hand. She looked to Ruby, whose expression seemed to say, ‘Told you so’. He was a very attractive man, tall and well-toned, with light green eyes shining as if it were still morning and toothpaste-advert teeth. Immediately she briefly thought of the black dress she had left hanging in the wardrobe, then decided she was glad she hadn’t chosen to present herself to this definite maybe in an outfit so revealing it may as well have had the invitation, ‘just let me know how and when’, emblazoned in sequins across its diaphanous back.

‘Well,’ Ruby said, a dramatic tone to her voice, ‘shall we all sit down?’

She moved quickly to the armchair, giving Aria no option but to accept Robert’s gesture and join him on the sofa.

’The food’s almost ready, ’Ruby said. ‘Josh is keeping an eye on it, but I think it’ll be about ten minutes. I’ve made the cauliflower cheese you like.’

She flashed a smile to Aria, glanced at Robert and then announced that she was going to the kitchen to get them all a drink. Watching her leave the room, Aria’s heart began to throb as she searched for something to say.

‘You arrived early, too?’ she asked, regretting it instantly, thinking she may as well have followed up with something equally as dully obvious as, and we’re both sitting down, both at the same time, on the very same sofa. She felt flustered, amateurish, like a young teenager on her first date with the handsome boy from English class.

‘Yes,’ Robert said. ‘I’m terrible with time. I always think I have much less of it than I actually do, so I’m usually early for everything.’

He seemed nervous, too, which Aria considered strange for someone who looked so…accomplished. She liked the impression he was leaving upon her, liked how it felt against her body and how it opened possibilities in her mind, and it set her somewhat at ease.

‘So, what do you do?’ he asked brightly. ‘I mean, Josh said you run your own business but you know what he’s like, not too heavy on the details.’

Aria gave a small laugh as Robert smiled. The sunlight seemed to grow brighter through the windows behind him. The air seemed fresher, tasted sweeter. Within her she felt an awakening, a rose forsaken in an unending desert unveiling at its first drop of water since the drought many had predicted would never end.

‘Yes,’ she said, suddenly conscious of her hands and her complete lack of any idea what to do with them. ‘I do. I make journals, design the pages for them, put the covers together. I still take photos too, wedding photos, although now I’m mainly concentrated on the journals. The wedding photos are fun, but it’s so much work, like being at a party you weren’t invited to and then having to spend days cleaning up afterwards. That’s the longest part, checking through all the shots, trying to replace one where everyone has their eyes open and they’re all looking in the same direction…’

She felt that she was rambling and wanted to stop talking, yet wanted him to know everything about her, wanted him to be impressed, to think she was an interesting person with an interesting life. She wanted him to want to hear her opinion on things, on everything, on any subject he chose. She wanted him to know what she liked to eat, what she liked to listen to, what she liked to read.

She wanted him to want her, and the notion brought a flush to her face.

‘This looks like a nice Rose,’ Ruby said as she came back into the room, handing them their glasses.

Robert raised his to Aria, and she met it with her own a little too forcefully. They gave out a loud click and small splashes of wine landed in their laps. Ruby shook her head, restraining her smile as she returned to the armchair.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Aria said, wiping a hand down her dress. She looked at the spots on Robert’s faded jeans, then raised her eyes to the black tee shirt beneath his jacket. She recognised the portion of the white printed logo, the thin circles and the letters ‘ell ja’.

‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘Honestly, don’t worry about it at all. I’m forever spilling and dropping. And I can’t even look at a kitchen knife without cutting my finger.’

‘I know what you mean,’ Aria told him, abandoning the attempted purge of the spots of wine on her dress. ‘I just bought a new…what are they called? Those carrot peeler things? First carrot, straight down my finger, blood everywhere. That’s why I usually just stick to takeaways. Far less dangerous.’

Robert nodded enthusiastically. ‘Me too. They all know me by name, even though I’ve not been living here long. Hello, I say, it’s Rob. Don’t even have to tell them what I want.’ He paused for a moment, looking down and admitting sheepishly, ‘Maybe that’s not the most impressive thing to reveal about myself.’ He looked up again, caught Ruby’s eye and said, ‘That’s why I was so pleased to be invited here. I haven’t had a good, home-cooked meal in ages.’

They smiled at one another again. He is very nice, Aria thought. Very nice. And he wants to be impressive, and he’s polite and funny. Sylvia tee shirt, too.

They continued chatting as though they were old friends, moving to the kitchen, their arms touching lightly as they went, almost forgetting they weren’t alone as they ate the cauliflower cheese and then the profiteroles Ruby had carefully arranged into a calorific pyramid. Occasionally she was able to interject, to offer an opinion or ask if they were enjoying their meal, while Josh appeared to have given up entirely, content to watch them through a pleased expression and several glasses of wine. Eventually, as the conversation came as close to falling into a lull as it had all evening, he did manage to say something.

‘I just knew you two would hit it off,’ he said, unplugging the newly-bought metal stopper, its top curling into a ‘C’, from the third bottle of the evening. He had appointed it the ‘best invention ever’ when Ruby had removed it from its packaging. She had laughed and wondered how he could possibly have made it this far through his life before he had met her. It was a thought that often crossed her mind, when he would painfully, disastrously attempt to prepare food or would scatter the clothes he had just pulled from the tumble dryer across the kitchen floor.

Aria and Robert smiled, accepting another glass and clinking them together in over-exaggerated slow motion so as to avoid further spillage.

‘Didn’t I tell you she was lovely?’ Josh went on.

‘Josh,’ Ruby said, a playful scorn in her voice. ‘You can’t say that kind of thing. It’s not 1982.’

‘No, no,’ Robert said, raising a hand. ‘You’re quite right.’ He turned to Aria and then said, ‘Very lovely indeed.’

She felt her face redden again, and bowed her head.

‘Thank you, sir,’ she said.

She was feeling the wine, and she liked it.

‘Should have introduced you sooner,’ Josh continued. ’I just knew you two would…’

‘Okay, Cupid,’ Ruby interrupted, taking hold of Josh’s hand. ‘Your work here is done. Come and give me a hand with something.’

After they had left the room and Robert and Aria had laughed at such a poorly disguised plan to leave them alone for a while, he told her that he had only recently moved into the area, and had been working with Josh for just a couple of months. He found it difficult to meet new people and consequently knew hardly anyone else in town, and hadn’t yet been out very often. He was quite shy, he said, and didn’t like crowds. With every word Aria liked him more, saw more potential, imagined the keys of the future sliding into the lock that held the thick, iron chains secured around her heart. He was engaging, self-effacing, intelligent and apparently oblivious to the way he looked. To how good he looked. He didn’t seem interested in fashion, in product, in any of the things she found unappealing. His trainers were slightly battered, his jacket a little crumpled, his hair just the right amount of scruffy. For the first time in a long time she was feeling herself open up to the possibility of letting someone into her life again, and it felt very much better than she had expected it to.

Ruby and Josh returned to the kitchen after a few minutes and then they all retired to the living room, Aria and Robert resuming their positions on the sofa.

‘I think it’s been a successful evening,’ Josh said, raising his glass.

‘I’m just glad you two are getting along,’ Ruby added, slurring her words just slightly, smiling at their guests. ‘I just thought it would be nice for Aria to meet you, since Josh had said you didn’t really know anyone else other than him. Sometimes, after a diet of oatmeal, it’s nice to have some bagels and cream cheese.’

Everyone looked at her with a confused expression, then laughed.

’I think I know what you mean,’ Robert said, ’and I think I should probably be insulted.’ Josh nodded.

‘Are you calling me oatmeal?’ he asked, still laughing.

‘Oh, no, I just meant…’ Ruby explained, sliding to the edge of the armchair and frantically waving her hands, ‘I just meant, it’s nice to see someone different other then the people you work with, that’s all.’

‘And cover them in cream cheese?’ Robert asked, his face suddenly turning the same shade of fuchsia as Aria’s had been on occasion throughout the evening. ‘Oh, no, god, no, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded at all.’

‘It’s okay,’ Aria laughed, then added in a manner she hoped would sound flirtatious rather than degenerate, ‘I’m quite partial to cream cheese, as it goes.’

They slipped into silence for a short time, although it wasn’t an uncomfortable interlude. Instead, it was more that each were thinking about something, taking a few private moments for themselves. Catching Aria’s eye, Ruby flashed her a smile. It was an expression she recognised, since she had seen it whenever she was approached by a suitor. It was if Ruby was silently asking, ‘Well, what do you think? Any chance?’ Aria smiled back, her expression a great deal more uncommon since this time it implied, ‘Actually, yes, there could be a chance, here.’

She was a beautiful woman. Her hair, reaching halfway down her back, with a slight natural wave and a lustrous darkness that spoke to the possibility of what was waiting to be uncovered rather than being a shadow falling across surreptition, and eyes that reflected the same blue purity as the clear morning sky, framed by long, dark lashes, lent her the impression that she was somehow narcissistic, that she spent time working on herself, making herself as attractive as she could. That she was submerged in the air of superiority she often sensed from women who were trying too hard to look as she did, but had not achieved their goal. In truth, that was something about which she could not care less. She failed to see the relevance, the consequence of physicality, of superficiality. It would be the mind, the attitude, the character that attracted her to someone, that would hold her interest. It was true that Robert was a handsome man but, if it had not been for his outlook on life or his apparent disinterest in cosmetics that matched her own, she would perhaps have smiled and then, with a shrug, moved along. It would have made him a snack that would not have benefitted her in any way, rather than embodying the proposition of the much more healthy and substantial diet she was beginning to regard him as.

‘Isn’t it such a marvellous thing?’ Josh suddenly asked, apropos of nothing. The others looked at him, surprised and slightly confused. ‘I could watch it for hours.’

They followed his gaze, through the window and out to the brilliant moon beyond. It dazzled against the darkening sky, a hazy cream aura encircling it.

‘The moon?’ Ruby asked. Josh nodded, a stupefied grin on his face. ‘I was reading something the other day, actually,’ she continued, gazing up at it again, ‘that said the moon is moving away from earth at about one and a half inches every year. And it makes the rock rise and fall with each tide.’

Josh nodded, then mumbled, ‘And it’s so bright’.

Aria smiled to herself and looked back to Ruby. She considered it to be the prefect summation of their dispositions and, by extension, of their relationship, the way Josh was so content to simply look at the moon, to marvel at its beauty while Ruby, on the other hand, would be more interested in how she could contrive a way to be the first human being since the intrepid explorers of the great Mayan civilisation to step foot upon it, to explore it, to replace out as much about it as she could. Josh, the happy, languid observer; Ruby, the inquisitive, proactive mind. ‘I think the drawer is broken,’ Josh might say, and would be happy to work around its failure, to carry on using it regardless of its developing stiffness or awkwardness. ‘Mind out of the way, I’ll get the screwdriver,’ Ruby would tell him.

‘I’m glad he’s not just like this at work,’ Robert said.

‘What do you mean?’ Josh asked, still smiling through a pretence of indignation.

‘Examples?’ Ruby asked, interested, adjusting her position to face him.

Robert thought for a moment, then remembered, ’The other day we were going through these old folders, these over-filled lever arch files, trying to rearrange their contents since a few of them were breaking apart. So, anyway, we’re concentrating on all these papers, trying to keep them in order, and he says, ‘Do you remember Ben Stiller’s dad on Seinfeld?’ I mean, where did that come from?’

They all laughed again, Josh trying to explain that the task was so fiddly and frustrating, shuffling the papers and trying to get some of them to fit inside new document wallets that were proving almost impossible to open, that it made him want to shout, ‘Serenity now!’

After the amusement had died away, Aria sighed, ’Yes, I loved that show. Remember ‘sponge-worthy?’

‘He took…it out,’ Ruby said, laughing again.

‘Master of my domain,’ Robert offered.

‘I was in the pool!’ Josh chuckled.

They went on to review and compare other television shows they loved and now missed, before the discussion moved to what they considered to be the worst they’d seen, the most disappointing movies and then, still laughing and consuming a fourth bottle of wine, their favourite bands and musicians. Pleased that Robert had similar tastes to herself, other than an inexplicable fondness for ‘the odd bit of 90’s R&B’ and a profound and entirely groundless hostility towards pizza, she found herself feeling singularly relaxed in his company, enjoying the sensation very much. I could do this again, she thought to herself. And then again, and again after that. She envisioned herself spread across her lounge floor, the love map that had been developing and idealising her preferences since she was a child carefully unfolded and flattened before her. She had already begun charting their journey, running a finger across the contour lines and learning the grid references, navigating with the compass of her heart, relishing the cartography.

When the last of the bottle was finished, their glasses drained so that they looked almost as though they had just been washed, and the clock on the mantel had moved its hands to a position which indicated to them that it was only an hour and a quarter until tomorrow, they reluctantly began preparing to go their separate ways.

‘Would you like to share a cab?’ Robert asked, as they all stood and began their withdrawal from the lounge.

Aria considered the suggestion with as much sobriety as she could muster, taking the hand he offered to lend her elevation from the sofa slightly more reliability. She would like to share a cab, she would like it rather a lot, but she was also feeling a little bit drunk. Just about drunk enough to do something she might end up regretting, not because of what might happen but because of its impetuousness. And so, ignoring the persistent encouragement from the wine that should have been concentrating on its proper purpose, limiting the build up of plaque in her arteries and boosting her cholesterol, she instead listened to her own conscience, a bigger picture revealing itself to her as she looked up at him.

‘Thank you, but no,’ her scruples had her say. ‘I only live a few minutes away so I’m happy to walk.’

Robert looked slightly disappointed, but nodded his understanding. Aria glanced at Ruby, who was smiling and gesturing encouragement with her head, and then said, ‘I’m free on Saturday though, if that’s something you might be interested in.’

‘Really?’ Robert beamed, quickly resembling a child who had been given permission to open a birthday present a day early. ‘Yes, I would be interested. I mean, that’s…that would be great.’

‘Okay,’ Aria replied happily, hoping he hadn’t heard her hiccup. ‘Josh has my number, so just give me a ring.’

Aria always liked to make admirers work for her number, even if, on this occasion, she had hardly assigned Robert the most arduous task. It was something she had always done, and could never explain to Ruby why, despite her questioning it. As she hugged her goodbye she could see the same bemused look on her face. Ignoring it, she shook hands with the two men, swayed slightly as she walked along the driveway and then turned towards home. It was a clear, warm night and as she went she looked again to the moon. It reflected the light from its star with an incredible, almost impossible brightness and clarity, illuminating her way, whilst the other stars around it smiled radiantly, as if pleased at the way she had spent her evening.

This could be something, she thought to herself, her shoes catching the stone path as she walked through the alleyway.

This might actually turn out to be something really good.