Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
They did not sail over the causeway on the drive home. Traffic was at a slow crawl. Even so, Kya had no complaints. Good vibes as far as the eye could see, all thanks to the person sitting beside her who, coincidently, was the same person featured on a major billboard rising in the distance. There she was, in her usual bikini top, flashing a smile, her golden brown hair around her face.
BLU WELCOMES QUINN at SUNSET SPLASH on JUNE 17
Kya screamed. ‘My God! That’s you!’
Quinn’s jaw dropped. Next thing, she cut through lanes of traffic and veered onto the road shoulder, nearly swiping two cars in the process.
Kya clutched the door handle for dear life, her good vibes evaporated, gone. She turned to Quinn. ‘A little notice next time you try to kill us wouldn’t hurt.’
‘Sorry.’
Quinn had gone pale; her breath came fast. Kya curled a hand around her wrist, felt her pulse leap under her fingertips. ‘Aren’t you feeling well?’ she asked. ‘My brother is a doctor. I can get him on the phone.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m okay.’
‘You don’t look it,’ Kya said. ‘Asthma? Do you have an inhaler?’
‘I don’t have asthma.’
‘What then?’
‘That!’
Quinn pointed to the billboard in the distance, but the digital display now featured an ad for a new brand of vitamin water.
‘The billboard?’ Kya asked. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘It’s huge!’
‘Most billboards are.’
‘It’s amazing!’
‘Yes,’ Kya said, laughing. ‘It is.’
Quinn cupped her face and let out a soundless scream. Kya rested a hand on her shoulder and encouraged her to breathe. ‘Deep breaths!’
Quinn tossed her arms around her and pulled her into a sloppy hug. It was Kya’s turn to struggle for breath. She could feel Quinn’s beating heart, and her pulse raced to keep up. Out on the causeway, traffic flowed more freely, and cars whizzed past. Kya was content to sit still with her.
Finally, Quinn straightened up. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘I’ll take you home now.’
‘Wait,’ she said, desperate to extend the moment. Quinn looked at her expectantly. Kya’s mind went blank. ‘Um … Is this your first billboard?’
Oh, for the love of God! Did she have to sound like an idiot?
‘Yes, Kya,’ Quinn said. ‘I’ve lost my billboard virginity … with you.’
‘I’m honoured, and don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure about that?’ Kya asked. ‘I thought in your line of work—’
‘I’ve been doing this a while, but never on this level,’ Quinn confessed. ‘I mostly played private parties. And guess what? The bigger the party, the more discreet the client. I can’t tell you how many NDAs I’ve signed. There were never any billboards or radio ads. This is all very new.’
‘Is it stressful?’ Kya asked.
‘No, mate!’ Quinn cried. ‘I’ve manifested this!’
Kya didn’t appreciate being called ‘mate’ and had no way to articulate this without coming across as peevish. Instead, she went for the low-hanging fruit. ‘Manifested it? Don’t tell me you believe in all that.’
‘I believe,’ Quinn said, one hand raised to the heavens. ‘What do you think runs the world? JavaScript?’
It certainly wasn’t the power of positive thinking, but Kya wasn’t about to sit in this parked car and lay out her belief system, or lack thereof. ‘Congratulations on manifesting your dreams.’
‘Thanks.’ Quinn let out a slow breath. ‘It’s thrilling … and nerve-wracking. I’ll admit it.’
‘Thank God! I was beginning to think you weren’t human,’ Kya teased. ‘This is major. We should celebrate.’
Quinn lit up. ‘We should!’
‘Champagne?’ Kya proposed, already plotting ways to raid Adrian and Hugo’s premium stash.
‘I didn’t take you for a champagne/caviar girl,’ Quinn said. ‘How do you celebrate?’
‘Me?’ Kya wasn’t high maintenance, then again, her face wasn’t on a billboard. ‘Greasy pizza. Cake for dessert.’
‘That sounds delicious.’
‘Then that’s what we’ll do.’
Kya searched for the nearest pizzeria, one without bells, whistles, or Instagram-worthy décor. What she wanted was a hole in the wall with a pizza oven. She found one with a few clicks. ‘Take the exit and head north on Biscayne.’
Quinn had one request. ‘First, let’s get a picture of the billboard, for the content.’
‘I got a better idea,’ Kya said. ‘Let’s get a pic of you and the billboard. Get out of the car.’
‘I like how you think.’
The photoshoot took ten minutes to pull off. A half-hour later, they ordered California-style pizzas at a takeout counter and hauled the boxes across the boulevard to the park. They found a bench where the bay lapped at their feet. A Ferris wheel spun lazily in the distance.
Kya raised a soda can in a toast. ‘To your billboard! Cheers!’
‘And to you!’ Quinn chimed. ‘To better days ahead!’
Kya shifted, uncomfortably. There might as well be storm clouds on the horizon because she couldn’t see past tomorrow.
‘Something good will come of this mess,’ Quinn insisted. ‘I promise.’
‘Sure.’ Kya opened her box and breathed in the classic pepperoni pizza.
‘What did you dream of doing before you ever heard of Ex-Cell, Inc., or whatever that horrible place is called?’ Quinn asked. ‘Surely, you didn’t dream of working in Silicon Valley at the tender age of ten – unless you were a very peculiar ten-year-old.’
‘I was peculiar,’ Kya admitted. ‘Still am, but at ten I dreamed of …’
Kya couldn’t recall a single childhood dream. It was as if those memories were locked behind a screen, password protected. To buy time, she tore loose a slice of pizza and took a bite. Quinn grabbed a napkin from the pile on her lap and dabbed at the corner of her mouth. ‘Hold still. You’ve just got a little… There! Gone!’
The unexpected touch sent Kya reeling. Not just the touch… the care behind it.
‘Well?’ Quinn asked. ‘What did you dream of as a child?’
‘To be my own boss.’
Kya had dreamed of a future where she called the shots. Her mother, an executive assistant, had been at her supervisor’s beck and call. A word from him and she’d abandon a family dinner, reunion, birthday party, or game night. ‘It’ll just take a second,’ she promised repeatedly. ‘Mommy has to work,’ her dad would say. ‘It’s like that sometimes.’
Kya knew it didn’t have to be like that. From what she’d gathered from clocking endless hours of TV, a person could live a life without answering to anyone. They could turn down meetings, refuse phone calls, ask a secretary in a pussy-bow blouse to block out hours on their calendar for the sole purpose of attending a basketball game.
‘So maybe this is your chance,’ Quinn said.
To do what? Kya thought. Start a lemonade stand? Sell stuff on eBay?
‘I don’t think so,’ she said.
‘Do you want to know what I think?’ Quinn asked.
‘If I said no, would that stop you?’
‘No.’
‘Fine. Go ahead.’
‘You’re hiding behind a major conglomerate,’ she said. ‘Their successes, their clout, are not your own. You’ve seen how easily it is for them to toss you out. You can’t go running back to them, Kya. You can’t look behind. Your future is ahead of you.’
‘Damn,’ Kya said. ‘Who knew you were a sniper in disguise?’
Quinn’s mouth was stuffed with four-cheese pizza, and her laugh was muffled. She was a dream.
‘Are you done?’ Kya asked.
‘One more thing!’
‘Oh, God! What is it?’
She dropped the crust in the box and set it aside. ‘I believe in you.’
Kya thought she’d experienced every emotion known to man since the day had begun, and now a flow of affection. It was too much.
Quinn’s phone chimed with a text. She plucked it out of her pocket and made a face as she scanned the message. ‘It’s Ivy,’ she said. ‘She and Victor and some others are headed to Smoke tonight.’
‘Where’s that?’ Kya had never heard of it, and she and Hugo had been everywhere.
‘A pop-up lounge in an old cigar shop on Washington,’ she explained.
‘Figures.’
‘Skylar is playing a set. Victor’s friend Nick is promoting.’
Was this the same friend who headed a startup? Kya wondered.
Quinn kept scrolling through the text. ‘VIP. Open bar. They’re sending a car. Hmm … I don’t know about this. Hard not to feel like an afterthought. Why didn’t they tell me any of this before now?’
‘Who cares?’ Kya said. ‘You deserve a night out. Go to Smoke. Order top shelf. Run up a tab. That’ll show them.’
‘We should go together,’ she said. ‘Would you come?’
Kya hesitated. ‘I don’t think they had me in mind.’
‘I won’t go if you don’t,’ Quinn said, stubbornly.
‘And miss the open bar? That’s crazy.’
‘It’s been nice hanging out today, don’t you think?’
‘Very nice.’
Quinn pushed her unruly ringlets away from her face. ‘Why should it end?’
Kya couldn’t think of a single reason. ‘Fine, I’ll go. But I’m warning you, I’m not a VIP person. I won’t fit in with the cool kids.’
‘Funny,’ Quinn said. ‘You’re the coolest girl I’ve met in a while.’