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JoMazelis
96
Lolly lingered until the
rest of the class drifted
away, before setting off
together – him almost a
giant, made even larger
by his huge rucksack. She,
at least a head and a half
shorter, had to run every
few paces to keep up with
him.
They didn’t talk. There
was no conversational
opening which wouldn’t
have been painful for
either; he didn’t want to
talk about his father, she
was ashamed of owning
a big Georgian house set
in an acre of land, he
did consistently well at
college, she was scraping
along most of the time.
Everybody at college liked
him, though he seemed
to make no effort to be
liked, while she tried
desperately to charm and
ingratiate herself, but got
nowhere.
The Lolly/Lawrence thing
was
interesting,
she
thought as they turned
into her street, he hated
being called Lolly but said
nothing. The man they all
liked, Lolly, Big Loll, Lolls
who was tall and a tad
overweight, but handsome
and affable, was their
own invention. The jolly
giant, he was safe, good
at walking home girls
too drunk to look after
themselves.
In a similar fashion they
must have created a
version of her that bore
little
resemblance
to
reality. This person was
spiky and mean, jealous of
the other girls.
MaybeassheandLawrence
got to know one another
better they would have a
conversation about this,
and then understanding
everything about her, he