The Link 11 Giorgio's

           g i o r g i o ' s
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well, this is GIORGIO ARMANI in link 11.
instead of some boring chats, i have
decided to write something different. i
am going to tell you a story.

and this story is about me and this girl
named CLARICE. i'm sure many of us have
had our first taste of love sometime in
our life and this is one of mine....

my true story!

CLARICE was quite a sight for a 17 year
old guy. she was older, well dressed,
with pierced ears, lip moistened by musk
flavoured lip gloss, and an incredibly
seductive way of biting her nails,
which she did quite often. a minute
would rarely pass when some boy WASN'T
fighting for her affections. and
needless to say, i was hooked.

CLARICE caught my attention. school camp
4 years ago. her aura, if you could call
it that, was unbelievable. i was
convinced that the girl knew no fear.
her ease at manipulating the boys around
her, effortlessly grasping their
attention, was amazing.

that night we had one of your usual
school disco, where all, i could do was
sit and watch guys swing, sway and
swerve this sexy 17 year old off her
feet. and swing they would, lifting
CLARICE and cradling her close to them.
i swear, everyone wanted to touch her. i
felt too intimidated, both by her and by
the men she had on a string.

to be honest, i cannot remember the
first time we met. something like that
you would expect to be at the forefront
of my mind, but... well, she would often
give me a friendly smile and say hello.

"how are you today, daniel?" she would
ask.

"FINE" or "COOL" would be my response,
something that would allow me to appear
quite suave and laid back.

for some reason she appeared to be quite
taken with me. not in any sexual way of
course. chances are it was more out of a
sense of condescending curiosity.
"HOW COME YOU SPEAK SO NICELY?,"she once
asked. i had to think quickly for a good
comeback.

"IT'S A GIFT," i dryly reply. well she
thought it was funny. the sound of her
laughter was such a sweet victory - two
points in my favour.

getting her attention would still
require some effort, especially when you
had to assume an air of immense cool and
interested "lack of interest". i had to
remember that there were other guys that
may well have taken her interest more
than myself, but i liked to think, in
quiet arrogance, that i was perhaps
different to the others.

whether i was different or not may have
had no relevance to the one day when she
called me over. it was raining, and
lunch was spent indoors. she was with
some year 12 guys sitting CROSS LEGGED
on a table when i responded to her
summons. i sat myself down in front in
her.

"this is because i think you're so CUTE"
,she said as she leaned over and KISSED
me. that was more than i was prepared
for, not knowing quite how to handle it.

"OH, I'LL NEVER WASH MY FACE AGAIN," i
said in my best "FAIR MAIDEN IN LOVE"
voice, before walking off, the chuckles
of her male companions resonating in my
ears. i may have been naive, but i wasnt
foolish enough not to consider the
possibility of the whole thing being a
simple dare.

don, my best friend at the time, didn't
seem to think so. he was certainly
impressed by the incident, and was most
enthusiastic at the thought of my
potential liaison with this GODDESS of
the school. i recall our bus trip home
that day with embarrassing clarity.

"go for her dan, you've got to," he'd
say to me. i was excited, yet sceptical
at the same time.

"she wasn't serious don, it was just
a joke."

"no way man. i know she wants you. can
you imagine it? you'll be the envy of
the school!"
don couldn't believe my hesitation in
"going for it".

"you've got to," he'd say, then in a fit
of horny excitement he leaned over and
whispered, "SHE WEARS A 2 PIECE BIKINI!"

since when were they ever not in two
pieces? i thought, thankfully not
convinced by his reasoning as i
resignedly let the matter rest. i knew
the whole thing was a stir. why would
she be serious about me when the cream
of the school, the guys that everyone
drooled over were after her? it didn't
make sense.

guys appeared to come and go in her life
as her FLIRTATIOUS and rebellious nature
became a concern for her teachers. and
for myself. i remember once overhearing
a couple of guys discussing who was
"getting it on" with her that week, how
phenomenal "fit a pole up her". for the
first time i walked away feeling
incredibly sad at the thought of her,
and of the image that these guys had of
her. the idea that what they were saying
could in fact be true was quite
distressing.
funnily enough, our relationship didn't
really develop over the two years. come
to think of it, she didn't even say
goodbye when we ended high school.

later, i heard stories of her parent's
divorce, her running away from home,
living with a boyfriend who abused her,
and later wasted on drugs, living on the
streets, AND DOING GOD KNOWS WHAT TO
SURVIVE.

i bumped into her about a year after. we
hardly recognised each other, her hair
was dyed an outrageous albino blonde.
when i said hello i could tell that she
felt uncomfortable in my presence. what
events has passed prior to our meeting
i couldn't say, but the way she came
across made me feel as if i were some
dark spectre from her past to haunt her.
our goodbyes were exchanged very quickly
and perhaps with a fraction too much
enthusiasm.

the last time i saw her was last new
year celebration, after the fireworks.
i spotted her amongst the herd of
thousands cramming into MILSON'S POINT
station; she was no more than 5 metres
away. she was bare foot, dirty, clothing
ripped and looking out of it. i mean,
REALLY OUT OF IT! she could hardly walk,
her arms wrapped around the torso of
some guy who gave me a suspicious eye
when i watched her. she was laughing, a
hideously long drawn out ha-ha of
someone who had completely lost her
mind. she looked my way and stared
straight through me. i know she didn't
recognise me, you can tell when people
pretend not to see you.

i don't know why she came to my mind the
other day. i hadn't thought of her in
years, and no new information was
filtered through regarding her state of
existence. for all i know, she may be,
dead, or still on the streets, or
clutching at some insecure deadbeat who
sees some "potential" in her. or she may
have got her act together and now works
for a merchant bank. who knows?

CLARICE certainly wasn't the first girl
i fell in love with, but she was
certainly the first girl that really
fascinated me. she was also the first
that appeared to take an interest in who
i was, but looking back, i was
probably no more of an interest than
the next guy!

               GIORGIO ARMANI/TSR & PLX






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