Page 30 of After Effect

“It smells like heaven in here.” I blurted out, entirely too distracted by the smell and my crashing blood sugar to remember to be professional.

“I was just making a quick snack. You can have some if you want.”

A quick snack, huh? Well, I certainly wasn’t going to refuse. “Yes, please.”

Lilly laughed as she stepped aside to let me in. The room was dark, save the feint candlelight that illuminated a table in the center of the room. The table cloth was a simple red and white plaid. The chairs were more like plastic lawn chairs than dining room furniture. And as I sat down beside that single flickering flame, I couldn’t imagine any restaurant, any meal, or any moment feeling more special than this did.

“Do you always eat your snacks by candlelight?” I ran a hand through my hair as a nervous tick. Lilly placed a bowl of some manner of rice concoction in front of me. The steam was fragrant with onions, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and a host of inviting flavors tempted my tongue.

“Don’t you?” She sat across from me, her grin illuminated by the fire. “There’s nothing wrong with taking yourself on a romantic date sometimes. This is Arroz con Gandules. It’s a traditional Puerto Rican dish, and the house specialty.”

Her eyes darted to the side. She paused for a few moments as though to mull over her words. “We usually only make it for special occasions. It took a lot of work, so you better fucking like it.”

I snorted. “What’s the occasion?”

“Well we finished the album, didn’t we? What’s more special than that?” She reached over to ruffle my hair.

Of course. Work. Duh. “Well, then shouldn’t we be toasting some wine?”

“I don’t know if this place is quite that fancy.” She laughed as she took her first bite. She seemed impossibly pleased as she swallowed. She should be. It tasted incredible. “I’ve got Tecate, though.”

Lilly got up to grab us each a beer. She used the back of a lighter to pop off the tops of each bottle, then poured them into a pair of chilled glasses. The perfect pour. Minimal head. She would have made a fine bartender. “You can crash here again if you want. Since I know you’re a lightweight and all.”

I took the glass and gave hers a clink before I took a sip. “I’m only going to take you up on that offer to make sure you show up on time for work tomorrow for once.”

“On second thought, I take that back.”

“Ha!”

Lilly sat across from me and downed half her glass. For someone who wasn’t even twenty-one yet, she seemed much more experienced with liquor than I was. Her eyes crawled back to me and she smiled. “Is that why you came all the way out here? You wanted to celebrate?”

“No, I was just in the area.” I focused on my glass. It’s not like I was doing anything wrong by helping out Baek with some simple errands, but I somehow felt oddly guilty. I didn’t want to tell Lilly I was jumping through hoops to buy her favors. She didn’t need to know that, and it made me feel cheap. “I’ve got a friend out here I wanted to visit.” I continued to avoid eye contact, in hopes that I wouldn’t give myself away.

“Oh, I see. A girlfriend.” Lilly sat back in her seat.

“N-no, nothing like that.” In hindsight, I probably should have just played along with that guess. But the thought of Lilly thinking I was in a relationship with someone else was somehow worse. “Just a family friend. I just had to run them some things.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Lilly looked a little disappointed. “Right, that makes sense.” She finished her glass, and got up to rummage through the cooler. “Want another?”

“Sure.”

We stayed up late that night. Later than it already was, somehow. One beer, two, then three- We never ran out of things to talk about. Even more so once we were both a little lubricated and chatty. But it all felt so comfortable.

This was such a confusing relationship still. She was a client. She was a friend. She was a confidante. She made me self-conscious and the most comfortable I’d ever been around another person all at the same time. She would feel like a cliché love song if not for the fact that she was… my client. My hormones didn’t understand reason anymore.

Heh. Maybe unrequited love and heartbreak is what I need to write good songs.

Is that what this is?

… Of course that’s what this is...

I curled up on Lilly’s air mattress that night and tried to push the thought from my mind, as I have so many times before. We had work to do. If nothing else, I could use these stupid feelings to give her my all in the studio. They were a tool for success, not a ball and chain. I smiled softly to myself and drifted off into sleep.

###

With the backing of KRAW radio, they had successfully given away a full house worth of tickets to the premiere of Lilly Cisneros’s ‘Watching Broken Clocks.’ There weren’t any big name celebrities on board yet, and I wasn’t able to get the television coverage that I wanted to, but this is stage one. She has to prove herself before I can expect the world to be groveling at our feet.

On the day of the show, I paced back and forth in Lilly’s dressing room as she was being primped and primed in make-up. This would be his first real performance in front of a real crowd. If she choked here, it would be over. And I knew how strong the chances of her choking were.

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