[This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald]@TWC D-Link bookThis Side of Paradise CHAPTER 1 17/59
You? SHE: Nineteen--just. HE: I suppose you're the product of a fashionable school. SHE: No--I'm fairly raw material.
I was expelled from Spence--I've forgotten why. HE: What's your general trend? SHE: Oh, I'm bright, quite selfish, emotional when aroused, fond of admiration-- HE: (Suddenly) I don't want to fall in love with you-- SHE: (Raising her eyebrows) Nobody asked you to. HE: (Continuing coldly) But I probably will.
I love your mouth. SHE: Hush! Please don't fall in love with my mouth--hair, eyes, shoulders, slippers--but _not_ my mouth.
Everybody falls in love with my mouth. HE: It's quite beautiful. SHE: It's too small. HE: No it isn't--let's see. (He kisses her again with the same thoroughness.) SHE: (Rather moved) Say something sweet. HE: (Frightened) Lord help me. SHE: (Drawing away) Well, don't--if it's so hard. HE: Shall we pretend? So soon? SHE: We haven't the same standards of time as other people. HE: Already it's--other people. SHE: Let's pretend. HE: No--I can't--it's sentiment. SHE: You're not sentimental? HE: No, I'm romantic--a sentimental person thinks things will last--a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't.
Sentiment is emotional. SHE: And you're not? (With her eyes half-closed.) You probably flatter yourself that that's a superior attitude. HE: Well--Rosalind, Rosalind, don't argue--kiss me again. SHE: (Quite chilly now) No--I have no desire to kiss you. HE: (Openly taken aback) You wanted to kiss me a minute ago. SHE: This is now. HE: I'd better go. SHE: I suppose so. (He goes toward the door.) SHE: Oh! (He turns.) SHE: (Laughing) Score--Home Team: One hundred--Opponents: Zero. (He starts back.) SHE: (Quickly) Rain--no game. (He goes out.) (She goes quietly to the chiffonier, takes out a cigarette-case and hides it in the side drawer of a desk.
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