Free Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser Page A

chain wallets. There were a few girls and guys who had good posture and clever eyes, but they stood out like swords in a room of noodles. Someone in the front row reached out to touch Paulina’s dress and she swatted the creature’s hand. The girl whimpered and sat back in her seat. “Brains!” Paulina managed, and an unremarkable middle-aged man looked amusedly to Julian.
    With big steps he walked around his sleepy, unwashed classmates and met Paulina in the hall.
    “Fuck me,” she said, “in a video-editing room, my place, your place.” She swayed aggressively.
    He recognized the embroidered silk undershirt she wore over a faded sundress. Her lips were scrunched tightly together. Her body seemed braced to engulf him. “No,” he said. Her heart beat violently in her chest. She waited for him to say more, but he held himself still. He could hear the audio from his classmate’s film.
    The dread was lodged in her throat. The oil turned to smoke. “Take your life,” she said shaking, “and have it far away from me.” Straightening to a height he’d never seen, shestomped her boots down the hall, each step making a terrible crack.
    At Sadie’s party, the kitchen floor was covered with mud from everyone’s shoes. The wallpaper and curtains clashed in discord. Paulina was in a circle of acquaintances. “I can’t get excited about small dogs,” she said to the group. She’d changed into one of her more preposterous costumes—her Guatemalan war dress, Sadie called it. Bright knit fabric frayed over her cleavage where she’d cut the dress with scissors. Her hairdo relied on all her hair clips to create a “velvet rope” effect—again, Sadie’s words.
    After leaving Julian, Paulina had picked up a random boy outside the Film Building who wore his T-shirt tucked in his jeans. The boy had a number of nervous tics, and looked like he animated dragons all day. During the short walk to his place, he’d talked good-naturedly about his classes as if he were giving a school tour. When they were finally in his small bedroom, he gave Paulina an impish, Fran-like shrug. She pushed him onto his made bed. He seemed grateful for her direction. It felt to Paulina that she was giving the boy’s narrow bed something it had always wanted but never thought it would have. For a few minutes it made Paulina feel better—the boy acted like he had undergone a religious conversion—but soon Paulina’s good feeling crashed and she felt quite doomed again.
    Fran arrived at Sadie’s party dressed for spring, and skipped over to Paulina, who evaded her hug and pushed her into the wall. “You bore me,” Paulina said, and the crowd around them backed up.
    “Paulina,” Fran said blushing, but Paulina turned swiftly on her heels, and as if attached to her with string, the group followed her into the dancing room. Even from the next room, Fran could hear her theatrics.
    “The stars in our sky are far, far inferior to the stars of our ancestors,” Paulina said and laughed. Every time Fran looked over, Paulina glared back. Fran drank beers and the beers made her tilt.
    Marvin wandered through the door. Fran walked shakily over to him, believing he was the Savior. When she reached him, she realized he was just an undiscovered model with a creative mind. Still, his smile unwound the knots in her.
    “This party sucks,” Fran said. “Everyone is just making up theories.”
    “I’m no fan of theories,” said Marvin. He looked with deep interest at the mud pattern on the linoleum. Sadie burst by, stupidly drunk, covered in jewelry. “He said he loves me!” she cried, carrying a splayed-open laptop into the next room. Fran’s glassy eyes were fixed on the wall. But she dropped Julian so casually! She spent so much time complaining about him. She hadn’t seemed at all attached.
    “You okay?” Marvin asked.
    “This party just sucks,” Fran said, avoiding his gaze, “but I have to stay,” she said. “I have to talk to