Exiles in America(52)

beautiful yet spooky. Daniel wondered what the other people at the Green

Leafe thought. This probably looked perfectly harmless outside the intimate

circle of their table.

“Hmmm, nice,” said Abbas. “You are so nice. You cannot believe what a

nice, warm, affectionate man Daniel can be.”

The words were as startling as a tongue kiss in public, yet Daniel’s first re-

action was to be pleased. Fear and embarrassment followed, but first he felt

flattered, touched. He saw Ross looking wide-eyed, finally understanding. He

saw Zack looking worried, his attention focused on Elena. He couldn’t guess

the expression on Abbas’s face: triumphant, indifferent, innocent?

A pack of girls at the front of the room began to shriek like parrots, but

they were laughing at a boy who danced by their table with both wrists

perched on his head, fingers wiggling like antlers.

“Thank you,” said Abbas, and he reached up and clutched Daniel’s left

hand and warmly squeezed it. “I feel much better.”

Daniel came back around and sheepishly sat down again, afraid to look the

others in the eye.

“What do we owe?” asked Elena, snapping her purse open. “It is late and

I am tired. We should be getting home.”

“It is early!” said Abbas. “Stay. We are not going.”

“You stay. I am tired. I am going.”

“Do you know the way?” asked Ross. “I can walk you back.”

“Thank you, I can find my way.” She paused. “Unless you were intending

to go, too.”

“Let me walk you. Please. I can take you across campus. It’s shorter and

you won’t get lost.” Ross made the offer sound chivalrous and harmless.

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She turned to Abbas, as if to ask his permission. But Abbas refused to look

at her. He lowered his head and lifted his shoulders, blocking his view of her.

“Yes, Ross. Walk me home,” she said and stood up. “What do we owe?”

she repeated.

“That’s okay,” said Zack. “We’ll take care of this. Our treat.” He was

watching Ross, trying to read his intentions or signaling him to be careful.

Ross only smiled.

“Gentlemen,” said Ross. “I can’t thank you enough for coming to my the-

ater tonight. We had a great time, didn’t we?”

Elena told Zack and Daniel good night, then faced her husband. “You will

not stay too late, Abbas?”

“I will stay as late as I please.”

“Fine then. It is your funeral. Let us go,” she told Ross. “Ah, thank you,”

she said when Ross offered her his arm. She took hold of the arm in both

hands and strolled toward the door, swaying along with the fierce, old-

fashioned grace of a woman in high heels, never looking back at her husband.

18

Abbas blandly watched them go. He took another swallow of beer.

“Is your friend going to fuck my wife?”

Daniel was too startled by the question to reply.

Zack, however, remained calm and reasonable. “I doubt it. I know he likes

her. But Ross is too gentlemanly to try anything. He’ll probably just talk with

her, flirt with her, then say good night.”

Zack was trying to keep the peace, but Daniel didn’t want peace. He

wanted everything out in the open.

“Why? Are you afraid Elena wants to fuck him?”

Abbas glared at Daniel. “She can fuck who she pleases. I do not care.” He

shook a cigarette from his pack, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it. “You will be

coming to the studio on Sunday, yes?”

Why did he mention this in front of Zack? “I was planning to,” said

Daniel, wanting to suggest that he wouldn’t if Abbas continued to be an ass-

hole.

And then, as if to prove the point, Abbas turned to Zack. “You know

about our Sundays, don’t you?”

Zack cautiously nodded. “I do.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?”

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“No. Should it?”

Abbas smiled. “That is right. You are a psychiatrist. You can only answer

questions with questions.”

“It’s a bad habit, I admit. But sometimes questions are the best answers.”

Zack paused. “You haven’t answered mine. Do you want me to be upset that

you and Daniel are seeing each other? Does it make it more exciting for you?”

Daniel was surprised to hear Zack being quietly confrontational, gently

tough. In all their years together, however, they had never had a scene like

this, where he and Zack sat down with the third person to thrash things out.

But there had been nobody like Abbas, who actually wanted this scene.