Chapter 7 #2
“Wait,” Tanner says, holding onto the crook of her elbow. Her fingertips are warm and solid, and they drop quicker than Akilah can memorise the way they grip her coat.
“I wanna check my coat.”
Akilah nods. She should have brought a bag because she doesn’t want to carry her coat either.
It is hot here. Yet she made the foolish decision to put all her things in the pockets, and while she trusts the museum, it’s not wise to leave her wallet and keys where they could be accidentally taken from her coat.
“You can put your stuff in my bag,” Tanner replies as she pulls her coat off. “If you want.”
“Thanks.” Akilah grabs her things and lingers on her earplugs.
It’s busy in a way museums are busy on a Monday.
Kids in high vis waistcoats on a school trip.
The possibility of screaming out of nowhere.
It’s not rude to wear them, she knows that.
Tanner wouldn’t care; she knows that, too.
Still, somehow, it’s difficult to show every part of her to someone new.
“Put them in,” Tanner whispers, close to her ear. “I’m always looking for a reason to be this close to you.”
The whole interaction takes less than thirty seconds, and Akilah is still trying to figure out how to get Tanner to touch her again. Perhaps, if she stands still, she’ll drag her around with her hand against her arm.
“Ready?” Tanner asks, her fingers at the base of her back.
Akilah has to tilt her head to see her properly.
Tanner’s much shorter than her, even in her thick loafers.
She’s unsure how Tanner has the patience to put on tights if it’s not mandated, but she’s grateful she gets to see the muscles in her thighs move.
“I’ll get you the guide even though I know you have four already.”
“You’re really beautiful,” Akilah replies. She looks at her for a moment. The way her eyes widen, the slight part of her lips. Akilah’s heart rattles wildly against her ribcage, but the overwhelming thought is that it was worth it. “And I do like to make notes.”
Tanner smiles. Looks up at her and then away, and she pulls her lip between her teeth. “Let’s go, pretty girl.”
“I’m not naming it,” Akilah says as she tucks the stuffed animal under her arm. It took at least three minutes for Tanner to threaten to leave her here before Akilah let her buy it. Tanner is obsessed with them both.
“He has a blue pin.”
Akilah side eyes her. “I’m not naming him.”
Tanner pouts. It turns out, museums are fun.
Watching Akilah walk around with her hands behind her back like a little old man, a childlike wonderment in her eyes when she sees a new painting, and with barely contained fury as she explains to Tanner why the museum should give an artifact back, is something she desperately wants to do again.
Akilah walked off so often that Tanner may as well have been alone for thirty percent, but she always came back with wide eyes and stood closer to her each time.
Sometimes, Tanner moved from her designated seat on the bench just to watch Akilah whip her head around with annoyance as she tried to find her.
She has more photos of herself on her phone than she does of anything else. More than the art, they were here to see.
“Sorry,” Akilah says as they grab their coats and leave for darkened skies. “You wanted to go to Natural History as well.”
Tanner smiles. “I don’t mind. I got everything I needed today.”
“Did – would you want to go to the other one another day?”
Tanner pulls her lip with her teeth. Akilah’s arm brushes her as they walk on the crowded street. “That depends. Are you going to name him?”
Tanner can’t see her, but she knows Ilah rolled her eyes. Her entire body moves with motion.
“You can.”
Tanner is giddy, practically skipping next to her. “Pieter.”
Akilah looks at her. “Bruegel?”
“He painted the Little Ice Age, right? You were talking about him earlier. I don’t think woolly mammoths were around, but if we go to the Natural History Museum and they say he wasn’t there at that time, we can change his name. He won’t mind.”
“I didn’t know you were paying attention to my seminars,” she says. It’s clearly supposed to be a joke, but Tanner’s not sure Akilah’s ever said a joke before. There’s something else pushed beneath it—the heaviness of someone who never talks about their favourite things for fear of being too much.
“I am always listening to you. I like knowing your thoughts.”
Akilah nods. “Okay.”
“Are you hungry?” Tanner asks. There was an ice cream shop on their itinerary, but it’ll be closed now.
“There’s a place up here,” Akilah says, then, “If you wanted to eat, or we can leave.” They stop on the corner of the street, tucked beneath an awning.
Tanner looks at Akilah because she can, because she doesn’t immediately look away.
Akilah blinks rapidly, her shoulders jolt to her ears, and she forces them back down, though she looks away.
“It’s nice. If you want to eat with me.”
“Yeah,” Tanner replies. Akilah looks straight ahead; the woolly mammoth slipped ridiculously in her arms. She’s so cute. “I do want that.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Akilah huffs. “Stop it.”
They walk in silence to the restaurant, a small, cosy place tucked away in a side street, and Tanner thinks about holding her hand the entire time. Their table is candlelit, and Akilah avoids her gaze like she wasn’t expecting it to feel like a date.
“Do you like romance?” Tanner asks. She’ll be Akilah’s friend regardless, but she should get a hold of the thoughts she has surrounding her if she doesn’t like more than that.
She fidgets. “In books?”
Tanner shrugs. “Yeah, but in real life too. Is it something you would like? Because you said you don’t like people touching you, and you don’t like sex. So, I’m curious about the things you do like.”
Akilah swallows. “I do like romance.” She runs her forefinger along the edge of her glass. “I would like to find someone who wants to love me as much as I would love them. Marriage and stuff, if I found someone who wanted that.”
Tanner leans her elbow on the table even though she knows it’s not proper, her chin into her palm. Akilah looks at her, back at the table. “I haven’t got a good track record, and sometimes I think it might not happen for me, but it is what I want.”
“I think it will happen for you.”
“So, today was successful?” Akilah asks, tying her hair up and abruptly changing the topic. Tanner is so fond of her.
“Yes.” Tanner pulls her phone out of her bag. “I even have some colour palettes for the club.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, and I had some time to mock them up while you told the tour guide his information was incorrect.”
Akilah groans, brows furrowing as if someone has told her she has three days to live, not a mildly incorrect date on a guided tour she wasn’t even part of.
“How did he get a job?”
Tanner laughs. “Let it go. He was a teenager.”
“It’s not my fault he looked forty and, as he should know better,” she grumbles.
“You wanna go over it again, or do you want to hear the plans?”
Akilah screws up her nose, taps the table. Tanner might lose this one, but it would be worth it to see Akilah’s hands fly around as she all but wishes a public stoning of a child.
“I’d like to hear the plans. How did you pick them? We’ve been busy all day.”
“I watched which art you gravitated towards most,” she replies. “You want the club to look nice, that’s the main goal. But it needs to look like yours, too, because it is. So, basing it on what you like is going to work best, I think. Luckily, you like nice things.”
Akilah hums, looking right at her. “I do have great taste.”
Tanner has had one too many sips of wine without food and can't look at her for any length of time. Instead, she finds some photos. Akilah has her hands behind her back. Akilah bent over reading descriptions. Akilah is putting her hair up (that one isn’t for anything other than the fact that Tanner likes it when she puts her hair up).
Muted greens, browns, and dark oranges surrounded Akilah. Akilah, with her lip pulled between her teeth as she looks at the wildcards – pinks, reds, bright yellow.
“A lot of them you looked at because they were there, but the moodier, more romantic ones, you lingered on.” Tanner shows her the photos, lets her flick through them as she watches her blush deepen.
“So, I think dark floors, deep green walls, mainly dark muted colours. Then, and bear with me-”
Akilah looks at her, takes her breath away like it’s her birthright.
“Jewel green subway tiles behind the bar, if we downlight it, it’ll show up black until you’re directly in front of it. Copper surrounds and a cream neon sign outside.”
Akilah nods and doesn’t flick her wrists. So, Tanner continues.
“Then, brighter toilets. Red and pink together are hot. Silly slogan signs that people want to take photos with. You could put your signs on coasters, merch and stuff. It’ll bring in other revenue. If you wanted.”
“Oh.” Akilah blinks. “I think that would work.”
Tanner smiles brightly. “I know you can’t picture it well, but I’ll mock it up for you tomorrow. I have a few ideas in my bag from when you dropped me off.”
Akilah swallows, then keeps looking through photos. “You’re very good at your job.”
“I know,” she replies with a smile. Tucks her hands between her legs so she doesn’t reach for Akilah’s on the table. “Thank you.”
Akilah holds her phone closer to her face. Tanner imagines holding her hand.
“This isn’t in the museum.” She spins it around, though Tanner knows the photo she’s lingered on already. It’s outside the museum, so it counts. Akilah, in her obscenely attractive trench coat, her hand in the pocket of her trousers as she looks down the street. Annoying cool.
“I had to capture the moment you wore anything other than black,” she replies, fingers lingering around the stem of her glass.
“Mm-hmm.”
Tanner takes another sip. Dangerous because her food isn’t here yet, and she’s two sips away from a touch she can’t take back. “It’s a good photo though, right?”
Akilah places it down, sliding the phone towards her. Her hand lingers in the middle of the table. “It is.”
“I can send it to you, and I won’t even cry if you don’t give me photo credit.”
“I don’t have socials.”
Tanner nods, looks at the rings sitting on Akilah’s fingers. “That checks out. You have the vibe of a mysterious scholar. How could you pull that off with an Instagram?”
Tanner places her hand on the table. Casual.
“I do have two degrees.”
Tanner smiles. “Of course you do.” Her hand moves of its own accord, her fingertips slotting between Akilah’s. They don’t touch so much as brush, but she can’t look at her either way.
“Well, if you ever get the urge, know I have a mortifying number of photos for you to use and at least eight captions to go with them.”
Akilah leans her free elbow on the table, her chin in her palm. Tanner has spent all day with her, and still, she’s overcome with her face. Tanner traces the bottom of her wine glass with her middle finger.
“Let’s hear one.”
Tanner moves, but Akilah holds onto her fingers. Gently, just a few fingertips wrapped around her thumb.
She uses her free hand to collect four photos—all of them in the museum, all of them with Akilah’s face partly in them.
“Art appreciating art.”
Akilah laughs, a loud, short sound that makes her entire day. “You’re ridiculous.”
“It’s not my fault you look like that.”