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Creative Writing : A Short Story

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“Do you often come here?” he asked as a way of restarting a conversation that hadn’t really started in the first place. “No, not particularly.” “Live round here?” “Uh huh.” “Close?” “Close enough.” Martin nodded wisely, though Nina saw right through him and into his vacant thoughts, vacant except for one thing. Her vagina. If only his penis had been occupying a similar position in her own mind. One of the barmen swept past on the other side of the bar, a cloth in one hand to mop up spilt beer and a fixed expression of mild bemusement on his pleasant features. Nina would have liked it if he had winked at her or made some other form of non-verbal communication that verged on a written invitation as he passed. He didn’t, but then he was …show more content…

“Can I ask your name?” “You can.” She smiled. He didn’t. “It’s Nina.” “Nice name,” he said, and waited. She didn’t return the question, and he didn’t proffer an answer. Best to remain anonymous anyway. “So what do you do?” he asked. “I’m divorced,” she replied, as if that was sufficient explanation. Then she added, “Sorry, I’ve got a one-track mind. I’m a teacher.” “Primary or secondary?” “Secondary.” “Fancy any of your students?” “That’s inappropriate.” “Do you?” “Maybe. The older ones.” “Not the babes in arms, then?” He laughed. And she laughed, suddenly realising that maybe he wasn’t all that bad after all. This meant one of two things, either that she was growing increasingly desperate and had lowered her standards or that he had been merely nervous to begin with and that those nerves had contorted his features and distorted his patter. Their chatter continued, growing less desultory by the minute – or the quarter of an hour. She’s warming up, he thought at one point only to think minutes later that she was cooling down again. No, I’m definitely warming up, Nina thought as the level in her glass dropped and the world began to seem less oppressive and

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