I was genuinely happy that she seemed to be doing so well. I never asked about her, but Cassie gave me occasional updates about her anyway. For example, they’d gone climbing together in the Dacks, along with Lina, and Anna had been brave enough to try leading a 5.6 face-climb. The last time I’d climbed with her, she’d still been too scared to jump down from the top of the bouldering wall! I was glad to hear that she was well on her way to becoming a total crusher.
Cassie also told me that Anna had found her own little place in Jackson Heights. The way she described it made it sound like a closet, but it was her closet. She’d finally made it on her own, after all.
Cassie never mentioned anything about Anna’s love life, though. I guess she thought that I didn’t want to know about it.
She was right.
◆◆◆
“I’ll take two Baba specials, please, dark chocolate and lychee!”
“You know I appreciate your business, but you’re going to get diabetes if you keep supporting me this much,” I told Cassie as I handed her two dark chocolate jiandui and two lychee ice creams.
“Worth it!” She dipped a jiandui into the ice cream and took a bite, then closed her eyes, licking and smacking her lips. “Ah! So good.”
I shook my head and took the next person’s order. But Cassie didn’t leave, merely stepped to the side of the window.
“What’s up, Cass?” I asked as I handed the next customer their coconut jiandui.
“You’re a big fan of The Llama People, right?”
I glanced over at her. “Yeah? So?” After I’d started listening to Anna’s playlists more, I’d actually become a pretty big fan. Drops of Thistle Milk was one of my favorite songs.
“They’re going to be in town tomorrow! And I bought two tickets because I was going to go with Michael, but he had a work thing come up.” She took another bite of her jiandui. “Want to come with me?”
“Really? What time and where? I don’t get done till 9pm.”
“That’s totally fine. I’ll text you the details and transfer the ticket to you. Yay!” She carefully balanced the desserts in her hands, then walked back into the building. “See you tomorrow!”
I smiled, excited. In many ways, the food truck business was fun, but usually it was tedious and boring, and I’d been working a lot recently. I looked forward to going out and letting loose to some awesome music.
I considered texting Anna about it, for old times sake, but decided against it. There was no reason to message her—nothing would come of it.
Besides, I was going to the show for me. Not for her.
◆◆◆
After closing up the truck, I drove home and took a quick shower—standing in the truck all day near a vat of oil usually didn’t leave me smelling the freshest. Then I dressed quickly and ordered a rideshare to the venue. It wasn’t too far from my home, but I wasn’t sure how trashed Cassie planned to get that evening, and I wanted to be able to keep up.
When I arrived, there was no one waiting in line. It was already almost 11, but as headliner, The Llama People wouldn’t be on until at least midnight. Cassie had texted me earlier, telling me to just go inside, so I handed over my ticket to the attendant, stepped inside, and looked around. The venue appeared to be a large gallery, with two stages on either end, connected by a bright, art-lined corridor. Two very different openers played at each stage, the dissonant sounds reverberating down the hall to clash in the middle, breaking out into an open-air area on the side where vendors were selling food and merch.
Though there hadn’t been a line, there were quite a few people already dancing or milling about inside. I glanced around the first stage area and didn’t see her, so I walked through the art corridor, stopping periodically to examine the paintings on either side. There were Pollock-esque paintings with complex swirls and splatters, optical illusions that played with color and perception, and psychedelic portraits of animals and naked women on mountaintops or in trees. I stopped to look at one of these latter paintings, a closeup of a blonde woman’s face. Where her eyes would normally be were golden slits of light. Only the third eye on her forehead had a brilliant blue iris and deep black pupil.
“That one kinda looks like Cassie.”
“D’you think—” I paused, recognizing the voice. I turned around to find a woman standing behind me.
“Anna?” She looked...different. Her hair was now a natural black, and shoulder length, much shorter than before. She’d replaced her sapphire nose stud with a thin rose-gold nose ring, and her skin was a gorgeous tan instead of her previous creamy white. She wore a simple black shift dress with thin straps that displayed her now-muscular shoulders to full-effect, and black combat boots. There was something else different though, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Whatever it was, it was definitely a good thing.
She smiled and came in for a hug. “Hey, Ian.”
I stood stunned while she leaned in and wrapped her arms around my waist. I quickly unfroze and pulled her close, burying my nose in her hair and fighting the urge to inhale deeply. “Are you here for The Llama People?” Did Cassie arrange this?
She pulled away, and I reluctantly let her go.
