It’s a short drive from Connell’s house to Marianne’s. He takes a left out of the estate, towards the roundabout. Only a few months ago he and Marianne used to stay up all night together talking and having sex. He used to pull the blankets off her in the morning and get on top of her with this little smiling expression like: Oh hey, hello. They were best friends. He told her that, when she asked him who his best friend was. You, he said. Then at the end of May he told her he was moving home for the summer.
How are things, anyway? he says.
Fine, thanks. How are you?
I’m alright, yeah.
He changes gears with a domineering gesture of his hand.
Are you still working in the garage? she asks.
No, no. You mean where I used to work? That place is closed now.
Is it?
Yeah, he says. No, I’ve been working in the Bistro. Actually your mam was in the other night with her, uh. Her boyfriend or whatever it is.
Marianne nods. They are driving past the football grounds now. A thin veil of rain begins to fall on the windshield, and Connell turns the wipers on, so they scrape out a mechanical rhythm on their voyage from side to side.
*
When Connell went home for Reading Week in the spring, he asked Marianne if she would send him naked pictures of herself. I’ll delete them whenever you want obviously, he said. You can supervise. This suggested to Marianne a whole erotic ritual she had never heard of. Why would I want you to delete them? she said. They were talking on the phone, Connell at home in Foxfield and Marianne lying on her bed in Merrion Square. He explained briefly the politics of naked pictures, not showing them to people, deleting them on request, and so on.
Do you get these photos from a lot of girls? she asked him.
Well, I don’t have any now. And I’ve never actually asked for any before, but sometimes you do get sent them.
She asked if he would send her back photographs of himself in return, and he made a ‘hm’ noise.
I don’t know, he said. Would you really want a picture of my dick?
Comically, she felt the inside of her mouth get wet.
Yes, she said. But if you sent one I would honestly never delete it, so you probably shouldn’t.
He laughed then. No, I don’t care whether you delete it, he said.
She uncrossed her ankles. I mean I’ll take it to my grave, she said. Like I will look at it probably every day until I die.
He was really laughing then. Marianne, he said, I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.
*
The sports centre flashes past the driver’s-side window through the blur of rainfall. Connell looks at Marianne again, then back at the road.
And you’re with this guy Jamie now, aren’t you? he says. So I hear.
Yeah.
He’s not a bad-looking guy.
Oh, she says. Well, okay. Thanks.
She and Jamie have been together for a few weeks now. He has certain proclivities. They have certain shared proclivities. Sometimes in the middle of the day she remembers something Jamie has said or done to her, and all her energy leaves her completely, so her body feels like a carcass, something immensely heavy and awful that she has to carry around.
Yeah, says Connell. I actually beat him in a game of pool once. You probably don’t remember.
I do.
Connell nods and adds: He always liked you. Marianne stares out the windshield at the car ahead. It’s true, Jamie always liked her. He sent her a text once implying that Connell wasn’t serious about her. She showed Connell the text and they laughed about it. They were in bed together at the time, Connell’s face illuminated by the lit display on her phone screen. You should be with someone who takes you seriously, the message read.
What about you, are you seeing anyone? she says.
Not really. Nothing serious.
Embracing the single lifestyle.
You know me, he says.
I did once.
He frowns. That’s a bit philosophical, he says. I haven’t changed much in the last few months.
Neither have I. Actually, yeah. I haven’t changed at all.
*
One night in May, Marianne’s friend Sophie threw a house party to celebrate the end of the exams. Her parents were in Sicily or somewhere like that. Connell still had an exam left at the time, but he wasn’t worried about it, so he came along too. All their friends were there, partly because Sophie had a heated swimming pool in her basement. They spent most of the night in their swimsuits, dipping in and out of the water, drinking and talking. Marianne sat at the side with a plastic cup of wine, while some of the others played a game in the pool. It seemed to involve people sitting on other people’s shoulders and trying to knock each other into the water. Sophie got up onto Connell’s shoulders for the second match, and said appreciatively: That’s a nice solid torso you have. Marianne looked on, slightly drunk, admiring the way Sophie and Connell looked together, his hands on her smooth brown shins, and feeling a strange sense of nostalgia for a moment that was already in the process of happening. Sophie looked over at her then.
