Tanya pulled into the moderately populated parking lot of Delia's Diner and parked next to a red Camaro. Someone was sitting in the driver's seat smoking a joint. She couldn't make out their face in the dimly lit interior, but they nodded at her as she passed on the way to the diner's entrance. The inside smelled like deep-fried food and baked goods. Something classic played on the sound system. She looked around and spotted the booth where her friends sat.
Athena was on the end, a cartoonishly large mug of cappuccino resting between her hands, already half-consumed. Her boyfriend, Frank, sat across from her, sipping Pepsi through a straw. Athena saw Tanya and waved so erratically her arm looked like one of those tube men Tanya saw outside places like Jiffy Lube, but Tanya's gaze flicked to the shape beside Frank. A guy she didn't recognize lounged in the booth, sipping a water like a proper grownup.
Here we go, she thought.
Athena made room so Tanya could slide in next to her. They hugged tightly and exchanged greetings.
"You look great," Athena said.
"I'm wearing jeans and a hoodie," Tanya said.
"Oh, please. You can rock comfortable clothes like no one else."
"Did you put something in her cappuccino?" Tanya said to Frank.
"Come on, she's always like this."
"True. Anyway, nice to see you." She turned slowly toward the man with the water. "And who do we have here?"
"Russell," the guy said, holding out his hand.
"Russell, right." She didn't shake his hand. "Listen, Russell. Athena is great."
Athena squeed. Athena almost always squeed, especially after a cappuccino or two.
"Frank is cool too," Tanya continued. "They make a nice couple."
"Oh, shit," Frank said, seeing where this was going.
"Unfortunately, they're so happy together—"
"Wait!" Athena yelped.
"—they think everybody should be with somebody, even though I've made it clear on numerous occasions that I'm not looking for anything right now."
No one at the table spoke for a handful of seconds. The second chorus of the classic rock tune—something by Springsteen—ended, giving way to a breakdown.
"It's cool," Russell said. "I'm pretty easygoing."
In her experience, guys who said they were easygoing were usually anything but.
"I'm good hanging out," Tanya said, "just so long as everyone knows this isn't a setup."
"Cool with me," Russell said.
"You know I got your back no matter what," Athena said.
"Then stop trying to set me up with men."
Frank's gaze drifted to the side, and he smiled deviously.
"Or women," Tanya said, reading his mind.
"Okay, last time, we swear," Athena said.
"Sorry, Russell," Tanya said.
He held up his hands in a don't shoot gesture. "It's totally cool."
Someone cleared their throat. Tanya and the others turned toward the sound. The server, a gray-eyed brunette named Carlotta, stood over their table.
"Oh, man," Frank said. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," Carlotta said. She glared at Tanya. "Can I get you something to drink, miss?"
"Coffee, please. Black."
The server screwed up her face. "That's it?"
"That's it."
When the server left, Athena burst out laughing. Both guys grinned, but Frank's was a little more uneasy.
"Babe," he said, barely above a whisper. "We're here, like, twice a week."
"And the staff knows how wild we are," Athena said.
"Honestly, I don't know how you two come here so much," Tanya said.
"Because it's great." Athena held up her mug in both hands like it was the Holy Grail. "Look at this freaking cappuccino."
With that declaration, she glugged the rest of it down. Carlotta returned and set down Tanya's coffee.
"Can I get another?" Athena asked, holding out the empty mug. She had a frothy milk goatee running down her chin.
"Jesus, babe," Frank said and wiped at her face with a napkin.
"So, you're a vlogger?" Russell asked Tanya while the lovebirds tended to each other.
"Yeah," Tanya said, hating how timid she sounded.
"Tell me about your channel," he said.
"Oh, it's freaking great," Athena said, her face now cleaned. "She does these deep-dives on dark channels, obscure cults that started on random subreddits, and unsolved disappearances, things like that. Spooky creepypasta stuff, you know."
"Oh," Russell said without emotion.
Tanya couldn't believe a single word, a single syllable, could say so much and so little at the same time. Though still not romantically interested in him, or anyone, she found herself now hinging on what he'd say next. Usually, when she—or Athena—talked about her channel, she could gauge someone's reaction quickly. People were either fascinated or horrified, and sometimes both. She couldn't tell what Russell felt.
Finally, he said, "And you make a living off it?"
"I do okay," she said with a smirk.
"Oh, please," Athena said. "She's being modest again."
"Nothing wrong with that," Frank said.
"Of course not, but I'd like to see her brag a little bit sometimes."
Tanya shrugged one shoulder. "I like what I do."
"That's the dream, right?" Russell said.
"You should watch her video on the Dead World Theory," Frank said.
Athena squeed again.
"I don't know," Tanya said. "It's pretty dark."
"Tell me."
Before Tanya could speak, Carlotta came back to take their food order.
"Okay," Tanya said after the server left again. "Basically, it's the idea that there really was an apocalyptic event around the year 2000, and we're all just kind of … ghosts. That's why everything before 9/11 feels like a dream, even to people born a decade or two before, because it was an actual previous lifetime. It's kinda silly on the surface, but my video goes into it a bit more. There are people out there who really believe this. It helps them reconcile a lot of shit in their personal lives and their perceptions of the world. Most of them are harmless."
"Most of them," Frank muttered.
"Except for the ones who try to light graveyards on fire," Athena blurted.
Russell looked at Tanya, wide-eyed. His eyes were bright and expressive, a deep blue she hadn't noticed at first. She focused on her coffee when she replied.
"They believe burning the bones will set all our spirits free. Whatever 'free' means is anyone's guess. A lot of them are on gas station research chemicals."
"Man, that's crazy," Russell said.
"It's her most watched video," Athena said.
"It's because it's good," Frank said. When Tanya glanced at him, he added, "I mean, they're all good, but that one hits different."
"Lately, I've mostly been focused on a series about mysterious, unsolved disappearances. It's called They Slipped Through."
Russell cocked an eyebrow. Something bright glimmered in his eyes, reminding her of the replicant look from Blade Runner. "Have you ever done a video on Rusted Blood?" he asked.
She knew right away that she hadn't but ran the words through her brain anyway to see if she'd even heard of it or knew what it was. She prided herself on being an encyclopedia on weird or morbid trivia, but the words Rusted Blood didn't ring any bells. It gave him a leg up on her, not that it mattered, but on these topics, she preferred to be the expert. Still, he'd piqued her curiosity. Just because she hadn't heard of it didn't mean it wasn't worth investigating.
"No, what's that?"
"It's a video game. It came out earlier this year and caused a bit of a shitstorm."
"Why? What happened?"
"Was it a cancel culture thing?" Frank asked with a roll of his eyes.
"She doesn't really cover that sort of thing," Athena said.
Tanya stayed focused on Russell. "What was it?"
Russell chuckled. "You should just look it up. It's crazy. I don't think I can do it justice. Basically, this chick—I think her name is Vanessa—claims the game is about something she experienced for real, but like … ah, man. You gotta look it up. It's a deep rabbit hole."
"I'll do that," Tanya said, not sure if she would.
People recommended topics to her all the time, but she always had a running list of things she wanted to cover. Now was no exception. Up next, she'd planned a look at the disappearance of true crime writer Niles Highsmith and his younger brother Leon. She also wanted to look at the mysterious deaths and disappearances related to a supposedly cursed and still-not-filmed screenplay titled Mania. She had preliminary notes on both topics, and each would probably get its own video. She usually did a video a month, so even if she did look into Rusted Blood, she likely wouldn't cover it for another three months at the very least.
I'll do that was her default response when she wanted to politely brush someone off without offending them.
The food came out, along with Athena's second cappuccino. The four discussed the hotly anticipated My Chemical Romance reunion tour, how Frank had found a laserdisc player while cleaning out his parents' garage, and what life after college had been like so far for all of them.
"What's the name of your channel?" Russell asked after they finished eating and gathered in the parking lot.
He was a lot taller than he seemed while in the booth. She liked the way he stood with his feet apart and his shoulders back. He exuded an easy confidence, at least to the unobservant. She spotted the way he held the hem of his pleather jacket with his right hand in a tight fist. His thumb and forefinger pinched and caressed the fabric. It spoke to a nervousness he barely had under control. There was something endearing about that.
"It's HazyGurl. One word, and Gurl is spelled G-U-R-L. I came up with it when I was, like, sixteen."
"You've had your channel for that long?"
"Oh God, no. Around a year and a half."
"She used to blog under that name, though," Athena said.
"Same topics?"
"No, just cringey teenager shit," Tanya said.
"We've all been there," Frank said with a nervous laugh.
"Not me," Athena said. "I came out of the womb fully formed and extra mature."
She punctuated this with a wet belch, and everyone laughed.
"I love my fully formed, extra mature girlfriend," Frank said.
He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She turned and kissed him hard, plunging her hands into his hair and damn near swallowing the lower half of his face. Their mouths made slurpy sounds that turned Tanya's stomach.
"All right, well, you kids have fun," she said.
Athena and Frank pulled away from each other and looked at Tanya, both their faces aglow with young lust.
"You're heading out?" Athena asked.
"Yeah, I want to make sure the upload went up okay. Respond to comments, you know."
"Big celebrity," Frank said.
Athena laughed and Russell smirked.
Tanya waved the comment off. "Please," she said. She nodded at Russell. "You ride with them?"
"Nah, I'm parked back there." He pointed to the side of the building.
The next words that came out of her mouth surprised her. She didn't know where they came from and hadn't planned to say them or anything other than goodnight. Instead, she said, "Want me to walk you to your car?"
Athena and Frank exchanged a glance. Athena hardly contained her squee.
"Sure," Russell said. "I mean, if you want to."
She smiled and said, "Sure."
What am I doing?
Athena and Frank gave hugs to the others and headed to their car, stopping every few steps to steal more kisses.
"They sure are passionate," Russell said as they began the trek to his car.
"It'd be adorable if it wasn't gross."
"What do you mean?"
"Athena's like my sister. I've known her forever. Would you want to watch your sister make out with someone all the time?"
"I guess not," Russell said with a laugh. "I mean, I don't have a sister, but yeah, I get what you mean."
They reached the side of the building. The light over that section of the parking lot flickered, went dark, and lit up again. It sounded like a bug zapper, but the moths and gnats flew around it in a cloud, undeterred and unharmed. Tanya caught a whiff from the diner's dumpster and wrinkled her nose.
"Which car is yours?" she asked. He pointed to a sleek, black model with a roundish symbol on its trunk she didn't recognize. It almost looked like a silver eye. "Nice wheels."
"It gets me places," he said. "Everyone needs to get around, you know?"
"I guess. If not for Athena, I don't know if I'd ever leave the house." She croaked out a dry laugh to show him she meant it half-jokingly.
"I can't believe you're able to make a living off the sorts of videos you do."
"You haven't even watched them," she said. He looked at her funny. "And I don't make that much. I'm not a millionaire or a celebrity. Like I said, I do okay. Besides, I still live with my parents."
"What's that like?"
"You can't beat the rent."
They reached Russell's vehicle and he faced her, folding his hands in front of him.
"It was nice to meet you," he said.
"Yeah, so, I know what I said back in the diner about not looking for anything, but how would you like to kiss me?"
"I mean, I'd love that, but … Are you sure?"
"I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't."
"Was it watching Athena and Frank?" he asked.
"I said I was sure, not that I was sure why."
"Well, if you're sure…"
"Better hurry up before I change my mind," she said.
What am I doing?
He bent toward her. She rose on her tiptoes to meet him. His lips were soft and warm. It was a nice kiss, her first in a while. It wasn't that she was completely averse to physical affection or relationships, she'd even had a couple of college boyfriends. These days, though, her career came first. It took a lot of work and dedication. Romantic partners just tended to demand more time than she was willing to give, more than she could give. Besides, her channel, particularly the They Slipped Through videos, was so much more than a career.
He took his lips away from hers and looked her in the eyes. She tried to kiss him again, but he stood up straight, putting his face out of range.
"I should probably get going," he said.
"Of course you should," she said with a smirk she hoped hid any confusion or embarrassment at his sudden lack of interest. If only she could see his eyes better in the parking lot's dimness, she'd be able to read him somewhat better.
"It was nice to meet you," he said. "We'll hang out again."
She found herself nodding along, not sure what just happened or why she was agreeing with him. When he got in his car and shut the door, she turned and walked back to her own vehicle, willing herself not to look back as he drove away. His car made almost no sound, save for its tires against the gravelly pavement. His taillights bathed her in red for the seconds it took for him to exit the lot.
She drove home knowing she'd be up most the night reading about Rusted Blood.