“Sure, I can do that.” Manny logged out his own account and brought up the sign-up page. “You just need to fill in this information.”

While Aurya looked over the screen, he finished off the pasty and helped himself to some spinach dip. It was good, too, creamy and rich and garlicky. And the chips, they had to be homemade; heck, they tasted like actual corn instead of some processed shit.

He hadn’t eaten like this since the one time a month ago when he’d said fuck it and ordered from an expensive sushi restaurant. Hokkaido House. He’d admired it from the outside for many days. They did that omakase shit, and the chef made and served the food right in front of you.

Even though he’d ordered take out, it was heaven for his taste buds. And hell for his wallet. It didn’t help that he’d ordered some of their fancy ice cream, too. God, he’d kill to eat there again.

“That should do it.” Aurya was smiling at the screen. “Do I hit sign up now?”

“Yes. Then go into the email you used for the account to verify.”

“Understood.” She took out her phone and swiped at the screen for a few moments. “There. I have a Twitter now.”

Manny took out his own phone. “I’ll be your first follower.” He glanced at her handle, @executionaught. How edgy. He searched for it and found her. “Khadi? That’s your name? Where did Asarr come from then?”

She shook her head. “Khadi is an old alias of mine. I go by Aurya Sarr now.”

Aurya… even her name was beautiful.

She sipped her hot chocolate. “So, how do I get the attention of my… former acquaintances? Do I follow them? Or should I post something?”

“We can do both. Here.” He went to her profile. “First, we need to get you a proper profile picture. The more photos you have, the more convincing your profile looks.”

Aurya nodded and went back around the table to her own seat, but her apple scent still lingered beside him like an afterimage. “That makes sense. And I’m sure Ash won’t mind if we turn this booth into a studio.”

A studio? Manny grimaced. He hadn’t taken pictures of anything but his cat in ages. All the recent pictures he had of himself were taken by his coworkers. When was the last time he’d picked up a camera? An actual camera. The semester he dropped out of college, maybe.

“Is there a problem?” Aurya asked, cutting into his thoughts.

“N-no. Of course not.” Manny pulled up the camera on his phone with a shaking finger. The last person he’d taken a photo of was Damon. Right before he… Manny dashed the thought from his head and glanced up at Aurya. “Ready?”

Aurya perked up and straightened her collar, giving him a smile. Manny hadn’t done a portrait study in ages, and Aurya had an interesting face. She’d look amazing in the light of the golden hour. He snapped two photos in quick succession. There was nothing special about them; they’d look good on a LinkedIn profile.

“Why don’t we get your hands involved?” he asked, then coughed when he realized how suggestive it sounded. A quick look around at the other patrons told him no one else had heard.

She picked up her mug and saucer and poised them in her hands like a rich English lady. “How’s this?”

“Look off to the window and lift your chin a little.” When she did, the twilight streaming through the glass played with her eyes. He snapped two more. “That’s perfect. How about one last picture with your hair down?”

“Sure.” She loosened the pins in her bun, and her braids fell over her shoulders, framing the delicate lines of her face. “How’s that?”

His breath caught in his throat, and sweat slicked his palms, making the simple task of taking a photo more difficult than it should be. The braids blocked the natural light from the window, leaving her face half in shadow and half lit by the restaurant’s ambient glow.

“That’s perfect.” He snapped the photo. “Okay.” He lowered the phone and settled more comfortably in the booth, which was now a little warmer than he remembered. His heart hammered in his chest and his hands held an old itch. The photographer’s itch.

“I can see how people get addicted to this.” She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on top of them, braids falling over her face, and the itch in Manny’s hands intensified. “That was fun.”

“Yeah.” He returned her smile and took his SD card from his phone to pop it in the laptop. “I think the last one will work well for a profile picture.” He changed her Twitter color to yellow and found her a background photo of a cute little marshmallow bathing in hot chocolate. “There, now we’ll send out your first tweet. What’ll it be?”

She frowned. “I don’t know… Why don’t you post something? I trust your judgment.”

“All right. How about the picture with the hot chocolate? And…” He set his fingers to the keyboard. “Hot chocolate and winter dreams. Hashtag coffeehouse glow up. Hashtag living. Send tweet.” He turned the laptop for her to see.

Aurya smiled. “Perfect.”