feelings at the other Parlor. Want a beer?”
“I don’t drink,” he said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Maybe we should go to Dolce Vita and have a coffee or something.”
“I love coffee,” I said stupidly.
“Want to meet my friends first?”
We walked over to the table. “Hey, guys, this is Vet Girl,” Texas said.
I laughed. “I’m Roxy.”
“We know,” Arsen Alton said. “Texas has been ripping out what’s left of his hair worrying that you weren’t going to show.” Texas blushed an adorable bright red.
“He’s got all his hair,” I said. Texas turned around and tilted his head over so I could see a cute little bald spot in the back. “So some of your fur has been loved off,” I said. “That’s what makes you real.”
“ ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ is one of my top five favorite children’s books,” Texas said.
The FAIL BETTER! guys glared at Texas with a collective look that surely meant, “Shut the fuck up, man!” But I have no idea why. There’s nothing wrong with having a working knowledge of a wide range of literature.
“I love it too,” I said. We all chatted for a minute, and I tried to casually display my knowledge of FAIL BETTER!’s album without seeming like a groupie. It was a difficult balance to strike, but one I think I did well. Texas told them we were headed over to Dolce Vita for a coffee, and they shot one another knowing looks. I told them it was nice to meet them and Texas and I headed out the door.
“They definitely seemed tuned in to the fact that I’m a girl.”
“I told them about you, is all.”
“That other girl I always see you with. Is she your girlfriend?”
“Gazelle? She used to dance onstage with the band. She’s just my friend.”
“Women who look like that aren’t anybody’s friend.”
“Are you being beautyist?”
“I’m just saying.”
“Okay. I think maybe she wanted more. And I didn’t. So we haven’t been hanging out as much.”
“Why didn’t you want to date her?”
He paused. “I don’t want to say anything bad about her. She’s a nice woman. Our interests just weren’t a total fit. She was so into hair and makeup and clothes. I just can’t keep up with that stuff. What about you? Are you and that Australian guy an item?”
“That’s just mean.”
“It’s not! Last time I saw you, it seemed like you were close.” He shot one eyebrow up on his forehead in a teasingly Sherlock sort of way.
“Shut uuuuuppppp!” I said. “The road to that moment in time was winding and terrible. And it’s one I will not be taking again.”
“It did seem rather,” he paused as if searching for a word that wouldn’t offend, “adventurous.” He took my hand and then we were walking along with our fingers clasped. Holding hands! When was the last time I’d held hands with someone? Every single ounce of attention in my body was on the places where our skin touched. It was literally one of the most erotic things that’s ever happened to me, no offense to our past sexual relationship, Everett. A couple years ago I had a Spanish tutor. And the way we practiced Spanish was just by talking about our dating lives. And if one of us met someone the other would always say, “¿Hay chemica?” which means, “Is there chemistry?” And there hardly ever was, because good sexual chemistry between two people is rare. But as soon as I held hands with Texas, I knew for sure that we had it.
I asked about how he started playing for FAIL BETTER! and he said before he joined the band, he’d had an electric drum kit that he played all the time in his garage.
“An electric drum kit that doesn’t make any noise?”
“I mean, I could hear noise in my headphones.”
“You were a silent drummer!” I said.
“I was a silent drummer.”
“That’s so sad in a way.”
He laughed. “It was kind of lonely.”
“I’m glad you found a great band to play with.”
“What about you? Do you have an art form?”
“I do,” I said. For a moment I was on the verge of blathering about how blocked I was artistically and why. But then I felt this sudden waft of intuition and instead I said, “Right now my medium is protest signs.”
“Protest signs? Yes! Social justice is my thing. I want to hear more.” We were walking through the door of Dolce Vita then and we ordered cappuccinos and sat down at a little table. I took a sip. “Oh my Goddess, that’s good,” I said.
“I’ll