The loud murmur of people, loud laughter. Louis and Vernard sat at a table in the corner, playing some cards with each other. Slapping down the cards hard and aggressively to beat each other. They both yelled and hollered when one of them won.

Vernard grinned, "Got you again Louis. Don't know when to quit?" He walked his fingers over the middle of the table and slid the two dollar bills onto his ever-growing pile.

Louis grumbled, low and stuck another bill on the table. They were playing bill by bill to keep the stakes low and mostly for fun. He had lost 25 dollars so far and while his wallet was far from crying, he was running out of ones. He gingerly placed another one on the table, this time for sure. This time he'd win back one of his bills.

Joe could see them from the entrance as he walked in. He sat between them at the edge of the round stool chaired table. “Hey boys, guess what happened the other day. After Nara and her biker gang came by. I went to the Nightingale Cafe Lounge and I this girl” He leaned in, “A cute dark-eyed girl, black hair n cute legs.” He slapped the table, “She was testing me. Playing hard to get by telling me to fuck off but I could see it in her eyes. That shimmer in her eye. I think she likes me.”

“Joseph, don't you think that was a glint of fear and that she was just afraid of you? I mean come on. Tall. Smells of auto shop. Leather jacket. You got the look of some sneaky snake ready to get into some pants and break girl's hearts.”

“Be supportive you jerks! With friends like yous who needs enemies? I want to make this work. Look, I'll get into her pants later after I know she wants me. Happy?” Joe crossed his arms and sighed, “But I want to start it off by giving her something. Maybe she'll spend a little time with me for the gift and I'll get to talk to her for more than a minute.” He watched Vernard and Louis continue their game, they were a little less enthusiastic now that they had to think about one extra thing. “What should I give her?”

“Well tell us more about her. What does she wear what did she have?” Vernard twirled a bit of his dyed green hair around his index finger as he looked at his cards and slapped a 9 of clubs down. He smiled when Louis whispered a curse.

Joe thought a bit and decided to describe how he and the girl had bumped into each other and how all these cards fell onto the floor. He mentioned the bike briefly. “She was wearing a large sun hat, a dress of some sort, some boots. Uh, hmm. I don't really remember much.”

“Why not some more of those cards that she had? What if one got lost? Anything special about em, Joey boy?” Louis took a sip from his drink.

“Uh They weren't like any poker cards I have ever seen.” Joe noted, “They had like a drawin' on them and a word at the bottom like The Star and Death. But-uh I did see some with numbers!” He shrugged.

Vernard looked over to Joe, “Tarot cards. Those were the Tarot! Lucky you, if you lose one of those you can't properly read them! You should get her another deck of those just in case she did lose one. It's perfect.” He laughed, “Let me get you something to drink, string bean. You know I don't like ya drinking but If I'm buying I can make sure you don't get drunk out of your mind.”

Joe sighed and nodded, “Alright. Get me something sweet. Iced. I don't care if it has alcohol or not.” He waved his hand and went on to mess with Vernard's and Louis' game by taking their cards and reshuffling them. He dealt himself a hand. “No bets now. This is just for fun.”

They played for a while and Joe drunk down two glasses of his favorite drink. Joe had gotten his third and he had stayed looking down at the full glass in his hand, becoming lost in thought. The voices faded and muddled, the lights seemed to dim.

“My father took me to his business the other night, for my birthday you know, where there are lots of women dancing in skimpy clothes and they flirt with you!" It was Richard the oldest boy in the group out of the three of them and the one who had the most things.

"Ooh, really? Where?" A blonde boy piped up as he tossed a baseball softball between his hands and leaned into the forming circle. "How come your dad takes you to places like this? Why ain't my dad doing this?"

Richard placed his hands on his knees as he leaned in to talk,"You want to go, Donnie? What about you, Joey? You like girls right?"

"What of course! It's just...I didn't know they had places like that." Joe pulled his backpack's strap up higher on his shoulder, he never worse both straps at once. He never liked the feeling and his mother told him to at least switch shoulders every day so he wouldn't grow into having a curved spine. He listened to her after all, why wouldn't he? "Take us, Richie! Your dad got you a car, he gives you so much money for an allowance."

The boys all looked towards Richie's car and headed for it. They were going out for an afternoon of fun on four wheels and a rumbling motor. Donnie hopped in the back with his bat, helmet, and mitt. While Joe sat upfront. They all loved the Hugger Orange Chevy Nova.

Before they knew it they had arrived. The boys entered the doors, being granted access after Richard said he was City Auditor's son. Joe following behind, a bit suspicious of the place simply because of how dark it seemed to be. But after the short corridor and curtains, their eyes were met with moody lighting, music, and the sweet smell of women's perfume mingling with men's cologne.

Immediately they all craned their necks towards the stage, barely a few steps from the curtains. They kept walking slowly towards an empty table bumping into each other along the way. They ordered drinks just sodas and they sipped with straws as they joined the crowd with ooglin the women on stage. They talked amongst themselves when the dancers were changed out and resumed their dutiful watch when the dances started again.

Joe's eyes locked on who was on stage and his face slowly grew to shock as he realized just who he was seeing while his friends hooted about how sexy she was. "...mom...?" He shook his head, did she really work here? She had always said she was an actress on a stage.

The woman on the stage seemed to feel something strange happening and her eyes darted around before seeing her son and his friends. Her face flustered, she dropped a fan. She tried to continue.

Joe immediately stood up from his chair and pushed it in. His glass tipped over, rolling over the table. He didn't bother trying to set it upright. "Guys I… I need to leave. I forgot that my dad needed my help today."

Donnie scoffed "Oh come on, Joe. We're all guys. A hard-on isn't going to bother us if ya got one."

But it was too late, Joe was already hurrying out the front doors. He rushed to Richard's car to pull his bag out of the convertible and began to run home. Block after block flew past and he didn't look back at all. How could he? He knew. His friends knew. Tears pricked at his eyes, the air burned in his lungs. He could see his home now.

He pushed the door aside and stumbled in, tossing his bag against the side wall at the bottom of the stairs. "Dad, I'm home. I saw mom at her work she-"

From the living room, a voice roared with laughter, "That old broad? Haha, that's where I met the woman, son! I'm surprised she's never told you." Joe's father laughed, taking the cigar out of his mouth as he stepped into the foyer. He looked up at his son who had stopped in the middle of the staircase."What have I told you?"

"Joe, what have I told you about---"

"Joseph! This is why I don't like you drinking!" Vernard pat slapped Joe's face like he was slapping on some seasoning on a steak. "You ain't even touched it and you're already getting weird." He frowned, “Was it something we said?”

Joe looked up from staring at the surface of his drink and shook his head, “Just uh...daydreaming is all. Don't worry.” He forced a smile and swirled the drink in his glass, the ice clinking as he took a sip. “I should get going really. I have to get some groceries before I forget.” He chugged the rest of the beverage and waved goodbye before slipping out of the bar. Now he had a clear idea of what he needed to do. Even if drinking had triggered that memory he had tried to forget.

Cards, cards. Not poker cards, but tarot cards. He knew he had seen something with the words tarot somewhere but where? He strolled the streets on foot, glancing into windows but not finding anything until he walked past an art store. The Food Fortunes, tarot cards for poor souls who didn't know what to eat. It looked like just the thing she wouldn't have... He went ahead and paid for them and a piece of paper decked out in cranes flying over a red backdrop with golden filigree. Did she like birds? What if she didn't? What about red? It was too late. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind too much if she hated the paper he chose.

Back in his car, he used the red crane paper to wrap the tarot deck and used some super glue to stick it all together. He did a good job in his eyes. All the edges were neatly creased and the glue made it look sleek. “How, oh how could it possibly be holding together without tape?” He laughed, unable to keep the excitement to himself and possibly being way more interested in the present than Rori would be. He whispered to himself, "She's gonna have too much fun with this."

He kept the present in his car for the next time he went to the Nightingale Cafe Lounge. He planned to bring it with him each time he stepped foot inside until he would inevitably see her once more. All he needed was the time to go after work to catch her at the same time that they had met the first time. He just wanted to try and catch a pretty girl. Nara first, then Rori? The universe was playing with him. Who was he supposed to pick?