Chapter 3 VAN GOGH AND GAUGUIN

• M E R E D I T H
• Diether chuckled under his throat while smiling subtly before he gestured his hand towards my chair as I confidently sat back down on the stool. I made sure that there was a vacant chair between us while I took a sip from my orange juice as he had a glass of alcohol in his hand.
• “It is so amusing to know a Gauguin fan nowadays.” He responded with his baritone voice. “Tell me,” He paused as we exchanged looks at each other. “Why him over Van Gogh when he attempted suicide at one point, suffered a severe mid-life crisis, battled alcoholism and ultimately fled to Tahiti to escape?”
• “No, he went to Tahiti to spend the last few years of his life to paint in peace.” I defended one of my favorite classic painters. “He wanted to stay away from Van Gogh because Van Gogh technically was seized by a fit of dementia.”
• “Yes, he did suffer mental illness but despite that he was able to turn his sorrow into beauty. He perfectly captured the emotion of the world around him.”
• “Van Gogh became absolutely aggressive when Gauguin said he was leaving him for good. Vincent attacked Paul with the knife and to be honest, compared to Van Gogh who actually cut off his own ear–”
• “Lower left ear.” He corrected right away. “Not the entire ear.”
• My brows creased immediately as I looked back at him, “Still debatable on that matter.”
• “You know what else is debatable?”
• “What is?”
• “The fact that the two men had a heated argument, Gauguin wanting to defend himself, drew his weapon and made a move towards Van Gogh and by that he cut off Van Gogh’s left ear.”
• “Oh are you kidding me?” I arched a brow at him as I am fully facing him now.
• “No sweetheart.” He subtly smiled at me mischievously. “Gauguin wanted to avoid prosecution for what he had done and Van Gogh in an effort trying to keep his friend with whom he was hopelessly infatuated suffered with the latter which Paul had actually caused.”
• “Van Gogh was a madman.” I chimed as I chuckled under my throat feeling a bit angrier with this guy, “He did not want Paul to leave Paris because he was actually secretly gay and homosexuality was a punishable crime in those days. That was why he got so angry that he threatened Gauguin before turning it on himself and mutilating his own ear lobe, then allegedly wrapped up the ear and gave it to a prostitute at a nearby brothel. I mean, he even died because of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he shot himself with a freaking revolver.”
• “Well if we do not only talk about their history and actually look at the application of paint, Van Gogh used heavy brush strokes which were very expressive and you can see the transition and energy change. Van Gogh does not mix much paints in his paintings, he lets your brain do the mixing and the imagining”
• I scoffed, “If we talk about colors, Gauguin’s tend to be much warmer.”
• “I agree on warmer, but Van Gogh used a full wide range of colors which allowed him to express his ideas more. Gauguin’s work is more cerebral, where Van Gogh is more emotional. In other words, Gauguin’s color is not as fluent as Van Gogh.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me which I found annoying.
• “I beg to disagree.” I interrupted him right away. “Van Gogh stayed true to his surroundings whether hospitalized or living independently, that was it, what you see from the painting is what you get. Gauguin on the other hand painted the women around him and assigned spiritual meaning to his composition.”
• There was silence between us as we were just staring at each other’s eyes. I definitely did not want to back down because despite the fact that Van Gogh is indeed a famous artist and a lot of people adore him more, I still do not want to lower my flag down and accept defeat. I grabbed my orange juice and took a long sip from it as I watched him ask me, “Can I take this seat? If you may allow me to sit next to you?”
• “Sure.” I answered as I glanced at the bartender who looked at us with the weird look on his face.
• Diether took the stool next to me and responded while laughing softly under his throat, “You know, I never actually had this kind of conversation before in a pub, not even a debate would have come across my head.” He turned his attention back to me. “That one was exhilarating and I see you do have a lot of points in your opinion.”
• “Of course I do.” I answered proudly as I thought to myself, I am a freaking art major.
• “Anyway, we all have different opinions about many things in life so let us start this one all over again,” He extended his hand to mine and added, “Hi, my name is Diether, and you are?”
• “Mary.” I accepted his hand as I watched him smile at me with his subtly drunk eyes.
• Following that argument, our conversation opened up, and it was surprising to discover that we shared some of the same opinions. I mostly discussed art with him, but I never revealed to him that I was still in college because, well, I was drinking alcohol under the legal drinking age, and there was this huge sign outside that said no one under the age of 21 was allowed to be served alcoholic beverages. I talked to him about everything, and he listened to me, up until the point where I talked to him about nothing but art and painting, and he was incredibly receptive to everything I said.
• Aside from his very attractive face and the way he spoke, which I found almost enticing, I suppose the discussion and the intense argument about painting and painters were the driving force that pushed me to feel this way towards him or maybe because of the two shots of whisky that he had bought for me was also adding up as a factor. As a result, I actually forgot to return to the table with Ramona, who had been busy flirting with and kissing that guy George over there which I know she obviously enjoyed so much.
• Diether’s lips captured my attention as he spoke, and I found myself imagining what it would be like to be kissed by them. But he cut me off from what I was sexually thinking as soon as he had said, “I wonder how it would feel too, Mary.”
• My eyes widened immediately as soon as he just said those words, “Excuse me?”
• “You just said you wonder how it feels like to kiss me.”
• I stared at him with my widened eyes as he was staring back at me with a smirk on his face. I instantly stood from my chair and said, “I need to go to the bathroom.” I stumbled my way there and tried to breath as much as I could because honestly I can feel my heart beating ridiculously fast while my cheeks are just absolutely warm.
• I stared at my own reflection and found myself a bit red probably from the alcohol. “Oh my God, is it just me or is it just hot?”
• The more I stare at my reflection the more I imagine Diether and I kissing in this freaking bathroom where he had followed me in so we could enjoy our time in peace. I shook my head sideways and tried to get rid of that sexual thought out of my mind because it was so weird to be wanting a guy whom I have never met before this way.
• “You will eventually know how to kiss when you are in that moment.” I can hear Ramona telling me when we were fifteen when she told me about her first kiss. I could still remember her telling me to just go with the flow and do not forget about the tongue.
• I slapped both of my cheeks with my hands as I muttered to myself, “Stop, stop, stop.”
• As soon as I had thought that I was okay, I swung the bathroom door open and found Diether still sitting there on his chair where he had stared at me the second I stepped out of the bathroom. We stared at each other for a few seconds as I watch him emptying his glass of alcohol while my feet leads me to the dark hallway which had a huge sign that said “PRIVATE HALLWAY” which had a huge door to cover what was happening inside and I remember Ramona had told me about this one which The Pink Flamingo had and it was a hallway for people wanting to makeout.
• I know that I was initiating this one and I know that I am doing something that I have never actually thought of ever doing before but my body is moving on its own and my mind is no longer thinking about what to do and what not to do. As soon as I entered the hallway it had dark lights above. I saw other couples making out inside and there were two couples who were actually having sex, thankfully the hallway was padded and it seemed to be sound proof. I am scared and excited and confused.
• But whatever, hell, I surely want this.