“Only ten more days for the Styx!” Rhea remembers once “Thought Process” by the very band we’re talking about comes on the radio (it’s actually the song that got me into them). ‘The Styx’ is just a shortened name fans have for Stygian Stimulus, of course. My knee-jerk reaction to remembering that I’m actually seeing my musical heroes soon is a squeak I would never make for anything else, or really do in front of anyone but Rhea. I mean, holy shit! Holy. Shit. It’s getting really hard to stay cool about.

“Ahh, I know!” I respond, quickly drumming my fingers on the console. “Do you think you’ll cry? I’m for sure gonna cry, probably.”

Rhea tilts her head back with a single, explosive, “Hah!” then answers. “Oh, a hundred percent. No chance I don’t, but you’re gonna cry first, right?” She feigns an inquisitive look.

“Yeah, right!”

“Pleeease? I’m older, that’s embarrassing!”

“Okay, so, who consoled you in the theatre in the middle of Breakfast Club—?”

“Okay, well—”

“What were you even sad about!?”

“It was sweet and I got a little teary, bite me!”

We still don’t know much about Stygian Stimulus’ new album, except that it has what is apparently a totally killer track. The only people that have heard it so far are the ones that went to the last concert of their last show, which was last year. Last, last, last, I know. It’s called “Rubatosis,” but nobody really knows what that means. We think they made the word up, but some fancy schmancy ‘linguists’ are saying that the ‘-osis’ part refers to a condition of some kind. We’re lost on the rest. I’m sure we’ll get some sort of letter from an insider in a mag or something way later. Anyway, some of the lyrics were leaked, but everyone at the concert was sort of able to make out the intro lyrics at the very least.

I plastered wings to my skin

And I still fell

I have a voice no one hears

No one to tell

I only dream

Of inanimate creatures

My heart is within

Unspeakable danger

Dude! If that isn’t quintessential Venus writing right there, I have no clue what is. It’s so abstract but you can also get an idea of what he’s feeling, even if you can’t put it into exact words. God, he’s so cool! Rhea and I absolutely can’t wait to hear it live.

Speaking of her, I heard Rhea’s finger poke her window, and I’m looking that way, but I’m not sure of what she’s pointing at. She then makes a honking noise, kind of a ‘Haa’ in a nasally tone, and now I get it.

“Haa, haa,” she goes.

“Haa,” I join, pointing in the same direction. There’s a goose out there, which must mean we’re pretty close. I dunno what it is about geese, but Rhea and I decided it was our animal. We continue pointing at others we saw, the car filled with ‘haas’ until we finally make it to the park.

“See ya later!” she calls out from her window.

“See ya,” I responded a little quieter than she called out. “Thanks for the ride.”

“And don’t get back too late!” I’m a little nervous now; she got a little louder and I think I can feel people looking at me. I just give her a thumbs up before she hits me with a, “LOVE YOU!!”

“Love you, too!” I shout back. My sister’s driven off by now, and I turn around, only to be met with a couple of girls sneering at me. I just sneer back and look away to wait for Simon; I really don’t have time for them. I do overhear their conversation a little, though, and normally I wouldn’t eavesdrop, but I actually kind of know what they’re talking about.

“It’s those witches,” the blonde hisses. “I’ve heard Isabelle Salvas and her cult go to the cemetery every night now.” Isabelle Salvas. She’s about my age I think, but she has a little group that performs at bars a few times a week. They’re really good for being local artists, and her voice is great and she plays the keys well. Rhea and I like to go see the band perform every once in a while. I haven’t heard of them performing for a couple of weeks now or so, though, so I don’t really know what’s up. I mean, I like the goths… from a distance. I don’t think I’ve ever actually met one, but they make good music at least, which is another reason their absence from the scene is pretty unfortunate. People have been blaming the dark and mysterious ‘weirdos’ for all the bad stuff that happens in the country and the world,  but this is the first time I’ve heard someone specifically name Flowers for Ophelia for any problems around the city, though…

“That’s disgusting,” the brunette answers mindlessly. “They’re the reason they’re visiting their friend there anyway.”

Shit, one of them is gone…? Or just a friend of the band’s? Either way, I guess that explains their absence. What those girls are doing, though, is obviously just more stupid scapegoating, so I should just ignore it. I mean, there’s no point in even entertaining it. They would have already been questioned by now. All their ‘death’ lyrics are just metaphors. They’re not hurting anybody. Whatever. Right as I turn around to walk on, I hear something from my left.

“Eeeveeer!” Yup, there he is. I turn my body again and see… well, wow, it is Simon, but he looks way different somehow. It could be partially that he seems dressed like an actual person today. The whole ensemble is actually… really cool. He ditched the beanie he usually wears, too, and he doesn’t look half as greasy as he usually does. I never noticed how tired he looked before because he’s always got so much energy anyway, but he even looks more rested or alive than he did this morning. Maybe it’s just the lighting outside. I guess I can appreciate the effort he threw in. He looks a little freaked out, though. Flustered, maybe?

“Goodness, I deeply apologize for being so late!” he exclaims, but I look over at the little clock tower in the middle of the park. It’s 6:31. I turn my head to look at him again.

“Uhh, no problem, dude,” I tried to assure him, but I don’t think it did much.

“And I so did want to bring some, say, charcuterie or something of the sort, but I noticed the cheese in my fridge has reached its expiry…”

It was… cute? He really had a whole ordeal planned in his head, and I just barely showed up, probably still smelling like coffee from work. I didn’t want to laugh, so I did my best to just keep myself quiet and suppress it, but nothing seems to get past a guy like Simon. He raises an eyebrow at me; I’ve been caught.

“What’s so funny?” he prods.

“Nothing, just, uhm…” I exhale as if trying to breathe out the remains of a martyred giggle from my system so he knows I’m taking him seriously. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna have a good time anyways, right?”

Simon stares at me for a moment before his eyes soften up again, and he smiles, which I guess is what I was going for at the moment.

I was pretty surprised to hear Simon wanted to hang out so late in the day when he asked earlier. We’ve only been walking for a few minutes, but the sun’s already starting to get low and making everything all pretty and golden. Our shadows are long and are casting to our lefts. I was starting to wonder if I’d get lucky and have a second growth spurt and become as tall as my silhouette was at the moment, but then, as he catches up with me, Simon’s shadow collides into mine, and I can’t tell which parts are myself and which parts are him.

“Do you do any sport?” he asks while leaning forward and looking me in the face.

“I did gymnastics as a kid.”

“Do you have pets?”

“Not right now, no.”

“Were you born here?”

“Kinda,” I’m trying to find some breathing room between his questions; it was getting a little overwhelming. “Long Beach, then I moved around a lot.”

“Oh, me too!” Simon straightens out his position a little, a knee-jerk reaction to hearing my answer. It was great that he was excited, but I was a little confused. There’s no way, right?

“You were born in Long Beach?”

“Huh? Oh, no–” Duh. Of course not.

“Oh, you mean–”

“I meant, like–”

We both stop walking for a sec to recollect ourselves.

“...Moved around,” we say at the same time. He must think I’m dumb, now. To be fair, I wasn’t really thinking about my response; of course I didn’t really think he was from around, but man, he sure does talk fast. Simon’s awkward expression cracked into a smile.

“Jinx.” Damn, he got me there. I just sigh and comply, walking on. “What’s your sign?” he asks me. I say nothing. Simon turns his head to look at me. I just purse my lips and shrug, then start mouthing some nonsense words. He must’ve forgotten, or maybe he doesn’t know the rules of jinx or something. “Oh, right! Sorry–” He clears his throat. “Ever, Ever, Ever.” Huh! So he does know. I take a big, dramatic breath of air and sigh. Yeah, everyone knows it’s not a ‘hold your breath’ curse, but how else are you gonna indicate that you’ve been freed?

“Oh, thank God, that was like, an eternity,” I wearily uttered.

Simon snorts. “Okay, what’s your astrological sign?”

“My huh?” I think I saw that phrase somewhere in a magazine, but I’m not sure..

“Zodiac? Your star sign?” Oh, yeah, that. “Horoscope? Virgo, Scorpio–”

“I got it,” I hold up a hand to stop him before he lists more astrological superhero names. Not his fault, he didn’t name them. I tilt my head up to think, and I can’t help but notice how pretty of an orange the sky is. The clouds look fiery, almost. I guess it’s technically smog, but still. “Err, I don’t really know,” I confess. I think Rhea and I found both of ours in that magazine I was talking about earlier, but I don’t remember what mine was, and I have no clue what order they’re in.

“Well, when’s your birthday?” he asks.

“March 16th.”

“‘67?”

“‘68.”

“Aw, you’re just a baby.”

“What? When were you born?”

“‘67.” Simon giggles after that, showing off his weird, misaligned tooth.

I just smile and roll my eyes. “Whatever, does the year matter?”

“Only in China. I was just curious. You’re a… oh, let me think. What is that, Aries-? No, Pisces! You’re a Pisces!” Simon almost jumps as he figures it out.

“Huh,” I remark, feeling my eyebrows raise for a moment. I do remember that word. I also remember that Rhea laughed and called me ‘fish boy’ for the rest of the day. “What’s that mean?”

“Erm…” Simon’s face contorts into a ‘let me check the archives of my brain’ kind of look. “Well…” I’m starting to worry he’ll hurt himself.

“That’s okay,” I say, releasing him from his obligation to explain the implications of being a Pisces.

“I’m a Gemini!”

“Sweet.” I stretch one of my arms across my body, starting to feel the tension from my shift just earlier. No customers just meant a lot of cleaning that we could never do when we were busy, when there were people around. It isn’t so empty here, though. People are scattered here and there, which is nice and feels normal, but the less attention I give them, the more I’m able to just enjoy hanging out, whether they’re ‘normal’ or not.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Green.”

“Is that why your hair’s green, or were you born with it?”

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to answer him seriously. He’s never come off as the smartest guy to me, but maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Laila said something about the British being crazy sarcastic. It just so happens that I am, too.

“Yeah, Simon, I was born with green hair.”

“Really!” The look on his face tells me he was playing the whole time, and now I’m starting to wonder how many times he’s said something absurd and was actually joking, and that I’m not nearly as good at sarcasm as someone like Simon is… Man, maybe I’m the idiot.

“Yeah, I’m a brunette before all the bleach and dye, but if someone’s ever born with bright green hair, man, that’d be pretty crazy.” I hear Simon sigh, and I turn my head at the sound.

“Ohh, Ever,” he starts, “there are people out there that came into this world with stranger…” He trails off, thinking hard again, scrunching his face to one side as he scans his brain for the word he’s looking for. He looks at me. “...quirks.”

Huh. Whatever that means.