Toni’s

rain-249872 ‘People are like raindrops.’
‘Really.’
‘Yeah. If they fall too hard, they desintegrate.’
‘Simon.’
‘What? It’s true isn’t it? Imagine someone falling from -‘
‘Simon.’
‘Yeah?’

Amanda looked at Simon and decided she didn’t like him. She loved him, but she didn’t like him. He went against her grain. But she loved him. And that was just about it.

They lived in something other people called ‘flat’. It was on the first floor. It had three rooms, if you didn’t count the kitchen: living room, bedroom, bathroom. There were times Amanda found Simon sleeping in the tub. He said it was good for his back. Amanda just shook her head and asked if he wanted some coffee. He would yawn then, stretch, and ask for tea instead.

When asked about their relationship, Amanda’s general answer was, ‘I really don’t know.’ Simon on the other hand leaned back, sighed satisfied and said: ‘Amanda and I, we’re two of a kind.’ Amanda looked at him then, wondering if they really lived on the same planet.

The apartment had small windows with deep sills. Neither had much for a view, except the one in the living room. It faced the street and a small patch of green with a gnarled old appletree. Amanda called it the Sad Old Man. Simon called it ‘visceral’.

Simon used words like that. When he said ‘pneumonia’ there was just the faintest hint of a p. He didn’t grow his hair long. He was afraid Amanda would one day creep up behind him and cut it off. He smiled when a woman cried in the movies. If asked why, he said: ‘Now she’s beautiful. It’s easy if all you have to do is smile.’ Amanda sighed then as if saying: ‘You see, that’s why I don’t like him.’ But she loved him. And that was just about it.

Amanda, who was still sitting at the kitchen table, facing Simon, Amanda choked her cigarette in a pile of ash-tray stubs, let out a puff of smoke, and decided that the whole raindrop business was entirely besides the point.

‘Are you hungry?’

Simon shrugged. Oh no. Amanda knew what was about to happen. But as usual, she held a horrible fascination for the needlessness of the following… discussion.

‘Are you?’ she asked.
‘Hungry? A little.’
‘Pasta?’
‘Again?’
‘What do you want then?’
‘Dunno.’
‘I don’t think we have the recipe for that.’
‘How about eating out?’

Amanda looked up surprised. After living with Simon for so long, simple things surprised her a lot more than they used to. Only two days ago she realized that the sky really was true blue.

‘Today?’ Amanda asked.
‘Yeah.’
‘It’s Monday.’
‘So?’
‘You hate going out on Mondays.’
‘I do not. You wanna go?’
‘Where to?’
‘Toni’s?’
‘But Toni’s is pasta.’
‘No. Toni’s is Toni’s.’

Of course. Simon only ever ate pasta at Toni‘s, but Toni’s wasn’t pasta, it was Toni’s. Ok.

‘You know what?’ she asked then.
‘What?’
‘How about some Chinese?’
‘I thought you wanted pasta.’
‘It was only a suggestion.’
‘So, no pasta.’
‘Not if you don’t want to.’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘But I thought you said you didn’t want to?’

Simon gave her an incredulous look, as if she had said, ‘I want to become a dentist’. When Simon answered, he spoke carefully.

‘I said: Again?’
‘Yeah, meaning you don’t want pasta again, so you want something else.’
‘I never said that.’
‘Then what did you say?’
‘I already told you: Again?’
‘Are you hungry at all, Simon?’
‘As I said: A little.’
‘So, what do you want?’
‘Pasta sounds fine.’

Amanda counted to five, then to ten. She remembered to breathe out again.

‘Why didn’t you say so?’ she asked.
‘But you know I like pasta.’
‘You like pasta.’
‘Always have. You know that.’

Ok. Enough. Amanda reached for the phone on the table. Simon asked who she was calling.

‘The Take Away.’
‘But I thought you wanted to go out.’
‘You wanted to go out. I just said ok.’
‘No, you said it’s Monday.’
‘Simon.’
‘What?’
‘Quit it.’
‘Quit what?’
‘I’m calling the Take Away.’
‘So no pasta.’
‘No. No pasta.’
‘All right.’

Amanda stopped dialling.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Go ahead, call up the Take Away.’
‘You really want to go to Toni’s?’
‘We can if you want to.’
‘Just give me a straight answer, Simon. Toni’s, yes or no.’
‘But I thought you didn’t want pasta.’
‘Simon!’
‘Ok, ok. Toni’s? No.’
‘No?’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s raining outside.’

Amanda got up and walked out of the kitchen. She didn’t call the Take Away. She put down the phone instead, put on her raincoat and trainers and walked the five minutes to Toni’s, sat down and ordered a pepperoni Pizza with extra cheese. She’d already drank half her coke before her phone rang. She didn’t answer it.

She got a text message: Whr r u?
She answered: Toni’s.

Fifteen Minutes later, Simon entered Toni’s with a wet umbrella and a plastic bag full of four boxes from the Chinese Take Away. He sat down opposite Amanda and greeted the waiter. The waiter smiled and brought him the usual, a tall glass of coke, a slice of lemon, no ice. The pizza came, Simon asked for an extra plate. They shared the pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, Chop Suey, Wan Tan and Chicken, Sweet&Sour. Nobody complained. It was, after all, Monday.