6

Life of the Party

Atticus watches Lenny as he’s crouched down, fiddling with a few wires to ensure that the audio quality is streaming well. He can barely hear himself think with the sound of the band playing next to him and the crowds yelling behind him. The music is made up of electric instruments that, while working fine here in the upper city with somewhat stable electricity, have clearly been passed down for several generations. The sound is upbeat and alternative, and the crowd takes no time to match its energy. Among all of the noise and movement in the room, however, Atticus can still feel the eyes of Entertainment burning a hole in the back of his head.
“Hey, Lenny!” Atticus speaks loud enough to be heard over the noise of the room and Lenny pauses what he’s doing to look up at him. “That man in the white suit on the other side of the stage, you know who that is?”
Lenny cranes his neck to get a better look and squints his eyes to study him. After a moment, his eyes widen a bit in recognition, “You know what, now that you mention it, I think I’ve seen him around at quite a few shows. Couldn’t tell you who he is though.” Lenny turns back towards his setup to continue shuffling things to his liking.
“You’ve never heard a name or spoken to him?”
“To who?” Lenny looks up at Atticus, confused.
Atticus snorts out a chuckle, “Nobody, that’s what I figured, no worries.”
“Anyone ever told you that you’re a strange guy, Atti?”
“Nope, never.” He turns his head to look back towards Moony, but he’s gone, so Atticus crouches next to Lenny, “You need a hand with anything?”
“I think if one more person touches my system I’ll actually throw them off the nearest skywalk, thanks though.”
At this point, Dimitri walks up from the other side of the rope and taps Atticus on the shoulder, “Atti! Get out here, I’ve got some people I want you to meet! You can hang out with Lenny more later.”
Atticus sighs and stands back up, “I guess this is my cue to partake in the partying, I’ll come back to see ya later, Lenny!”
Lenny breaks his concentration one more time to grin at Atticus, “You better! I’m gonna be trying to interview people while I’m not live streaming the music, you can come cameo on the show again!” He moves from his crouched position and into the chair that was left for him as Atticus slides under the rope to join Dimitri. Before they’re out of earshot, Lenny adds, “Oh, on that note, if you find any performers or interesting people out in the crowds tonight, send them my way, will ya?”
“No problem, Lenny, I’ll do that!” Atticus and Dimitri disappear into the crowd.
Atticus’s field of vision narrows as he enters the writhing mass of people, like swimming against the current in a school of fish. Dimitri is ahead of him, the focus of his sight, and lines of motion follow her, along with everyone else dancing on either side of him. Before he can avoid it, a group of people pass between him and Dimitri, cutting him off from her.
The previous times he had taken Static, Atticus was in the lower city, often alone or only sticking to the familiar docks, not in such an overwhelming crowd. By the time he can react to anyone bumping into him, he’s lost all sense of who it could have been. Suddenly a tall man is leaning into him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and speaking into his ear, “Lighten up, babe, you’re too stiff. Why don’t you come join me and my friends?” He starts pulling Atticus in another direction, deeper into the crowd. He doesn’t fight it, using it as a chance to look for Dimitri nearby. They stop when they get to a group of three other people, all grinding on each other, and the man releases Atticus to join them. Atticus turns to leave and continue his search, but one of the women breaks off from the group and snatches his elbow, using it to pull him around to face her.
“I appreciate the invitation, but I’m here with someone, I’m trying to find her!” Atticus politely yells through the noise and attempts to disconnect.
“I’m sure she’ll find you, you’ve got all night!” She throws herself onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into an unexpected, sloppy kiss.
A moment too late, Atticus feels the pill from under her tongue slide down his throat and she pulls away with a grin, returning to her group as they all laugh.
“Fuck you.” He tries to gag it up, but it’s too late, so he turns until he can see the nearest wall and begins forcing his way in that direction. He doesn’t make it far before another hand grabs his wrist from behind. He attempts to rip his arm away but recognizes Dimitri.
“Sorry for all this lack of consent,” She leans in as if to kiss him herself and instead shoves a finger down his throat before he can resist, forcing him to throw up. She sidesteps and forces his upper body forward in time to avoid getting vomit on either of them. Half a dozen people nearby, however, are not so lucky as they turn to scowl at the two. Luckily they can see the capsule floating in the pool of bile.
“That was close, I think that’s a sedative. Don’t lose me this time, will you?” She grabs his wrist once again and leads them through the crowd and to the back end of the room, furthest from the stage.
Once out of the bulk of the crowd, Dimitri speaks up again, “You do need to lighten up a bit, Atti, you’re too easy of a target right now. Here, I found something you’ll like.” She pulls out a match and an ugly spliff, taking the first hit before handing it to him.
Atticus’ eyes are wide as he takes the spliff and doesn’t speak until after several hits. “I thought I’d be better at this.”
He hands the joint back to her, but she waves it off, “It doesn’t actually do anything for me, just wanted to show it was safe.” He keeps smoking as she continues, “Sorry I lost you, I forgot you haven’t dealt with crowds this intense, you’ll adjust quickly enough.”
The herbs start to intensify the drugs he’s already on, but Atticus visibly relaxes his shoulders, “You better have a good reason for dragging me away from Lenny. I thought you had someone you wanted me to meet?”
“I do, but then that happened so we can wait a moment. You see the man of the hour upfront earlier?”
“I recognized Moony if that’s what you’re asking.” He subconsciously begins tapping his foot to the music emanating through the room.
“Moony indeed, handsome, right?”
“Yeah, he looks like a teen girl’s dream man off of one of Lenny’s K-pop albums from last century.”
Dimitri laughs hard, “Anyway, I lost track of him, I’m sure he’s off beating his meat in a mirror or something. He probably feels great right now.”
Atticus stops smoking to look Dimitri in her eyes, inquisitively, “And what about you? Is this party enough of a bad joke for you?”
“Oh I’m reaping my benefits, Jackson is good at edging his crowds, if nothing else. You ready to go meet my friends?”
“Do these friends even know you? Or am I gonna have to go through all the introductions myself?”
“They’ll recognize me enough to make this easier. Shall I hold your hand again or can you keep up?”
Atticus rolls his eyes and drops the joint, putting it out with his foot and leaving it on the vinyl flooring. The mixture of drugs has dulled his senses enough to make the noise and movement much more tolerable and he nods for her to move forward, “I’ll cope, lead the way.”
They make their way around the outskirts of the room until Dimitri spots someone and they dive into the crowd. Atticus stays much closer to Dimitri this time as they plow through, but runs into her when she suddenly stops, having found who she was looking for. He wobbles and regains his balance, coming up beside Dimitri to see who she’s talking to. There are two people, a tall Eastern guy with tan skin and black, mid-length hair tied up under a bandanna, and a girl with thick dark hair that falls down her back. The girl speaks up, “Hey! Di! Glad you found your friend and came back!”
“Me too! Sorry it took so long, we got a bit hung up, but Atti here should be ready to party now!” She nudges him with her elbow and coaxes him into moving with the beat. Once all four of them are dancing, Dimitri yells over the noise for the group to hear, “Atticus, this is Dakota and Noah, they’re the singer and guitarist, respectively, of the Glass Oceans! Dakota and Noah, this is Atti!”
“Oh shit, the Glass Oceans?” Atticus keeps up the conversation, “Lenny plays your stuff all the time! It’s pretty good!”
“Thanks!” the girl, Dakota, responds enthusiastically.
“Don’t thank me, I was just saying it to be polite.”
“What?” Dakota laughs halfheartedly, “Why would you say that?”
Dimitri and Noah look at him, bemused, but Atticus grins and quickly retorts, “I’m kidding! I really do like your music, especially Core Problem. Seriously, it’s great to meet you!”
Dakota and Noah chuckle awkwardly, while Dimitri roars with laughter, “I’m so sorry, I should’ve warned you guys that Atti is such a dick. I think he’s being genuine, though, believe it or not.”
Noah relaxes and his eyes widen as he finally speaks, “oh shit, Atti, as in Atticus Frank, from the radio the other night! This makes so much more sense now, nice to meet you, man!” He puts his fist out to bump Atticus’ as the song ends and the lead singer of the band says a few words, encouraging the crowd. All conversations hold as the crowd cheers and the Streamliners begin to play their final song. The four of them continue to dance until the song comes to an end and the band says their thanks before moving offstage.
A crew of stagehands begin to shuffle onto the stage, replacing the instruments and equipment with another set. Murmurs spread through the crowd as people recognize the brasses and stand-up bass as belonging to Jackson’s band.
Atticus, Noah, and Dakota stop watching the stage and begin chatting when Dimitri interrupts to direct Atticus’ attention back to the stage. Moony has taken the microphone from its stand and begins addressing the crowd, “Thank you, everyone, for coming to the show tonight, I hope you enjoyed the Streamliners,” he’s interrupted by a handful of whoops and cheers that go out before continuing, “Your headliner and gracious host, Jackson Mondo, will be here shortly. But take this intermission to take care of your needs.” He strides back off the stage as people cheer again and then disperse to bathrooms and bars in neighboring rooms.
With less noise, Atticus addresses Dakota and Noah, throat sore from their previous yelling, “Hey, you guys should come see Lenny! He’s streaming parts of the show and wants entertainers to interview throughout the night.”
“That sounds great! Bring us to him!” Dakota responds.
Atticus goes to lead them and pauses when he notices that Dimitri has not moved her gaze away from the corner of the stage from which Moony exited. The stage is cast in shadow, a single spotlight on an unoccupied microphone stand. In the direction of Dimitri’s gaze, however, Atticus can just make out the form of Moony in his roped-off area, talking to someone behind a curtain that drapes across the entire back portion of the room and stage. He pauses for a moment and Atticus can see him turn his head just enough to peer at them from his peripheral vision. He finishes turning to lock onto them like a predator to prey, not flinching as people walk across their fields of vision. Atticus feels completely sober for the eternal second in which Moony locks eyes with him and then moves to meet Dimitri’s. He scowls, but Dimitri breaks contact and returns attention to the group, breaking Atticus’ attention as well, the world beginning to pulse around him once again. She’s beaming when she speaks up, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go see Lenny!”
Traversing the room is much easier now that many of the people have dispersed, and Lenny is lounging comfortably in his space when they arrive. He perks up when he sees Atticus arrive with familiar performers.
“Atti! You’re more popular than I expected, bringing me members of an actual well-known band.” Lenny stands to greet them all as they arrive at the rope barrier.
“Y’know, just because I’m from the low end doesn’t make me worthless. And everyone calls me the rude one.” He nods towards the two musicians with him, “This is-”
“-Dakota and Noah, of the Glass Oceans! I know who they are! Welcome, welcome, I’ve been wanting to properly interview you guys for a while now, where’s the other two members?”
“Eli and Callum aren’t much of party people. I struggle enough to get Callum to perform regularly, I wouldn’t push him any further than that.” Noah answers Lenny, he’s somewhat soft-spoken when he’s not yelling over live music.
“I was lucky to even get Noah to come out tonight, otherwise he’d be home with Callum,” Dakota playfully elbows Noah, “Eli, on the other hand, refuses to associate with what he calls ‘privileged Century City assholes,’ so he’s probably off partying elsewhere or home with his girlfriend.”
Lenny looks back and forth at the two, nodding enthusiastically, and then lifts the rope to encourage them all to join him, “Well the two of you are still a pleasure to have, come on in, just watch the wires.” The space is tight, but they all fit.
Dimitri stays outside the rope with her arms crossed, half listening to them and half watching the rest of the room, like a guard dog. Lenny almost asks about her and then quickly gets distracted and doesn’t pay her any mind. Atticus stays closest to Dimitri but moves towards the nearby wall where the rope ends to have something to lean on. However, as Lenny makes small talk with Dakota and Noah before going live, Atticus gradually slides down the wall until he’s sitting among the wires and resting an elbow on an extra stereo that Lenny brought. He shifts uncomfortably as the cords appear to writhe under his outstretched legs. Dimitri glances at him and shakes her head, amused, while the others step over his legs to place themselves in a more convenient place.
Lenny speaks up for Atticus to hear as well as the others, “I’m sure Mondo will be out soon, and I’d like to stream the first few songs, so we’ll start the interviews afterward. Atti, you gonna join in on the interview or wait for a fly to make residence in your gaping mouth?”
Atticus blinks and closes his mouth, unaware that his jaw has been slack. It takes him a moment to respond, “Oh for sure, Lenny, just let me know when you’re ready and I’m there.”
“You gonna be responsive?”
“I’m responding to you now, aren’t I?”
“Touché.” Lenny turns back to the band members standing with him and continues chatting. As time marches on, waiting for Jackson to arrive, Lenny finally notices Dimitri again and takes his chance to ask who she is.
“Oh little ol’ me? You can call me Di, I’m just a friend of Atti’s.” She winks and continues watching the stage.
Confusion flashes across Lenny’s face, but he shrugs and doesn’t inquire further.
It’s at this point that Dimitri perks up and gets everyone’s attention, “Oh finally! Here’s our favorite deadbeat mob boss.”
All four of them turn their attention to the stage, where Dimitri is looking, and almost instantaneously the crowd multiplies like a mold, cheers drowning out every other sense.
“Thank you all so much for your patience,” Jackson takes the mic and addresses the crowd, which quickly quiets down to listen. “I could not have asked for a better turnout, you all remind me why I do what I do. So please, continue to enjoy the party, we didn’t push through that monsoon for nothing, right?” The crowd returns to cheering as Jackson’s band trickles onto the stage. Five men take up their instruments, consisting of a stand-up bass, trumpet, piano, drums, and saxophone. Jackson removes the wired microphone from its stand and holds the stand with his opposite hand, tapping a foot as the drums start a beat. One by one, each instrument joins in until Jackson takes a deep breath and belts out a long note, diving head first into the music.
Lenny has frantically finished flipping switches around him, managing to begin streaming the intro and song just in time. They listen to a couple of songs before Dimitri nudges Atticus’s foot with her own and then coaxes him up with a look, to which he responds with an exasperated sigh and slowly pushes himself up. She nods left of the stage, directing his attention to where Moony is standing, watching Jackson with a smug look on his face.
“That’s a post-nut face if I’ve ever seen one,” Atticus leans close to Dimitri so he doesn’t need to shout.
“Could not have said it better myself.” She returns the gesture, so nobody else can hear them.
“You wanna cockblock him?”
She looks at him, eyes wide, “What are you thinking…?”
Atticus grins and doesn’t respond, instead turning back to the three behind him, listening to the music. He carefully tiptoes through the mess of cords to Lenny’s chair and takes the seat for himself. Lenny, Dakota, and Noah break their attention away from Jackson on stage and have to shift their stances to avoid colliding with Atticus. In front of him is the microphone on a short stand, so Atticus picks it up to place it in his lap.
“Atticus…” Lenny starts moving towards him, “Whatcha doin’?”
“Jackson couldn’t possibly approve of you live-streaming his music to the public for free. How do you turn this thing on?” He looks around at all the switches he remembers watching Lenny flip previously to transition back and forth between his mic and the music.
“Atti don’t-”
“Here we go,” He slides on the nearby headphones before disconnecting the music from the stage next to him and sliding his hand across the unmute button on the mic in his lap. “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you… well, nothing important. Good evening Seatac and Century City, I hope you all remember me, Atticus.”
Lenny disregards the cords as he lunges across in an attempt to stop Atticus, “No! You’re gonna get me killed! What are you doing?”
Atticus pivots himself in the chair, turning his back to Lenny so he can’t reach the mic and continues to speak, “I’m sure you just heard that our good friend Lenny is here, but don’t worry, he’ll be fine. If anyone gets killed because I’m on air, it’s me.” He turns enough to look Lenny in the eyes as he says the last part. “It’s not like Lenny has permission to stream the whole show anyway, Mr. Mondo would hate that because, you know, nothing good comes for free, or something like that. But let’s be honest, is Jackson really good enough not to be free? Just kidding! He’s made it to the top somehow, and clearly nothing dubious happened to get him there; it was all talent, right?
Lenny watches in horror as Atticus goes on, unwilling to do anything out of fear of being involved. Dakota and Noah look almost impressed while Dimitri’s smile reaches ear to ear. Dimitri takes a few steps closer to the stage and situates herself to get a better view of Moony on the other end. Atticus can barely see him from his seat, but Moony’s face hardens as he recognizes what’s going on.
Atticus continues speaking regardless, “I was pretty nervous the last time I was on air, but I’m feeling pretty good this evening, so no more shitty pre-written jokes. No, because I think the funniest joke of the evening is that everyone up in this city is celebrating survival. Survival of what? I mean, this place looks untouched, whereas I watched probably a dozen kids get piled onto a funeral boat in just my block of the lower end yesterday. I’ve always ended my stand-up gigs by saying that life is one big joke, but truthfully I think I’d hear a lot more laughter on a daily basis if that were true. But enough of the depressing shit, we’re all trying to distract ourselves from that.
“If my family is listening, I am so sorry, I am currently on drugs and a little bit afraid that the wires around my feet will turn into electrical eels any second and kill me, but at this point, that’s probably the least of your worries. The irony is that last time, I told you listeners that I didn’t take any hard drugs and yet still heard the voice of a strange woman. Well, I can now confirm that I think she actually talks much less when I’m high, so that theory is debunked, which means there are definitely mermaids in the canals. I mean, it’s the only explanation. With my luck, however, I won’t realize she’s a shark until I’ve swam far too deep into the waters.”
Dimitri side-eyes Atticus as he says this, raising her eyebrows for a moment and almost smiling, but turns away to continue watching Moony’s rage grow.
“I hope you’re all still with me. I think Lenny might make me spontaneously combust with the way he’s staring at me, so I’ll wrap things up. For anyone who’s sad not to have been able to make it up to this party, I’ll ease your disappointment by saying you’re not missing much. Most of the partiers here do nothing but look down on those of us outside Century City. I mean I’m lucky not to be naked and unconscious or floating out to sea after throwing up a sketchy pill that someone tongue-punched down my throat earlier. The joke is on them, I’ve probably got some contagious lowlife disease that’ll mold their genitals off.
“Anyway, I hope everyone out there listening tonight has a grand time surviving, gods know they’re the only ones thriving.” Atticus mutes the mic and flips the switch to reconnect to the stage audio as Jackson nears the end of his first song.
Lenny lets out a breath that he was likely holding for the entirety of Atticus’ time on air and almost speaks, but Atticus beats him to it, “I’ll leave, don’t worry, and don’t take any blame, send it all my way.” He sidesteps Dakota and Noah, still standing there awestruck, ducks under the rope, and addresses Dimitri, “Shall we?”
“Oh, we shall. But I don’t think we’ll be getting out of this room as smoothly as you think.” She nods across the room, where Moony is signaling something to Jackson on stage, and then she nods to the nearby door where Lenny had previously appeared in his new suit, from which two guards are exiting and walking directly towards them. They knock over some of Lenny’s gear in the process.
“Mr. Frank, you’ve been invited to join us backstage, I highly suggest you comply.” The first one addresses him directly.
The second guard hesitates when their eyes fall on Dimitri and then they add, “He said the two of them, right? Does he mean her?”
“I-” He looks at Dimitri, seeming surprised that he didn’t notice her sooner, “I guess so.”
“Awwww, I’m invited too?” Dimitri patronizes them, “I feel so honored, let’s go, Atti.” She wraps her arm around his own and they move to follow.
Before they can get too far past the others, Noah leans into Atticus as he passes, “That was impressive, we dig it, come see us at the Flood Lounge in a couple of nights, Callum and Eli will love to meet you.”
Atticus nods in response but pushes through to avoid irritating the guards by taking too long. As they step through the exit, the door closes behind them and Atticus finds himself in a large back room, stretching around to the other side of the stage. The lighting is dim and there’s a handful of guards and stagehands scuttering through, avoiding Atticus and Dimitri as they are escorted around the corner to where Moony himself stands, arms crossed and face unamused. His white suit is pristine, accented by a purple tie and dress shoes. Glitter speckles his face like freckles, making it almost difficult to take him seriously.
As they approach, the guards fall back and the three of them are left alone, not far from the door that connects to Jackson’s exit from the stage. Moony speaks once the guards have disappeared, “Dimitri.”
“Eun-Min! Fancy seeing you here.” Dimitri is habitually overly casual, “I’m surprised you called us back here, honestly, I thought you’d be too embarrassed.”
“Believe me, I have no desire to talk to you, Di, but business must be addressed.” He turns his head to lock eyes with Atticus, “But we’ll wait for Mondo to join us.”
They stand in awkward silence for several long moments. Finally, the door opens and the cheers of the crowd pour in along with Jackson Mondo, dabbing the sweat from his brow with a small towel and taking a glass of water from a woman on the other side. The door closes once again, shutting out the outside world. The four of them stand in silence for several long seconds as Jackson downs the water. He sets the empty glass on a nearby side table and then looks Atticus up and down until his eyebrows raise and he finally breaks the silence, “It’s that fucking suit jacket, I know who you are, damn street rat.”
Atticus squares his shoulders and crosses his arms, “Yeah, I’d fucking hope you’d remember that.”
“You know, I should just kill you right here like I did you’re useless benefactor. You’re lucky Mr. Moon has taken an interest and I’m having a good night.”
“He was my adoptive dad, you motherfu-”
“Mondo,” Moony interrupts, “you care to explain to me how your memory has suddenly become useful? Who’s the kid to you?”
“You remember that lowlife competitor of mine from nearly a decade ago, when we first met?”
“Another singer, yeah I remember him because he was more popular than you, James Mattern, was it? You said you took care of him.”
Heat flashes across Jackson’s cheeks and he shuffles his feet nervously, “Yeah well, I did, he’s been at the bottom of the sewage canal for 6 years. But I remember he had that crippled kid and this rodent he picked up off the streets shadowing him at all the shows. I bet the crippled one is long dead by now and this one’s left here to be a bottom-feeder, scrounging up whatever he can of a life he’ll never live.”
Atticus is grinding his teeth, anger sobering him, “The crippled one has a name, and he’s alive and well, no thanks to you.”
Dimitri places a hand on Atticus’ shoulder, “Well this is an interesting development, Atti, you didn’t tell me you had beef with this guy. That’s okay, though, just gives us more drive to make it to the top now, doesn’t it, Eun-Min?”
Moony squints at her, “I’d say, if Atticus here wants to be on air so much and contest us, let him.”
“Let him?” Mondo is visibly surprised.
“Yeah. Let him have it.” Moony emphasizes the statement and looks at Mondo.
Mondo nods to communicate a form of understanding and then addresses Atticus, “You heard him, you’re free to pursue your goals, may the best man win.” He reaches a hand out to shake but pulls it back when Atticus keeps his arms crossed.
“And may you choke tonight, sucking your god’s dick.” Atticus spits on the floor in front of both the man and god in front of him. “And Moony, may he be a biter.” He turns around and marches back down the hall they arrived in, Dimitri not far behind.
They make no stops as they exit the building and travel downstream, Dimitri staying in the boat to watch as Atticus climbs the stairs to his apartment alone.