Silence was what she wanted. Polly looked out of the car window, she did not want to talk to Oscar.

Probably she had already said too much.

When Oscar told her that she was mean to him, she was afraid that he would connect two and two quickly. They had both started working at the same time, and she thought he was beautiful. But she was determined not to get involved in the messy business of seeing a co-worker. It was perfect because neither did Oscar, which she had to admit she liked. She had no idea who he was involved with, and there were no messy rumors about him.

She was married to her job for the most part, having amassed enough to start buying the art that she normally sold. It made her very happy. The De Lempicka on her lap was actually something she could afford, but now her eyes were on something else that she was saving toward. The photographer that had taken the photograph of Oscar in the morning’s newspaper was an up and coming her eyes were on as well. She had captured a side of him she had never seen, she never got close to him.

She remained silent, turned away from Oscar to avoid any more slips. When she did turn for a second, she saw he looked out of the window as well. Traffic prevented them from really having any view, Polly feigned sleep so that she would not have to talk to him. She closed her eyes, thought about her upcomong trip to Shanghai where she and Oscar would be going soon again. They had been in so many countries together since they had started working together. So many things, that if they were friendly it would have been nice to share. But they were not anything.

Her last trip to Shanghai was followed by returning to her penthouse, and the man she was seeing telling her her job took up too much of her time. He needed to be with someone who would have more time for him.

It pissed her off that in the twenty-first century, she would have a breakup over something like that. Women did not even need men anymore, the problem was she wanted one. She loved the feeling of a man touching her, being close to her. The hardness of his body versus the softness of hers, the feeling of being full and conquered when he was inside her.

Her thoughts drifted to the last time a man made her feel like that. The next thing she knew the scent of roses was replaced by clean linen, she started roughly. She half covered Oscar, her hair in her mouth damp from drool. She was almost hysterical as she pushed at his hard chest.

“I’m sorry!”

The silence was broken. He smiled, as he shrugged. Polly stared at him, as he looked out of the window again. She realized that this self-inflicted war she was having was trite. There was no reason why she was this way with him, when he really was never any particular way with her.

“You fell asleep but you had a death grip on the De Lempicka. I was never afraid that you would drop it!”

“This De Lempicka, I could buy if I wanted. But, well, I am not going to. This is a small one, but still lovely.”

“You know I really meant it Polly that you are amazing at what you do. I was wrong to insinuate anything else…”

Polly wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth. She was less embarassed about it than she would have been, since he was so blase about it. She saw the moisture in his suit, trailing where she had been lying against him.

“My entire life has been very competitive. But after you drool on someone, you kind of lose your edge, don’t you?”

Polly laughed at her own joke, and Oscar laughed too.

Polly held the De Lempicka and her principles tightly. She could be friendly with Oscar, male and female colleagues could be cordial.

When they arrived at their destination, Polly walked out of the car in her impossibly high stilettos. She herself was a little less impossible to access as she followed Oscar.

More Wicked Wednesday here:

detail of a tamara de lempicka by f dot leonora

