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“How’d the grand re-opening go after the remodel of your brother’s club?”
Aya’s brother, Frey, ran an upscale burlesque club, and a few months ago was forced to close after the building sustained extensive damage because of a water main leak. Her brother had been thinking the club needed a remodel before the accident, so Aya joked the universe made sure he stopped dragging his feet about it.
I’d wanted to go and finally experience the place, with how often Aya hyped it up, but the timing didn’t match up well against my schedule, so I had to promise a rain check.
“Oh, it went so spectacularly,” Aya gushed. “Let me show you some photos I snagged.”
She whipped out her phone and scrolled through all kinds of photos. My jaw dropped. The place was stunning, though there was a lot more purple in the décor than I expected—like,a lotof purple. Frey didn’t seem the purple type from the way his sister spoke of him.
A few people appeared in photos, from guests to performers. Aya temporarily paused on a blonde woman with a well-toned athletic body passionately hugging a tall man with a lean but still muscular build. He had an unusual-looking prosthetic arm. There was something not quite right about it. Beyond its incredibly dark appearance, it seemed… twisted, like it wasn’t made correctly.It’s probably the dim lighting in the place making it look off.
A sensation of familiarity about these two people fell over me, but Aya continued her slideshow before I could think on it more.
A photo of her brother came up. He had long, dirty blond hair, a lithe body, and a similar complexion and stunning beauty Aya had. With him was a large, muscled man.Fen.He had short, blond hair and an intricate wolf tattoo along one of his arms, as well as some other Norse-inspired tattoos on his light skin. The two of them sat close and stared so lovingly into each other’s eyes, it’d make any hopeless romantic weak.
As I gazed at the two men, a powerful sensation of familiarity rushed through me.
“Aya, are you sure I’ve never met your brother or Fen?” I asked. “Like, they never paid a visit to you in college and I saw them in passing? Because I swear, they look familiar.”
She shook her head. “They haven’t left Chicago much in the last ten years. If they have, it was to see our family. Frey is so busy with his club, it’s hard for them to take time off.”
I pursed my lips.Then why can’t I shake this feeling every time I see a picture of them? Especially Fen.
Aya flipped to another photo of Fen. In this one, he passionately kissed a woman whom I could only describe as goth, with her long black hair, dark clothes, and black and purple make-up.
“Whoa, who is that?” I asked.
“Their girlfriend?”
I blinked. “Huh?”
Aya’s brows pinched together. “What do you mean, ‘huh’? I swear I’ve told you about Dahlia before.”
“Nope.” I emphasized, popping the p. “I would remember if you told me your brother was a lucky enough bastard to havetwopartners.”
Was I jealous? Maybe a little. My dating life had all but dried up after college, and it hadn’t been great during it, either. I wanted to form connections, and the people I seemed to attract either only wanted a ‘wham-bam thank you ma’am’ kind of night—many of whom didn’t live up to their own hype—they had nothing going for them in life, or we just didn’t have enough in common for it to work. And if they didn’t fall into those categories, they were off-limits residents and myjustbest friend.
Aya tapped her lips. “Huh… I don’t know how I managed to not tell you about her. You’d love her. She’s a big nerd. Her and her sister even love D&D.”
My eyes popped wide. “What? How could you not tell me this? Why haven’t you introduced us? I don’t care if they have to video chat or something. We need more players at the table!”
Diego belted out a hearty laugh. “Look what you’ve done, Amiga. You’ve gotten her all worked up.”
Our friend winked. “I’m sure you could settle her down.”
I was too excited to even care about the sexual hints she was suggesting. “No, you don’t understand. Dad would be so happy to DM for a bigger table, and it’ll add a new dynamic!”
Aya laughed. “I’ll talk to them.”
“You need to tell them to come visit, really,” Diego said.
I pointed in his direction. “What he said. It’s not fair they don’t visit us.”
Aya held up placating hands. “I’ve been trying. One of these days, I’ll finally get them over for a visit.” She winked. “I’m persistent like that.”
I let out a breath. “Fine. In the meantime, let’s get you settled back in.”
“So you can pester me some more?”
