I didn't smile. I simply straightened my tie in the mirror and buzzed my butler.
“Sir?”
“Is the Lambo warmed up?”
“The engine is at optimal operating temperature, sir.”
“Good. I'm coming down.”
***
We were cruising along th
e Pacific Highway, enjoying the drive. The moon was full and, to our left, the Pacific was rolling in and crashing against the cliffs below, looking like a great sea of mercury in the bright silver light. I glanced across at Angeline, who smiled flirtatiously at me. She was dressed in a flimsy, red cocktail dress that left little to the imagination.
“Thanks for taking me out,” she said. “This is such a gorgeous car.”
“It's one of my favorites in my collection,” I said.
“You got any music in it?”
“Music? You're supposed to be enjoying the sound of that beautiful, Italian motor!” I joked.
“I know, I know,” she laughed, “but hey, I need something with a beat!”
“There's a USB stick in the glove compartment that's got a bunch of music on it. Stick that in and see if there's anything you like on it. The list of tracks will come up on the media player display screen.”
“Cool.”
She reached into the glove compartment and took out the USB, which she then plugged into the car's media system. She started browsing through the tracks.
“The Razor's Edge? Who's that?” she asked, pausing on the one band I hadn’t expected.
A sudden flush of uncomfortable heat rippled through my body at the mention of the band. Immediately, thoughts of Lilah started to run through my head.
“Um, they're just a band I liked as a teenager. I don't even know why that's on there. Skip that, I don't feel like listening to that stuff now.”
“Oh, all right. Wow, you've got a lot of jazz and classical on here. Don't you have any new stuff? Skrillex? David Guetta?”
“Not really my cup of tea, I'm afraid.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Uh, if you want, you can go onto YouTube and play music from there. This system is hooked up to the internet.”
“Oh, wow! Cool. I’m sure I'll find some tracks I like there.”
As she searched YouTube for songs to play, a creeping feeling of guilt and doubt started digging its claws into me, probing and pulling beneath my skin. What was I doing? Why was I doing this? Was it some cheap, petty attempt at revenge after being ditched by Lilah? Despite how physically beautiful the woman next to me was, I wasn’t attracted to her in any way other than the most basic of levels. Try as I might, I could not get thoughts of Lilah out of my mind most of the night. I’d been trying to fool myself, but continuing with this farce was pointless.
A quick assessment of the road ahead confirmed that it was empty aside from us. Without warning, I yanked up the handbrake and spun the car around in a 180 degree turn, smoking and screaming the tires, and throwing Angeline violently back into her seat.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked, the blood draining from her face with shock. “What the hell did you do that for?!”
“Sorry,” I said calmly and flatly. “I've just remembered something extremely urgent at work that I absolutely have to get back to. There's no way I can put it off any longer. Sorry for cutting the evening off so quickly, but I have to do this.”
“I, uh . . . Well, all right then,” she said, clearly upset.
We drove the remainder of the distance to her apartment in silence. When I dropped her off, all she said was a listlessly mumbled, “Bye.”