My conscience is clear,he said.
Touché, Lucky, touché.
So, when I die in this hospital, at least Lucky will have the satisfaction of knowing he was right. He was a complete asshole about it, but he was right, and I should’ve listened to him. I should’ve stayed. I’m probably going to die because I didn’t listen to him and stay.
I wanted to stay. But he was also right when he said I was too terrified to stay because I was terrified about what we were becoming.
I’m twenty-seven years old. And if those twenty-seven years have taught me one thing over and over again, it’s that when things seem too good to be true, they are.
That’s what I convinced myself of, and that’s why I left.
And right now, I’m paying for it in ways I never could’ve imagined.
“Zoe?”
“Yeah, hon. I’m still here.”
“Have you still been working with Meyer?”
“Uh...yeah.” Her tone is strange, and she adds hastily, “And don’t worry, I let Phillipp and Miriam know what’s going on. I’ve got you covered with everything. Everyone’s sending you all the good vibes.”
“Tell Meyer to tell Lucky he was right, and I’m sorry.”
“I really don’t think you owe anyone an apology for anything right now.”
Well, if I’m about to die, I feel like I’ve got nothing left to say but a bunch of fucking apologies.
“Can you just tell him, Zoe?”
She sighs quietly. “Of course, babe.”
I blink. The world outside the windows is now dark.
I blink again. Daylight. Nurses. X-rays. Beeping machines.
I blink again, and it all just continues on repeat for a long time.
Twenty-Three
Lucky
“All right, hear me out,”Meyer says, lifting his palms in front of the laptop screen while Zoey watches from the other side. He holds his fingers in the shape of a square like he’s framing a scene for a film. “What if we made the background look like a famous jazz club or something? Like grab a photo of the inside and then put that behind the video player. Y’know, so it would look like our stage is there. Could we do that?”
Zoey nods slowly, causing her wild mass of tightly wound black curls to sway with the motion of her head. “Yeah, totally.” She spins her pen between her fingers and then points it at me and Meyer. “If you wanted, I could even set it up so that the concert-goers could pick from a few different clubs. Like on one side of the screen, there would be this little drop-down box, and they could select any one they wanted.” She taps the pen against the table she’s sitting at and then sets it down as she looks away from the camera and starts typing. “Here, I’ll show you an example. Give me like two minutes.”
I rest my chin in my palm and try to avoid an agitated, bored sigh. I realize this is all for me, but I couldn’t care less right now. It’s been five days since I actually spoke to Ava when she called me really pissed off and looking pretty sick. I’m gonna let Meyer and Zoey go through the laundry list of to-do items in preparation for the next virtual concert, but as soon as they start wrapping things up, I’m gonna see what I can get Zoey to tell me about Ava.
If anyone can get me a foot in the door with fixing this whole mess while Ava and I are separated by five hundred friggin’ miles, it’s Zoey. And that means I have to play nice on this call and not immediately interrupt both her and Meyer to demand that she convince Ava to pick up the damn phone.
So, I wait. While I wait, I light up a cigarette and sip my espresso and keep a pleasant expression on my face.
Zoey’s fingers are rapidly clicking the keys for nearly three minutes before she turns back to Meyer and me. “Okay, I’m going to put a link in the chat. Click on that and see what it looks like. I just used random photos for the backgrounds, but when it’s live, it can be any of those venues you might want. Just as long as we can get a good photo, and as long as we get permission from the owners.”
“All right.” Meyer clicks the link, and it pops up a small window that features a blank video player with a pristine beach behind it. He clicks a small box, and the background morphs through several different images. “No shit!” He chuckles gleefully. “This is exactly what I was thinking, but even better!”
Zoey laughs lightly. “Good deal. It’s actually pretty easy to do. All we’ll need to do is get photos from—”
She cuts herself off at the sound of a phone ringing and lifts her finger in the air as she turns slightly from the screen. “Hang on one second, you guys.”
