“I had a late lunch,” I said, having lost my appetite.
“Do you mind if I have some of yours?”
She grabbed a huge chunk off my plate before I could respond and wolfed it down.
“I told you the chow mein isn’t that good,” she said, wagging her finger at me.
Underneath the table, I texted everyone I knew, Call me back ASAP.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You look a little nervous.”
“I’m fine,” I replied. “I just ate too much.”
“You have room for dessert though, right?”
“I’m not really a dessert person.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like sweets that much.”
“Dessert is essential to any meal. They have the best zucchini chocolate soufflé here. It only takes one hour to make and they put this garlic salt all over it. It makes your breath stink for like five hours, but it’s soooo worth it.”
“I…”
“Excuse me,” she said calling the waiter. “Can we get the zucchini chocolate soufflé?”
We spent the next half-hour chatting about trivia: What is the soundtrack of your life? If the world ran out of water, what would be your drink of choice? What’s the weirdest word you’ve ever heard? And my favorite, if you were reincarnated as a plant, which would it be?
“Cactus,” she said, “because they can live in super heat, have spikes all over to protect themselves, and store water inside them.”
“What’s so good about that?” I asked.
“They’re self-sufficient. What plant would you be?”
“I think I’d be a dandelion.”
“Why?”
“So I could be free.”
“You don’t feel free?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’d be nice to float on wind, flutter all over the place. But it’s a stupid dream. None of us can really be free.”
“Also, if there’s no wind, dandelions can’t fly,” she said.
“What?”
“They depend on wind currents and if it takes them someplace they don’t want to go, they still gotta go.”
I stared at her. “I guess so.”
“Do you think there’s such a thing as free love?” she asked.
“Every love has a cost,” I replied.
“Isn’t love supposed to be unconditional?”
“I don’t know.”
“I just broke up with my boyfriend about a month ago,” she said. “I thought we were in love. He told me he was part of a royal family but his parents were murdered. I thought I could help him out so I let him live at my place, paid for his bills, took care of him financially and mentally. He’s a genius, you know, one of the most artistic people I knew. Everything should have been great.”
“It wasn’t?”
“I hired a PI and found out his parents were middle class retirees living in West Virginia. He’d conned a string of rich women into taking care of him. He ran up a debt of more than $120,000 on my cards, really screwed me over.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, and a distant acquaintance called me at that moment. “Sorry, I gotta take this.” Walked out to the lobby. “Thank God you called,” I said. “If you could text me in seven minutes — send a blank if you want — I’ll buy dinner anywhere you want.”
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I met up with someone who’s really weirding me out and your call just saved me.”
He laughed. “I’ll send you ten texts just to make it seem real serious.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
I returned to the table and told June, “I’m sorry, I gotta get going soon. Emergency at work.”
“This late?”
“Yeah, it’s crazy, huh?”
I took a seat, sipped on my wine.
“What did you want to become when you were a kid?” she asked.
“I don’t remember,” I said.
“Do you feel you have a lot to do with your life?”
“I think so. I… well, I make good money now. I’m a manager for a software firm that specializes in security applications, and it’s all right.”
“Do you remember what you told me a long time ago?” she asked.
“No, what?”
“You said you didn’t care about money or fame. You just didn’t wanna be like your father.”
“Did I say that?”
“Yep, and you said you just wanted to be able to tell your stories through your computer programs and test videogames every day.”
I stared at her, stunned, not that she remembered, but that I hadn’t.
“How do you remember this?” I asked.
“You’re probably gonna laugh at me for what I’m about to tell you.”
“What?”
“I had the biggest crush on you,” she confessed.
“You’re kidding?”
“No. I always wanted to tell you but I… I never got the chance. In high school, you were so focused on your studies, I knew you’d never be interested in a girl like me… I used to…” She giggled. “I’m gonna sound so stupid now so I’ll stop.”
“No no, go ahead.”
She blushed. “The main reason I got in touch with you was, I just remembered how brave you were in high school. Everyone used to tease you, call you names behind your back.” They did? “But you didn’t care… After my UFO run-in, I started telling people, and they all turned against me, made fun of me. No one wanted to be my friend anymore and I’ve been so miserable… and lonely… I saw you online and I remembered how strong you were. I knew if I contacted you, you’d be different, you’d underst—”
My phone beeped, a text message. It kept on beeping even though I tried to turn it off.
“Looks like work needs you,” she said.
“They can wait.”
“No no no, go ahead, I don’t wanna keep you.”
“You’re not keeping me,” I said.
“You don’t need to be polite. Go ahead.”
“But—”
“Byron, go do your thing, I understand it’s an emergency. I appreciate you just coming out for dinner.”
I stared at her, genuinely penitent. “I’m sorry about this.”
“Don’t be,” she said.
I took out my wallet. “How much do I owe?””
“I got this.”
“What?”
“Seriously, I got it,” she said.
“Okay, then let me buy the next one. When can we meet again?”
“How about I give you a call?” she suggested.
“I… I’ll take you to the best Italian restaurant in LA. Next time, okay?”
“We’ll see.”
“Promise me. I wanna finish our conversation.”
She hesitated. “Let’s play it by ear.”
There was something plaintive in her eyes. It felt like the first time I’d really seen her and I was lost in her again. I wished I hadn’t been so hasty; I should have stayed and listened instead of being so impatient.
“It was really good seeing you,” I said.
“You probably just think I’m crazy, huh?”
“We’re all crazy deep down,” I replied. “See you later, June.”
II.
I headed home, unable to sleep, thrilled by the sudden revelation June Guan had liked me too. Four in the morning, still just the irritation of yawns. I’d been suffering insomnia for the last few days.
Around 7 a.m., I headed into the office, frustrated and sore. There was a curt email from Barry, my manager. Come see me as soon as you get in.
It was two hours before he got in.
Barry was a bitter engineer who lived in the glory days of a past that didn’t really exist. He let his jaw wander, and it hung loosely like a bulldog with a protruding mouth. He had a big belly he liked to pet, deploring his heavy stature and insisting that he had to watch his weight.