“She lives in Jersey City—”
“No.”
“It’s just across the river….”
“It’s anotherstate.”
Briar comes to a sudden halt in front of a nondescript storefront with a brick-and-stainless-steel façade and one small, inconveniently placed window.
“Oh! I’ve been wanting to check this place out! Can we go in for a minute?”
The store has the pseudo-medical look of the high-end skincare retailers Sophie liked visiting on their trip to Seoul.There’s nothing on display. No claims of rejuvenation. Just one small, subtle sign engraved withCreamPot.
“I’ll wait for you out here,” he says. A year ago, Josh might have invested in a hydrating serum, but what fucking difference does the size of his pores make now?
“You have to come in. I want a photo of me in there for my feed. Potential spon-con! Plus, they only let cis men in here if they’re accompanied by a woman or nonbinary person,” she adds. “It’s your lucky day.”
On the other side of the heavy glass door, the space is stark white—like an Apple Store without all the greasy fingerprints. A concrete plinth displays a small sculpture in bold fuchsia that almost looks like a toy Sophie kept in her nightstand.
He stops walking. “I thought this was a skincare boutique.”
“Chloë Sevigny swears by this place.” Briar starts snapping photos of the layout from various high angles.
Josh shoves his hands in his pockets. It’s best not to pick anything up and risk dropping it or touching some invisibleonbutton. “I’m not standing in here with you like we’re shopping together.”
Briar’s attention abruptly shifts.
He follows her sight line to a woman in a plaid peacoat standing under a display labeledRealistic Dildosin a tasteful typeface.
Images flash through his mind, like someone flipping through a stack of half-developed Polaroids. Huge chunks of the past eight years are completely wiped from his brain, but every tiny interaction he’s had with this woman is burned into his memory. He’s never been able to overwrite them.
Ari is holding something phallic, turning it over in herhands, while casting the occasional glance in Josh’s direction. Her hair is longer than last time, brown again, falling softly around her shoulders under a slouchy winter hat. She’s coziness personified, despite the sterile surroundings.
“Do you know her?” Briar whispers, elbowing him in the chest.
“Shemarriedyour professor.”
“Wow. Is that her?” she exclaims with dawning recognition. “Oh my God. She’s coming over.” Briar ducks behind a row of stark white shelves.
“Where are you going?” He finds himself instinctively looking for a hiding spot of his own, when—
“Josh?”
He turns around. Ari is two feet away. “Uh—”
She points at her chest with a coral-colored glass tentacle dildo. “Ari.”
“No, I know.” Josh watches Briar silently flee the store. “I was just—”
“Shopping for vibrators?” she asks, eyebrows raised.
“—leaving. What are you doing here?”
She shrugs and holds up the dildo again. “You just missed Radhya, actually.”
That’s a relief. It’s within the realm of possibility that Radhya would try to knock him unconscious with something phallic.
“How are you?” he asks, after a few beats of awkward silence and weight-shifting.
