Page 63 of Full Tilt
Behind my closed eyelids, my thoughts swam together in a blurry infusion: dancing water and lights, fire and glass, and an ugly green and orange afghan around my shoulders. I wrapped myself in the colors and finally slept.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
“Hey. Jonah.”
I lifted my gaze from the bubbles fluttering to the surface of my nonalcoholic beer. Oscar peered at me.
“You still with us?” he asked.
“Sorry?”
“You okay, man?”
“Sure. Great.” I took a sip and pretended to be interested in the people moving and talking around us. Theo had had to work late atVegas Ink, so it was just Oscar and Dena sitting across from me at a tall table in the Lift bar at the Aria Hotel, one of the few that didn’t allow smoking anywhere on premises.
The Lift was a far cry from the unfussy restaurants we usually hung out in, or the little house Oscar and Dena rented in Belvedere. The Lift had huge, thick pillars of what looked like gold tree bark, rising up from a carpet of swirling purple and violet. Guests drank $12 cocktails at purple tables and chairs, and a solid gold wall backed the bar. It was elegantly gaudy, to my mind, but I needed the distraction.
Or so I told myself. I’d never been dissatisfied with our usual hangouts before, but Kacey Dawson had splashed color and light into my life, and now what had been usual for me now seemedplain and drab. The Lift was anything but plain and drab, but the purple made me think of Kacey. Rubbed her absence in my face.
Who am I kidding? Everything makes me think of Kacey.
“Tell me about the girl,” Oscar said. “I heard from Theo you had a rock star crashing with you. Rapid Confession is on the radio twenty-four seven at work. They’re the big time, man, and you had their guitarist on your couch?”
“Not a big deal. She needed a break from the party scene and now she’s back with her band.”
“But she was with you forfour days.” Oscar wagged his eyebrows. “Anything interesting happen during that timeframe you’d like to report?”
I expected Dena to scold her boyfriend for being crass, but her dark-eyed gaze was intent on mine. “Was she good company? Did you enjoy having her there? Tell useverything.”
I knew Dena’s interest was slightly more refined: she studied classical literature and Middle Eastern poetry and was a true romantic. Still, it was an anomaly I’d let someone else into my circle, and the curiosity flowed off them in waves, battering me from all sides. I took a sip of my fake beer to help quell my irritation. They meant well, but I felt like a kid coming home to report a first crush.
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “She mostly rested up while I worked at the hot shop or A-1. I went to dinner with the family on Sunday and she hung alone with a pizza.”
“You canceled withus, though, to stay in withher,” Oscar said. He smiled knowingly over his beer. “And Theo said she’s hot.”
“He did?” I took a sip of beer. “That’s…interesting.”
“He did.” Oscar leaned back in his chair. “So, you had a beautiful rock star in your apartment for four days. Please tell me you did not let a situation like that end with a hug or a handshake.”
Dena swatted Oscar’s arm. “Will you see her again?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. She wants to get out of herband contract but it’s not easy to do. If it’s even something she wants to do…”
“Would youliketo see her again?”
With everything I am…
“I don’t have much say in it. She’s going to be on tour for months.”
“There are magical devices called phones.” Dena rested the heel of her hand on her chin, eyebrows raised. “You can call her, can you not? Text? Skype?”
“She needs space to figure out what she wants without interference from me,” I said. Oscar started to reply but I cut him off. “Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen next, okay? What Idoknow is I have a lot of work to do before the gallery opening. So it’s better to not have distractions.”
A short, tense silence fell, followed by the guilt that always assailed me on the rare instances I snapped at anyone. I started to apologize for being shitty company, but Oscar and Dena weren’t my best friends for nothing. Their concern for me was palpable in that noisy, ostentatious bar. Oscar leaned toward me, his expression serious for a change, while Dena slipped her hand across the table into mine.
“Tell us.”
