Chapter 3

Shane locked up the salon and checked her reflection in the glass panels as she readjusted her shirt. “Hey….” She spun around and Carmen was there. “Did I scare you?” There was the faint rumbling of an old motor in the distant and Shane smiled. “I’ve seen scarier stuff….” Shane’s smiles didn’t quite reach the depths of her sea-green eyes. Carmen waited for her to elaborate but she didn’t. Instead she started turning away, as if she had unwittingly revealed something about herself. There was a silence between them and Carmen was not quite sure of what to say.

“You mind?” Carmen looked at Shane and shook her head. Shane lit up her cigarette, and took a deep drag from it. In the smoke, her berry-red lips and smoky eyes appeared all the more inviting. She had long graceful fingers, the fingers of a pianist. The absurd thought burst into Carmen’s head as she stared at the cigarette between Shane’s middle finger and forefinger. The night was chilly, but she could feel the delicious warmth coming from Shane’s leather-clad body and she unconsciously walked closer to Shane. Shane’s finger brushed against her thigh and Carmen wasn’t sure whether that was intentional. She didn’t like the feelings she was having. It was as if Shane unsettled something deep inside her and she knew she was behaving like an insecure teenager going on her first date. The silence between them was broken when they finally neared the chinese restaurant.

“I want the steamed dumplings, the fried rice and Carmen?” “I’ll have the Cantonese noodles,” The grumpy waitress took down their orders and she shuffled away. “So what do you do Carmen?” “Well, I work in the television studio in the day, sort of like an assistant who does all the odd-jobs….at night, I’m a DJ…an aspiring DJ,” Shane lifted her brows. “You spin gigs?” “I just moved here….so I’ve been looking for clubs willing to let me spin,” “Ahhh….that will explain why I never see you around…” Carmen looked at Shane. She was truly an enigma, an erotic mix of masculinity and femininity. She knew she was not the only one who found her so irresistible. Normally, Carmen kept out of the way of people like Shane, people who would give you a great time but would always be unreachable because it was simply not in their nature. Normally…..but there was something vulnerable and desolate in Shane’s eyes, something that tugged at Carmen despite all her rational thinking.

The waitress served them their food and Carmen looked at the set of chopsticks on her right. Shane started using the pair of chopsticks with deft familiarity and Carmen picked up the chopsticks. Shane noticed her hesitance and saw her slightly struggling with the chopsticks. “You don’t eat takeouts with chopsticks?” “Well I do…..I mean I do eat takeouts….I just eat them with a fork and spoon,” Carmen could not help the annoyance slipping into her voice. Shane always looked so calm and unperturbed and she seemed to be the only one who was unsettled. Shane smiled and picked up a hot dumping from the plate with her chopsticks. When Carmen felt like she was confident of mastering the chopsticks, she picked up the dumpling with her chopsticks. “See……I’m not that….” A victorious smile appeared on her face, before the dumpling slipped and fell into the tray of soya sauce. “Oh……” Carmen looked at the dumpling sitting forlornly in the tray of soya sauce and looked up at Shane, who had set down her chopsticks and was pressing her hands to her stomach and shaking in silent mirth. “Shane….stop laughing” she threw the roll of wet towel at Shane but her silent laugh was infectious. “I guess I’m better off using the spoon and fork,” She said as she asked the waitress for the set of cutlery. When Carmen started digging into her noodles, she heard Shane say between mouthfuls of fried rice “You know Carmen, now you’ll never convince me Tuesday was just an one-off accident,”