Think I Want to Twist the Plot This Time

Part 4

"No one's up at this hour, and even if they are, who's looking over here?" she scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. To tell the truth, she's been so comfortable like this, she's hardly even realized all she has on is his shirt. "And if they're looking over here, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Let them be jealous that I had sex with the alluring physicist." She's still looking up, however, not even slightly worried if anyone is looking out of their window at this ungodly time.

Barbie then sighs, leaning her forehead against the window momentarily. "There are so many more stars out here than in LA. I wish I could see more of them."

She hears Oppenheimer getting up from his seat, walking over. He places his hands on her arms, gently leaning his chin over her shoulder to try and see what she does. Well, whatever he just said about going up to windows without clothes has just gone out the door for him, too. "I don't think I see much of a difference between the two cities," he admits, and maybe during this time, he's probably right.

"How often do you go out to LA?" she challenges, just trying to gauge his familiarity.

"I bide my time between teaching at Berkeley and teaching at CalTech," he replies, and gosh, she likes his voice when it's so low, so near to her ear.

"So... you're there pretty often," Barbie concludes. Is this the time to start panicking? What if he asks to see her again the next time he's down there? What excuse can she give that doesn't sound too insensitive, or reveals the truth?

"Not so often anymore." He stands upright, his chin leaving her shoulder. His hands stay on her arms, though, holding her lightly. "A... project is drawing me away." But he doesn't elaborate past that.

"You know, I don't really see you out there." She purses her lips, finally looking back at him. LA is so diverse, sure, but with all the glamor and artifice, she can't picture Oppenheimer anywhere but on a campus. Maybe with his money, and some of that ego, though, he could fit right in.

"No, it's not exactly where I would choose to live," he agrees, and his right hand moves up to her shoulder, then up to brush her hair back. Barbie closes her eyes, takes in the gentle gesture with a sigh. "But those stars, that you say are so much more plentiful out here than Los Angeles, hardly compare to the stars you can see in New Mexico."

"New Mexico?" Barbie repeats, breaking out into a grin. "I've never been there, but I hear it's lovely. Is that where you're from, Oppie?"

"I wish." He chuckles, and that laugh in her ear is infectious. "New York. But my brother and I own a ranch out near Santa Fe."

A ranch, a home out here, somewhere to stay when he teaches in Pasadena, this room... So he probably comes from money, but at least he gives where he can. She can kind of tell he has that east coast upbringing—something Barbie has found she inherently feels now that she's lived in LA for a while and has seen people from all walks of life come to visit, come to study at the schools there. It's a vibe, as Sasha would say.

The mention of a "ranch," however, sets off a little spark in her mind. "A ranch... and you have horses?" she asks, and she briefly thinks about Ken, how much he obsessed over them to the point of carving them into the mountains of Barbie Land (a change the Barbies decided to keep, actually), how she's starting to get their appeal, too, with the gorgeous mare that took her here in the first place. There's this majestic nobility to them she can't yet explain, even though horses have existed in Barbie Land far before Ken tried to take it over. She just hadn't really noticed them as anything other than a means of transportation until now.

"I'll hazard a guess and say you ride horseback as well." Barbie feels Oppenheimer's lips at the side of her head, hiding a smile.

She sighs, because of course he's right. "I'm not an expert, but I know how to ride," she says, but at she's not downplaying anything, especially given that he seems to appreciate everything she can do. At least he's also a man of multiple talents, and his teasing sounds more like it's out of amusement and playfulness. "What makes horseback riding in New Mexico better than, say, the Hollywood Hills?"