Another long pause on Bentley's part, during which he tosses back what's left of the chilled rum and gathers his thoughts. "Well, then," he asks, "can I... watch?"
"Er, no."
"He was looking through your purse, Jamie," Bentley says, immediately sober, pointing a finger at me.
"Hey, I was looking for the coke," I say.
"Jesus, Victor," she says, reaching into a jacket pocket. "Here. You don't need to go through my things." But the annoyance lasts only a millisecond because she's waving back at Iris Palmer and Honor Fraser, while Bentley bows his head, raising his empty glass.
"Iris looks fabulous," Jamie murmurs.
"How do you and Mr. Ward know each other, Jamie?" Bentley asks, leaning over. "And I'll leave him alone-I promise. It's just that I was flirting with Harry Nuttall all evening and then I had my sights set on Robbie but it's all just been intolerably arid-" And then, squinting into the crowd, "Oh my god, who invited Zandra Rhodes?"
"We went to Camden College together, Bentley," Jamie says. "However, I graduated." She turns to me. "Did you?"
"Oh, that's right," Bentley says. "Bobby told me that."
"Who's Bobby, baby?" I'm asking, trying to get her attention.
Bentley suddenly pretends to be looking around, "busying himself," his eyes widening exaggeratedly, and over his shoulder the Japanese guy keeps staring in such a strange way that it's starting to cause me major discomfort and maybe Jamie notices this too because she leans in, blocking the view, and kisses me softly on the lips and maybe that's an answer to the Bobby inquiry. While I'm staring into Jamie's face-her expression saying basically "hey, it's okay"-Bentley dramatically clears his throat and Jamie pulls back, almost shamefully. Again I'm left staring at the Japanese guy.
"So Victor," Bentley says, staring at me with all the subtlety of a raven, "what do you think of London?"
"Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust, I see."
"How tongue-in-chic."
"Hey Joaquin, hey man," I call out, waving Joaquin Phoenix over, and he's dressed in a brown Prada suit and has his hair swept back and he shakes my hand and, recognizing Jamie, kisses her on the cheek and nods briefly at Bentley.
"Hey, how's this party, man?" I'm asking. "Wild, huh?"