murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

school the cafeteria has three lunches: A, B, and C. The A Lunch is
?120, the B Lunch is ? 100, and the C Lunch is ? 80. Everybody gives
me dirty looks when I eat the A Lunch, and anyone who can't afford
the C Lunch eats ramen noodles for ? 60. That's the kind of place I go
to. You still think I can talk to girls from yours?"
Hatsumi could barely stop laughing. "That's so cheap!" she said.
"Maybe I should go there for lunch! But really, Toru, you're such a
nice guy, I'm sure you'd get along with this girl. She might even like
the ? 120 lunch."
"No way," I said with a laugh. "Nobody eats that stuff because they
like it; they eat it because they can't afford anything else."
"Anyway, don't judge a book by its cover. It's true we go to this hoitytoity
establishment, but lots of us there are serious people who think
serious thoughts about life. Not everybody is looking for a boyfriend
with a sports car."
"I know that much," I said.
"Watanabe's got a girl. He's in love," said Nagasawa. "But he won't
say a word about her. He's as tight-lipped as they come. A riddle
wrapped in an enigma."
"Really?" Hatsumi asked me.
"Really," I said. "But there's no riddle involved here. It's just that it's
complicated, and hard to talk about."
"An illicit love? Ooh! You can talk to me!" I took a sip of wine to
avoid answering.
"See what I mean?" said Nagasawa, at work on his third whisky.
"Tight-lipped. When this guy decides he's not going to talk about
something, nobody can drag it out of him." "What a shame," said
Hatsumi as she cut a small slice of terrine and brought it to her lips.
"If you'd got on with her, we could have double-dated."
"Yeah, we could've got drunk and done a little swapping," said
Nagasawa.
"Enough of that kind of talk," said Hatsumi.
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