Read Bye Bye Blondie for Free Online Page A

seeing him arrive. She’d stopped circling the room at once and joined his group of hangers-on. Even in her dreams, she hadn’t imagined anyone looking like that. So perfectly perfect. A promise of total fulfilling happiness: a welcoming tropical jungle. Without even trying to speak directly to him, she’d found plenty of ways to be near the corner where he was. The little prince laughed a lot. Gloria wasn’t the only one to be knocked out by his looks. The whole gang had spontaneously grouped itself around him. Whatever he said, there was always someone who found it hilarious and burst out laughing. He played it up, simpered, struck poses, came on a bit camp, but never lost anything of his masculine aura. Yet he was also acting the beautiful angel.
    Luckily he ended up asking her, yes her , if she knew where he could find any acid. Gloria had shrugged, playing the girl who isn’t shocked, knows her way around town, and likes to help visitors. Inside her head, everything was fizzing, exploding, going off like fireworks. But she stayed calm and just said, “Might be some at La Paix, it’s a bar near the station, yeah, I think they might have some there. Or else the Campus, it’s a club.” She wasn’t bullshitting, but she wasn’t as certain as she was pretending either. She passed him the bottle of whiskey she was holding by the neck. She congratulated herself on having worn her lacy white tights and vinyl miniskirt with holes, which was too tight so it made her behind look great. She’d almost turned up in bleached combats and dark red Doc Martens. She’d have scared him off then, for sure.
    So he had followed her out. They couldn’t find any driver willing to take them into town. Great, they’d have to walk, just the two of them, to the bus stop. In the cold, which made you want to link arms. They’d filled their pockets with Kronenbourg cans and left the party together. In the white expanse outside, the carpet of snow crunching under their steps, the expression “walking on air” had made her beam with happiness.
    She’d waited till they got to the bus shelter before counting . . . three, four . . . “Wanna sleep together?” She’d taken a big deep breath first and clenched her fists in her pockets. Didn’t take it the wrong way, visibly flattered, not dismissive. “Okay if you like, but let’s do the acid first.” She’d stretched out her legs, sitting up against the glass panel of the bus shelter, stunned by the promise: they were going to sleep together. They sang “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” She was amazed that a guy like this could even exist, and her mind was blown by the thought that he was talking to her. So, okay, life was less crap than she had imagined.
    On top of that, they did find some acid at the first bar they went to. She liked taking it, even if it made her freak out, ever since that memorable night when she’d found herself, who knew how, in the park by the garden center where some fairground folk were setting up their swings and roundabouts. Léo wasn’t taking much initiative, but he let her caress and kiss him, amicably enough. Gloria looked sideways at him, hard to believe it was really true that she was having a laugh with this boy. He was going back to Paris on New Year’s Day for a rock concert at Juvisy. She slapped her thighs: incredible, she’d been planning to go to Paris then too, they could take the train together. He was as sweet as he was easygoing. He’d said, “Yeah, that’d be cool,” without trying to get any advantage from his being so good-looking and exciting. They were waiting for the acid to work, hiding from the wind in another bus shelter, this time in the town center. When a car slowed down as it passed, Gloria had just noticed that the LSD was taking effect, because sounds were becoming a taste in her mouth and the air was