Page 45 of The Girl with No Name
“Need a cigarette?” Luna asks. She’s sitting on the stoop as I walk up the steps from the basement club.
“I don’t smoke.”
“Me neither.”
“Better than vaping.” I shrug.
She hands me a cigarette and a lighter. We step away from the entrance and find a picnic table in the alley. I pull out my phone and check. Still nothing.
“How’s your girlfriend?” Luna asks.
“She’s got this thing this weekend. Some business MBA students are coming in from Europe. It’s like an exchange thing.”
“Oh, rad.”
“Right.”
“So you dated while you were in the Peace Corps? Where were you again?”
“Bolivia. And, no, it was more of an open thing during that time.”
“Oh, an open thing. Like an open relationship?”
“Nah, more like we weren’t officially together, but we were just waiting for each other.”
“Seems like you’ve spent a lot of time waiting for each other.”
I nod. “Guess we have.”
“I don’t think I could wait that long for someone. Too much physical distance. And it’s never the same after you get back together.”
“It’s been challenging. I mean, I’m a different person for sure after doing the Peace Corps.”
“Why’d you go to the Peace Corps then? Why didn’t you just move to California with her while she was getting her MBA?”
“I was twenty-three when I signed up. After my cousin died, I needed some change. I was searching for something.”
“Did you find it?” She pulls the cigarette away from her mouth, and I notice a tattoo on the inside of her arm.
A tingle goes down my spine, thinking of Mason’s painting. “Why do you have a blue horse on your arm?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I like long stories.”
“This one’s sad. More or less, I just like blue horses. It’s like, something mythological, you know? Horses are beautiful creatures. But blue horses don’t exist in nature. So it’s the marriage of a myth with something real.”
“Wow. You’re a really intriguing person, you know that? I’m still curious what kind of person goes on a trip like this with two random guys.”
“You two seem like good guys. I get a great vibe.”
“How do you know, though?”
“Because I know what the warning signs are.”
“How so? We didn’t make a great first impression. Dad energy, like your friend said.”
She laughs. “Yeah, max dad energy coming in with a napkin save. But I learned the hard way that you should actually be wary of people who make smooth first impressions.”