‘These are all rare editions.’ Eve grabbed the rest of the records and held them up for Laura to see. Her eyes ran over Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blondeand David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.
‘I bet they’re expensive,’ Laura said.
‘You shouldn’t be going on a date with her,’ Eve blurted, her eyes still on the safe.
Laura couldn’t help but hide a smile. ‘What makes you think I’m on a date with her?’
Eve sighed, standing. ‘I have a sixth sense about these things. But her,’ she pointed outside of the room, ‘she isn’t right for you.’
Laura silently thanked Deb for causing such a rise in Eve. She was visibly agitated. ‘And how would you know?’
Eve threw her hands up in the air. ‘I just … I don’t, okay, but she …’ she trailed off, not sure where she was going, or why it had got such a reaction out of her. Then she realised, looking at Laura. ‘Let me take you.’
Laura took a moment to answer. ‘You, take me on a date?’
Eve’s eyes searched hers. Her body moved closer, almost touching her. ‘Look … I think maybe, you don’t keep coming in here for the records.’
Laura could feel the heat from her skin, rolling through the air. Her breath caught in her throat. She stared back at Eve’s searching green eyes. ‘Okay,’ she managed in a small voice.
Eve angled her phone into the crook of her neck, picking up her pace as she mapped out the quickest way home.
‘Hey Stephen, how’s my favourite security guard?’
‘Hey girl, hit up Punchline lately? My boy, Marvin, can get you in any time.’ His husky voice warmed her while she waited for the lights to change.
‘Yeah, sounds good. Actually, I need a favour. A big one. One that involves a Mister Benjamin Franklin, if you agree.’
Stephen’s husky voice came through clear and loud, like he was singing her a lyric. ‘Yeah, I got you, girl. What’d you need?’
Eve grinned against the phone.
Eve stared at all of the things she had bought. Her crossed legs touched the end of the Christmas lights that she wrapped around her knuckles, a habit from boxing. She tapped her nail along the lens of the polaroid camera she’d managed to find, rummaging at the back of a vintage store downtown. There was an imperfection in the lens that made every picture a hazy orange, like visible atmospheric energy. Eve rolled her wrists back and forth in concentration, hoping what she had in mind would work.
The park was mostly empty. Couples walked back and forth with their dogs, on an aimless path towards things only the canine nose could pick up. Eve squatted by a tree. The sky had darkened, no fade of purple to be seen. Instead, clouds grey and black floated and dispersed, coming together then apart. A light wind still lingered in the air, ruffling her hair. Eve sighed, closing her eyes. The lights hung loose in her hands, reminding her why she was there. Starting at the trunk, she spiralled the lights upwards, tying a knot behind the tree and tugging it to make sure it was secure. Eve ran her index finger over the indents in the tree. She pressed her hand flat to the bark, straightened it as much as she could. She marvelled at how solid it was, sturdy and worn, but still older than the years she had seen. Eve rolled her fingers inwards, making a fist at the tree’s centre.
Chapter 7: The date
The slow rumblings of the morning staggered to keep up with the bustling streets below. Couples walked hand-in-hand down the worn New York streets; tourists tried to fend off newspaper vendors from magazines and packets of cheap cigarettes. A young woman, who had given up on her dreams to be a dancer on Broadway, called out to pedestrians about the sales of some clothing shop, her voice monotone. A brother and sister bickered on the sidewalk about who should have paid for breakfast; a tall business man in a blue pinstriped suit sidestepped them as he hurried by. A married woman stole a kiss from her much younger boyfriend under a street awning. A taxi driver was distracted by the kiss and hit the brakes just in time to avoid a crash. At the end of the street, just below a line of perched pigeons, Eve stirred in her apartment. She hugged her pillow closer to her body. Rays of light filtered through the window above her bed, warming her back. Eve stretched out her limbs and stumbled to the bathroom, her body not yet fully awake.
‘Today’s the day,’ she said under the shower head. Eve lay out her clothes on the bed. She thumbed the hem of her black dress. Grabbing the matching shoes from the bottom of her mess of a wardrobe, she stuffed the outfit into a canvas bag. Eve shot down the staircase, almost three stairs at a time. The smell of wet concrete rose from the pavement and circled Eve as she stood motionless against the entrance. She looked out across the street and sighed.
The ever-familiar scent of the store welcomed Eve and she disappeared inside. In the storeroom, she leafed through an old soap opera magazine that Marco had stuffed without context behind his drawers. She flicked it open to the first few pages and began reading. Her eyes quickly grew tired of the monotonous hyperbole of the storylines and she chucked the magazine back into its hiding spot. Eve checked her watch for what felt like the hundredth time that hour, wondering how time could be so slow.
Laura’s heavy footfalls bounced against the treadmill as she ran along the belt, her new jogging shoes squeaking. Laura grabbed hold of the treadmill and steadied herself as the timed workout beeped to a mechanical stop. Puffing, she wiped her brow and stared out the window. Laura watched the traffic and the families that flocked to Central Park. Her eyes traced the outline of a blue balloon that had escaped the grasp of a young girl; she watched its ascent through the cloudless sky. Once it disappeared from sight, she stepped off the treadmill.
Laura stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she dried her hair. She ran a manicured nail over her shaped eyebrows and scrutinised the barely visible bags under her wide blue eyes.
Eve leaned back against the wall and balanced a paperback on her thighs, eyes skimming over the lines, her thoughts elsewhere. She nervously checked her watch and waited; it was nearly seven. Eve tried to return to her book but her patience had dissipated. She nearly fell off her chair when she saw Laura come into view. Eve nearly face-palmed her forehead when she remembered – so caught up in waiting for the time to pass, she had forgotten to change.
‘Thanks,’ Laura smiled shyly when Eve unlocked the door for her.
Eve smiled, not sure what to do with herself. She stood awkwardly on the door, then remembered for a second time what she was wearing. ‘I’m really sorry about this but I didn’t get time to change.’
‘You can go just like that.’ Laura shrugged, motioning to Eve’s blouse and jeans.
‘Where would be the fun in that?’ Eve flashed her a smile. She disappeared upstairs, leaving Laura to her nerves.
Taking a seat on the stool, Laura turned over the book Eve had been reading. An anatomy book on the inner workings of the brain. She managed five dense pages by the time Eve came back down the staircase, twenty minutes later. Laura couldn’t help but stare at her as her high heels tapped against the wooden stairs. Her eyes hugged every inch of her. She wore a tight black lace dress that had been cut off at the shoulders. Her black hair fanned out around her face, a sharp contrast to her glowing skin. At the end of the staircase, Eve turned. Laura’s eyes took in the offset of blood red lipstick and black eyeliner that framed her sea green eyes. She breathed in her toned arms that hung weightlessly at her sides.
‘So?’ Eve bit her lip.
‘Beautiful, you look beautiful.’
Eve blushed, looking away at the compliment. ‘Should we get going?’
Eve held the door open for Laura and locked it behind her. The sun drew down against the growth