5

After the Storm

Still hungry after Dimitri’s departure, Atticus opens the cabinets above his counter and finds that Dimitri has also left him bread and several jars of pickled produce and soups. He breaks the seal on one of the jars and disregards a spoon as he drinks the soup, chunks of celery and carrots floating throughout. He uses his free hand to move the radio from the floor and onto his small dining table by the window.
It’s early evening and a weak ray of light filters into the room, occasionally dimming as clouds pass in front of the sun. The music and static from the radio permeate the room, preventing any amount of silence from taking over. Between songs, Lenny praises the change in weather and teases big news to come after the album is done playing. Having now met Lenny and knowing the type of guy he is, Atticus feels even more at ease having his voice keep him company in the otherwise lonely room. Atticus chose to move out of Sunny’s home so that Sienna wouldn’t feel pressured to care for another person, but the silence of living alone after so many years with such a large, rowdy family often leads to a suffocating feeling of loneliness.
Atticus continues consuming the soup, watching people clean up the boardwalks down below. One couple is tenderly carrying a small bundle wrapped in blankets to a large boat, docked nearby. Inside the boat is a small pile of more blanket-wrapped bundles of various sizes, but most are unfortunately on the smaller side. Atticus watches as several more families bring their loved ones to the boat to be properly disposed of. He feels the guilt penetrate him like a knife in the gut as he eats fresh food, safely seated several stories above the despair.
As the album comes to an end, nearly a half hour later, Lenny comes back on the radio to share his big news, pulling Atticus away from the grim scene outside. “Here’s the scoop, Seatac, our city’s grateful host, Jackson Mondo, has declared a time for celebration now that we’ve survived such a great monsoon! After months of no performances, Mondo will be headlining his own party tomorrow night in the Centurion at the heart of Century City. All citizens are welcome to join and I have even been offered, for the first time ever, to live stream some of the music directly from his venue, the Moonlight Serenade! Again, tomorrow night, at the Moonlight Serenade in Century City, come join ME in celebrating with Jackson Mondo and a half dozen more performers!”
Atticus laughs. It’s not an expression of joy or pleasure, but incredulousness. He once again gazes down to the boat, now being pushed away from the dock by a somber gondolier. A “celebration of survival,” as Lenny put it. He knows that Lenny is only passing on a message and providing optimism to the low lives that Atticus can see below, mourning their friends and family, but he can’t help but feel angry at everyone involved, including himself.
His hand hovers over the tuning knob on the radio, hesitating, but the decision is made for him when the static cuts and Dimitri’s voice comes through clearly, “Atti! Did you hear that? This is perfect, we have to go to the party.”
Atticus sighs and drops his hand before responding, “Ca-can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear! You’ve got some decent clothing, right?”
“Slow down. I have some decent clothing, but nothing extravagant enough to get me into that party, and I’m sure you know those are all about image and popularity. I’m still a nobody and don’t have the cash to bribe my way in. There’s no chance.”
“Don’t you worry about those little things, I’ll take care of it all as long as you can get yourself cleaned up.”
“If you’re sure…” He drifts off in thought before continuing, “I’ll just have to bring my suit to Sienna tomorrow to fix up.”
“Great!” Dimitri nearly doesn’t let him finish speaking in her excitement, “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon then. And remember, Atti, you’re Atticus Frank, you do have a name now, get ready to make it known to the people of Century City. Tah tah.”
Atticus turns the radio off before music can return to the room. The skies are now orange from the sunset, illuminating the floating pyre with a flame-like light. The boat is nearly out of view as he watches it travel towards the ocean in silence. He swallows the lump in his throat, unsure of what emotions he’s actually feeling. The least he can do is check on the family in the morning and keep pushing forward. Why shouldn’t he also deserve to have something good come to him?
As his head begins to pound behind one eye, Atticus takes the cue to go to sleep early and deal with it all in the morning.
*****
There’s already sunlight filtering over the surrounding buildings and into his room when Atticus wakes up, meaning he overslept a bit more than he would have liked. He sighs and rubs his eyes to stare at the ceiling, it would be a long day and night anyway, so he figures the extra sleep can’t hurt. Kicking the single blanket off of himself, Atticus rolls out of bed and pushes the hair out of his face. He leaves the radio off this morning as he scrounges for the remaining food in the kitchen cabinets. The new jars of food stare at him as a reminder that Dimitri was not, in fact, a weird dream; he opts for the can of beans he scavenged last week.
Atticus multitasks, digging through his clothing drawers for his suit between bites. When he finally pulls out the slightly oversized, brown suit jacket, there are two new holes, but thankfully one is in a patch that had already been sewn in. Sienna would be able to patch up the holes easily enough. The gray slacks he usually wears with the suit jacket are not far behind in being found, but these are newer and luckily still unblemished aside from dirty water stains around the ankle cuffs. He folds the clothes and neatly slides them into his pack, replacing the bag of wet clothes from before.
Leaving the now-empty can on the counter, Atticus peels off his shirt and moves to the bathroom to wash up as best he can. The sink water sputters and runs brown but turns clear after a moment. He uncomfortably puts his head under the faucet and lets the water run through his hair and down his neck. The water may as well be running brown again as he watches it flow into the drain. He uses a wet rag to wash the rest of his body and then brushes his teeth for the first time in several days. One of his back teeth aches, he’s fairly thin, and the bags under his eyes have hardly faded, but he looks better off than many of the other residents of the lower city. Looking at the heavily used toothbrush in his hands, he makes an internal note to try to talk to some sort of doctor soon about the pain.
Feeling sufficiently clean, Atticus gets dressed, throws his usual supplies into his pack, and then decides to also gather all his dirty clothes into another bag. Sienna has a wash station at the house and he has plenty of time to hang out with the family until the evening.
One bag slung onto his back and the other in his arms, Atticus pushes through the door and onto the fire exit stairs as he makes his way towards the ocean. The docks are busy with people trying to catch up on work left undone during the storm, and now there’s even more work to be done on repairs. Crews are dispersed; some replace broken planks, windows, and boats while others clean the canals. Atticus does his best not to bump into anyone as he moves through the city. He makes it through unbothered, as everyone is too busy to address the nudge of a stranger on a crowded day.
The water levels are still absurdly high, lapping at the heavy beams on which the dock planks are being held in place. As Atticus approaches the family’s house, Sunny’s younger brother, George, is out front deeply focused on making repairs. He’s lying on his stomach as he leans over the edge of the dock with a hammer and a handful of rusted nails, reinforcing the wooden beams with wood that likely won’t last much longer than what’s already there.
Atticus sets down his bags and crouches down next to him, “Got yourself some morning wood, huh?”
George jumps a little bit and drops a nail into the canal, “Fuck! Shit, man, who-?” he exclaims loudly as he turns his head to see Atticus right next to him. He sighs and rolls his eyes before pushing himself up off of his stomach. “I should’ve known, Dammit dude you scared the shit out of me.”
Atticus grins and stands, offering him a hand in standing up, which George doesn’t take, hopping up on his own. “Alright fine, I didn’t want to help you anyway. What’s up, punk? Everyone home? The family okay?”
George punches him in the shoulder before responding, “Yeah, no thanks to you, living it up in the city while we all suffer down here. Whatever, just come inside, I’m sure everyone else will be happy to see you.” He may not be very big, not eating enough to put on weight, but George is fairly lean from doing manual labor for the community. He’s nearly an adult and is the only kid in the family who got their dad’s light brown hair, which is messy and mid-length. He’ll likely be taller than Atticus in another year or two, but currently stands at the same height.
“Shit, kid,” Atticus tenses a bit from the hit, “Didn’t realize you’d feel so strongly, you going through your emo teen phase or some shit? Nice left hook, though, hopefully you never actually have to use it.”
“Emo teen phase… shut up, man, I’m just being honest. Whatever, come see the family already, Sunny got home yesterday afternoon.” George starts leading them around the house, not waiting for Atticus to pick up his bags.
“Yesterday afternoon? Was he not home with you all during the storm?”
“See, Atti, that’s exactly what I mean with you being gone. No, he wasn’t with us, he got fucking stuck at the greenhouse when the storm hit and couldn’t get home. He’s lucky the greenhouse is higher and safer than the house anyway because Mom wouldn’t let me go get him.”
“Fuck, George, I’m sorry, I-”
“If you’re still a part of this family, at least act like it.”
“No, you’re right, I just-” Atticus is cut short when Sunny comes around the corner.
“Atti! I knew I could hear your voice, I hope Georgie isn’t giving you a hard time, I think he’s more stressed than the rest of us.” Sunny leans into his one leg to playfully smack George in the shin with his crutch. In turn, George’s jaw tightens and he pushes past to leave them alone. Sunny smiles sadly and turns back to Atticus. “What did he say to you? Nothing too awful, right?”
Atticus watches George go around the corner before smiling at Sunny and dropping his gear again to pull him into an awkward hug, careful not to pull him off balance. “Nope, Georgie’s great, nothing to worry about. You okay though? I heard you got stuck at work for several days. I wish I’d known, I could’ve come to help-”
“I’m fine, man, I had plenty of food and water, you know how lucky I am that my boss treats me well. Really, don’t worry about it. I mean, for fucks sake, you made it onto the radio. That’s huge! You have no idea how excited I was to hear your voice while I was stuck up there. And mom won’t stop talking about it, let’s go inside.”
Atticus finally makes it around the house, with Sunny hobbling in front of him. The twins are on the back porch doing chores. They’re a couple of years younger than George, in their mid-teens. Elise has her long blonde hair braided down her back, similar to her mother’s, and is using a bucket to scoop standing water out of the chicken coop and tossing it off the porch. Marco is breaking apart a rotten wooden board on the coop ceiling to replace it with a fresh one. He’s got the same blond hair, but kept much shorter than George’s or Sunny’s. They both look exhausted as they pause their duties to watch Atticus and Sunny come around the corner, both forcing tired smiles and greeting Atticus.
“Is Atticus here?!” Sienna’s voice comes from inside the house and he turns to see her stand up from her sewing station and come through the open door. Half a dozen chickens scamper out of the way as she marches through. She sees the bag of laundry in his arms and scoffs, “Of course, you’re only here because you need something! I’m happy to see that you’re safe, but you have some explaining to do about why you traveled into the city during that storm.” She raises her eyebrows inquisitively at him.
Atticus winces and draws his shoulders to his ears after getting called out, “Listen, it worked out, didn’t it?” he laughs nervously.
Sienna stays stern and silent for a moment before relaxing and laughing, “And you’re very lucky about that. Come on in, dear, but leave your stinky clothes out here by the washboard. Have you eaten? I was just about to put some lunch together for the kids.”
Atticus opens his mouth to decline and then chooses otherwise, “I’d love to eat with you all.”
“Great!” She turns to the twins, “Come on in kids, the work will still be there. Elise or Marco, would one of you try to get George to join us? He just stormed through the front room, upset about something. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, boys?” She directs the final question to Atticus and Sunny.
Atticus scrunches his nose but before he can say anything, Sunny glances at him and responds to his mom, “I may have an idea, let’s not worry, he’ll get over it.”
Sienna glances between the two young men and then nods before going inside. She speaks over her shoulder, “If you two could herd some of the chickens out of the kitchen and clean up the dining table, I’d appreciate it.”
Atticus and Sunny do as they’re asked, splitting up in the house to push the chickens out the door, clear off the table, and wipe the chicken poop off most of the surfaces. Elise has gone to the bathroom to clean up while Marco talks to George in the room the three share. With just Atticus, Sunny, and Sienna in the front room, Atticus recounts his trek to the Water Hole and his introduction to Steve and Lenny. He makes a point to leave out everything regarding Dimitri.
“I’m proud of you, Atti. I’m glad you’re pursuing your passion and following in James’s footsteps, I just hope you don’t follow him into the grave. You know even better than us how harsh the entertainment industry is. I just know that Jackson and his boys killed James, and he thought it was only a healthy rivalry… He was too good for that industry. And so are you!” She’s slicing a block of cheese for sandwiches, avoiding eye contact with Atticus when he stops cleaning to listen to her.
“I understand, but you don’t have to worry. I’m not nearly popular enough to catch the eye of anyone up there. Besides, I just want to be consistent enough to help pay you all back for taking me in. That reminds me, though!” He steps outside for a moment to retrieve his pack and pulls out the suit jacket. “I have a show tonight, but James’s jacket has a couple of new holes, do you think you could patch them up for me this afternoon?”
She pauses in assembling sandwiches to glance up at Atticus, holding up the brown suit jacket, “I thought I told you to take better care of that! Always tearing it. There’s not gonna be any original material left at this rate!”
“I know I know, I’m doing my best, but it’s old and you know how the bugs out here are…”
She sighs, “Yes I suppose I have time to patch it up again. Is it a local show? Maybe I can scrounge up the cash to get the family in. Where is it?”
“Oh um, it’s a new place a little further inland. I’m not sure if you’d want to come to this show, it’s pretty late.”
She squints at him, “You don’t want us there, do you?”
“No no no it’s not that, it’s just…”
Sunny interrupts the conversation finally, “Believe me, Mom, you don’t want to go, his humor has gotten significantly more foul.” He gives Atticus a knowing look.
“Oh, I see. Well, tell us when you do another family-friendly show, then?” She finishes making lunch and goes to the teen’s room to holler at them to come eat.
Atticus mouths a thank you to Sunny and sets the jacket at Sienna’s sewing table. Sunny takes a seat at the table as Atticus brings both their plates and sits next to him. Before the rest of the family can join, Sunny leans close to Atticus and mutters, “You can explain what’s actually going on later. You’re welcome.”
The rest of the family takes their seats; Sienna at the end of the table next to Atticus, the twins across from him and Sunny, and George at the other end of the table. Elise and Marco chat with Atticus about his segment on Lenny’s and their own rock skipping records, which Atticus taught them. After several minutes of lighthearted chatting, Atticus finally brings up the storm and asks how they all fared.
“Well,” Sienna responds to the question, “I’m sure you saw all the failing beams along the dock outside, you can imagine how well this old house can handle rain like that. And the wind out here is worse than where your apartment is located. I wish we could more easily repair the downstairs, I’m worried what could happen if another monsoon like that happens.”
“I was afraid of that. When the water levels are low again I’ll come out and George and I can go under and see what we can do.”
“Not like it matters to you, you don’t live here.” George speaks for the first time since the meal was laid out.
Everyone is silent for a moment and Atticus opens his mouth to respond but Sunny speaks before he can, “Dude, what is your deal? You know it matters to him and he literally just offered to come help fix it.”
“Yeah well, you know how often he comes around here to hang out.”
“He’s busy, George, cut him some slack.”
Atticus cuts back in before Sunny can say anything else, “Georgie, I promise I’m not living as lavishly as you think. You can admit you just miss having an asshole older brother around. I just know Sunny here is far too nice to you. I can go tie your shoes under the docks for old time’s sake later if you want.”
George snorts and rolls his eyes before standing up to leave, “Whatever.”
Sienna stands up as well and gathers everyone’s dishes to set by the sink, “All you kids are ridiculous. George, I know you also have laundry to do so why don’t you do it with Atticus instead of moping around?”
Atticus can’t help but chuckle at her input and stands to help clear the table, grabbing his and Sunny’s plates. “Yeah Georgie, I’d love to see if you still wet the bed.”
“Atticus! Not helping!” Sienna yells at him as Sunny and the twins try to suppress laughter.
“I’ll do it later.” George sulks back to his bedroom.
With that awkwardness over, everyone returns to their prior jobs, the twins going out to the chicken coop and Sienna sitting at her sewing table. Atticus heads out to the wash bin on the back porch, where Sunny meets him several minutes later with his own dirty clothes, using his crutch to lower himself to the ground next to Atticus.
“Were you scared? In the greenhouse on your own during the monsoon?” Atticus begins separating and soaking his clothing as he speaks.
“Honestly? I was more worried that Mom was waiting to see my body float past the house. I was safe, I promise.”
“I could’ve-”
“Atti. You can be selfish. I’ll admit there were multiple times in the first few days that I expected you to show up. Or even dad… But I get it man, don’t hold yourself back because of us. I may be a fuckin’ cripple, but your family can take of themselves you know. And we’ll always still be here, you’re not gonna get fuckin’ disowned no matter how emo George gets.”
Atticus gives Sunny a side eye, “Bold of someone to say that regularly trips going up the stairs.”
“Oh shut up, dick, take the sentiment. Anyways,” He lowers his voice so the twins can’t hear from nearby, “tell me what’s going on tonight, are you going to that party I heard about on Lenny’s?”
Atticus smirks, “You bet your sweet ass I am.”
“And how are you going to pull that off? More like your broke ass.”
“Jackson must want a big turnout so admission is cheaper this time ‘round. Besides, an acquaintance has invited me and she happens to have the qualifications to get in. You could say I am her plus one.”
“Acquaintance? She? What’s with all this luck you’ve gotten lately? The rest of us are practically drinking piss down here.”
“Woah easy there, she’s not like that. I met her recently, more like a business partner. She uh, she caught me leaving the Water Hole after my radio segment the other night, wanted to help me out.”
“Sounds suspicious as fuck, Atti.” Sunny has pauses his washing to look at Atticus, his brows drawn together in worry. “This isn’t some mob shit, is it?”
“No no no, I was worried about the same thing. Well. Still am… No, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
“Reassuring. Truly. Anything else I need to know about?”
“Yeah actually. She’s a mermaid and we’re fucking.”
“You wish, dumbass.”
“You’re right. You think mermaids even have-”
“Ahem.”
The boys freeze and slowly turn their heads to see Sienna standing over them, eyebrows raised and arms crossed, the suit jacket draped over her shoulder.
“Oh hi. Um, how much…” Atticus draws the question out, his cheeks hot.
“I honestly wish I’d heard enough context to know why the topic of doing that with mermaids was even relevant. Really, I thought you two were more mature by now.” She sighs and shakes her head. “Anyways, Atti dear, here’s the jacket, all patched up. The patches won’t mask the stench, however, so I suggest you wash this as well. Just, for goodness’s sake, be gentle. No more patching.”
“Yes, Mom” Atticus takes it gingerly and adds it to his pile as Sunny bursts out laughing and Sienna leaves.
The moment she’s through the door, Sunny continues, “I’m never gonna let you live that down.”
Atticus shoves him over, Sunny barely catching himself with his elbow, and they continue working. The two chat casually until George walks out and joins them quietly, not attributing anything to the conversation.
*****
After having bade his farewells and departing, Atticus is once again shirking his way through the crowd of locals. Except this time with clean clothes and a repaired suit as he makes his way back home. It’s mid afternoon and he hasn’t heard anything from Dimitri since she’d made the plans the day before, but he feels surprisingly confident in trusting her. There’s a slight spring in his step as he gets excited for the party.
“Feeling whimsical, are we?”
Atticus’ heart skips a beat as he notices Dimitri next to him, matching him stride for stride. “Shit, how the fu- you know what, whatever. I hope you’re not ready to go right now, I need to stop back at my place.”
“Aye aye, captain, we’re in no hurry.” She takes one of his packs and they walk the last couple of blocks to his building.
Once inside, Atticus empties the contents of his laundry bag back into his dresser and pulls food out of the cabinets to snack on, sitting across from Dimitri at the table by the window. She’s watching the people down below on the docks, her chin cupped in one of her hands. She almost looks smug, watching them struggle through their days.
“You enjoy seeing the aftermath of a disaster?” Atticus asks between mouthfuls of pickled vegetables.
“Hm? I wouldn’t say that. But I do think we all need a healthy dose of catastrophe to stay motivated. You think these people would be so productive if nothing bad ever happened? Stability leads to complacency. That’s why we need to go disrupt Moony and his stable, successful life.”
Atticus looks at her, emotionless.
“That said, are you about ready to go?” She’s clearly eager, despite having said they were in no hurry.
Atticus huffs, “Yes, I can be ready in ten minutes, let me go change.” He stands as he finishes the statement, replaces the jar into his cabinet, and closes himself in the bathroom.
He exits wearing the patched up brown suit jacket over a white shirt and gray slacks, his curly hair detangled a bit to look neater around his shoulders. He feels reasonably self-conscious, however, when he realizes how cleaned up Dimitri looks. She’s in slim, high-waisted maroon slacks, hanging loose over dark, heeled boots. She’s got a black turtle-necked tank top tucked into her waistband as her dark, iridescent hair cascades over her shoulders. She lets out a little laugh when Atticus walks out. “Oh babes, it’s endearing, really. Just remind me to hunt down something a little more high-end before our next outing.”
Atticus scrunches his nose for a second, “It has sentimental value.”
“And I don’t doubt that. Maybe it’s better this way, it’ll give you an image of humility. Just don’t get butthurt when some people won’t talk to you, it’s a dog eat dog world up in Century City.”
“It’s the same down here, just for more valid reasons.” He adjusts his posture, standing more confidently. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll make a name for myself without a facade of wealth. Let’s go.” He leaves his pack behind for the first time in a while as he leads the way out of his apartment.
“I like the confidence, I’ve got a boat docked in the same place as yesterday.”
They take the boat as far as water levels will allow and then walk the remaining dozen blocks to the heart of Century City. Atticus has been here before to observe the goings-on, out of curiosity and boredom, but those were most often during the day to avoid being targeted by gang member attacks. Now, the sun is setting, and the city is truly starting to come alive. The residents still walk on elevated docks, but these are only a few feet above street level, as the higher elevation of the inland city allows for much more water runoff during the floods.
It’s the hour of pregaming, so the crowds move from one small venue to the next, drinking their fill of cheap moonshine. As the stars come out, however, everyone will gradually move upwards, finding more substantial parties to partake in. Different music bounces between the streets along with colored lights illuminating windows on every building level. Instead of the familiar scents of mold and mildew, the smells of cheap perfumes and herbal smoke permeate the air. All in all, it’s an almost intoxicating overload of the senses.
Atticus offers an elbow for Dimitri to take, to which she responds, “Feeling like a gentleman all of the sudden?”
“Feels unnatural to be walking with a woman without at least pretending I have a sense of courtesy. Besides, I’m sure we’ll stand out less if we act like we like each other.”
She laughs and drapes her arm over his, “Touche, but are you saying you don’t like me?” She forces a pouty face.
“Has yet to be decided.” He glances at her, “I’ll like you more if you happen to have something I can smoke before we get up there. I can’t be the only sober one there and I’m not about to drink the equivalent of piss.”
As if on command, a passerby with long red hair pulled into two low messy buns staggers over with two more women, each holding glasses of an off-yellow, cloudy liquid. “You two lovelies headed to Mondo’s place?” The redhead speaks with a faint accent.
“Well of course! But you see, my sweet man here is far too sober to be of any fun to me, you ladies don’t happen to have anything to smoke do you?” She lowers her voice and leans into the redhead, “He can’t stomach alcohol, you see?”
She cackles, “Oh don’t you worry, miss, I’ve got something better. Girls?” She turns to the women behind her with her hand outstretched and they giggle as the shorter one with cropped dark hair and large glasses retrieves a small bag of gray, chunky powder from a purse draped over her shoulder. She digs out a whole chunk of the substance and hands it over to Dimitri. Upon closer inspection, Atticus recognizes it as an extremely potent street drug, a fungus that mostly grows down low where he lives. Before he can consider declining, Dimitri is feeding it to him.
“Oh this’ll be perfect, ladies, thank you so much. Care to join us in going up?”
The women continue to giggle as they watch Atticus choke down the dry mushroom and the redhead regains her composure enough to answer, “That’s alright, we’ve got business elsewhere for a bit tonight, but maybe we’ll see you there as the night goes on. Don’t have too much fun and make sure your lowlife there drinks plenty of water.”
At the lowlife comment, Atticus finally breaks his silence, pushing through the nasty taste left in his mouth, “Careful, babes, I can smell the cum between your teeth, seems like you’re the only one spending time down low this evening. Is that how you girls got the Static?”
At that, all three of the women stop laughing and snarl a bit in offense, the redhead sarcastically responding to Dimitri, “Oh you got a funny one, did you?” She turns to Atticus, “Asshole,” and they strut off without any true retort.
Once out of earshot, Dimitri bursts out laughing but catches her breath enough to speak, “Maybe don’t be too harsh when we get up there, Atti, we do want people to like you, and I fear most of these people are secretly very insecure. That was a good one though.”
He chuckles as they continue onward, making it to Jackson Mondo’s skyscraper, the Centurion. Staring up at the glass windows stacking above him, Atticus watches as the lines wobble and the technicolor lights emanating from within sparkle and shine far more intensely than they should.
“Drink this.” Dimitri shoves a bottle of water into his hands and leads him into the building, “I broke a chunk off and palmed it so you wouldn’t get too stoned, but if you haven’t taken Static before your tolerance will be low.”
He graciously takes the water and responds after a long drink, “I took it several times in my late teens, quit before it became an issue. I know what to expect, I’ll be fine.”
“Good, then let’s go.”
Inside, they’re stopped by a large bald man and a tall, muscular woman with short hair asking for admissions. Dimitri thumbs out a wad of cash and the woman looks over Atticus, nonchalantly standing beside her, and then back at Dimitri, “Ain’t you a bit out of his league?”
“Not everything is about public appearance, if you know what I mean.” She winks and the guards shrug and let them through.
“Yeah, wouldn’t you like to know.” Atticus mutters under his breath for only Dimitri to hear.
The two join a small crowd of people in one of the dozen elevators and make their way up to the upper levels of the building. A few people get off at lower floors, where other artists are performing, but Atticus and Dimitri head all the way up to the main stage, the Moonlight Serenade. As they exit the lift, Dimitri whispers to Atticus and they push their way towards the stage along the right side wall. A band is setting up their instruments on stage, “The Streamliners” written in a stylistic font on the bass drum in the back. Atticus spots Lenny getting dragged backstage and then return several minutes later in a new suit. He nudges Dimitri to point it out and laughs.
“Yeah, we’re probably gonna have to do something similar to you here soon. You go say hi to your boyfriend, I’m going to walk around, make friends.”
“Wait, you’re leaving me alone here?” He turns and she’s already lost in the crowd.
At this point, the room is spinning and the lights are casting shadows that swirl and the art on the walls expand and shrink as if breathing. He takes a deep breath and dives forward to approach Lenny, who’s behind a roped-off section next to the stage, announcing the band on stage into a microphone. Once he’s finished and muted, Atticus hollers over the noise of the room to him, “Lenny! Lookin’ sharp, man! I think I like your usual look better, though!”
Lenny looks up and grins, “Atti! You actually have no idea how relieved I am to see a face that doesn’t look disgusted at me! Come on in!” He lifts the rope enough for Atticus to duck under and join him by the stage.
Laughing with Lenny, Atticus takes a moment to look around the pulsing room until his eyes fall to another roped-off section on the opposite side of the stage. There’s a lean man in a fitted white suit standing there, watching him like a hawk. He’s Eastern, with clean dark hair styled and curling up at the ends. There’s a shimmer on his cheeks, below his dark eyes, which meet Atticus’s for a brief moment. Atticus catches himself beginning to smirk as he recognizes the man, but breaks eye contact before it’s obvious.