“No, of course, I didn’t mean …”
“Thanks for the Gummy Buddies, by the way. My sister loves them.” Rylin wasn’t sure why she’d said that. She wasn’t getting paid to stand here and make conversation. She moved down a step, so she was on the same level as Cord, and started to walk past him.
“Chrissa, right?” Cord asked, shocking Rylin into stillness. She couldn’t believe Cord remembered Chrissa’s name.
“Yeah. She’s three years younger,” Rylin said quietly.
Cord nodded. “That’s great, that you two have each other.” Rylin thought of Cord and Brice. She wondered how close they were.
“Sorry,” Cord went on after a moment, “I didn’t mean to keep you. You’re obviously headed somewhere.”
“To meet—to meet Chrissa, actually,” Rylin said, stumbling over her words a little. She’d been about to say “my boyfriend” and then some instinct had stopped her, though she didn’t know why.
“Tell her there’re more Gummy Buddies where those came from—if she promises not to torture them the way you did.”
Rylin couldn’t help smiling at that. “See you tomorrow,” she started to say, but he’d shut the door quietly behind him.
Whatever, Rylin told herself as she started down the F lift; Cord Anderton was impossible to understand and there was no use trying.
When she reached Park and Central, the intersection at the exact center of the Tower, Rylin stepped through the metal double door marked LIFT MAINTENANCE ONLY.
She had to wait only a few minutes before Hiral appeared from the lifties’ locker room in jeans and the thin black shirt he wore under his swing suit. His hair was still damp with sweat from the ecramold helmet. “Hey, babe. Didn’t know you were coming by today.”
Rylin leaned into the hug. He smelled comfortingly familiar, like metal and sweat. “I wanted to see you.”
“What’s with the costume?” Hiral laughed.
“Oh, right.” Rylin glanced down at the maid’s uniform she’d half forgotten she was wearing. “I worked for Cord Anderton today. You know, my mom’s old job. And—”
“Seriously?” His tone sharpened, all his good humor gone. Hiral hated the highliers, with a fury that sometimes shocked even Rylin. “Why the hell would you work for that asshole?”
“It pays more than the monorail stop. And I called in sick there. It’s just temporary,” she said impatiently.
“Oh. I get it. Well, as long as you didn’t quit your real job.” Hiral put an arm around her waist. “New gig, this calls for a celebration. Wanna go to Habanas?” It was their favorite divey Cuban place, with spicy street corn and deep-fried queso.
“Absolutely.” Rylin followed him out into the thoroughfare, where the lights had dimmed to evening setting.
Just then, a message came through on her tablet: Fenton’s response to her earlier message.
Rylin: I’ve tried so hard to be generous with you and your sister, but I can’t keep making exceptions for you, it read. You’re two months behind on rent. If you don’t pay by the end of the week, you’re evicted.
Rylin felt nauseated. She immediately tried to call, but he didn’t pick up.
“Everything okay?” Hiral was watching her.
Rylin didn’t answer. She felt like the world was spinning. This was her fault—why had she paid the bank earlier instead of the rent? She’d been so sure of herself, of her ability to squeeze another month’s grace period out of Fenton; she’d done it plenty of times before. But now everything was crashing down, and she didn’t know how to fix it.
You’ll get your money by Friday, she typed back, her hands shaking, though she had no idea on earth how she would manage it. Maybe she could borrow some from Hiral, except his family needed every penny too. Or maybe Cord could give her an advance.
Cord. Her mind flashed to what she’d found in his bottom drawer, earlier that afternoon. There was her answer.
“It’ll be okay,” she told Hiral, hating what she was considering.
But more than that, Rylin hated that she didn’t really have a choice.
AVERY
AVERY’S STOMACH TWISTED nervously as she and Atlas pulled up to the Coles’ apartment. Through sheer force of will, she’d managed to turn Atlas and Leda’s date into a big Augmented Reality group game. She told herself it was fine, that she hadn’t done anything all that bad, but deep down Avery knew she was being selfish.
She glanced up at Leda’s doorstep, suddenly remembering the first time she and Leda had gotten drunk. Well, tried to get drunk; they’d just been giddy and ridiculous, only slightly buzzed off the spritzers Cord had given them. But they had decided they shouldn’t go inside until they were totally sober again, in case Leda’s parents heard them. They’d ended up spending half the night sitting together on the Coles’ front step, telling stories and giggling at nothing in particular.
“Want to tell Leda we’re here?” Atlas asked.
“Oh. Sure.” We’re outside, Avery flickered, realizing as she sent it how sparse their message thread had become. Normally she and Leda were in constant communication, sending each other selfie-snaps, complaints about school, messages from boys to analyze. But over the past couple of days, they’d barely messaged each other at all.
“Thanks for picking me up,” Leda said as the hover door slid open. She had on a navy silk top and white jeans, with red-soled espadrilles. Avery moved aside to make room for her, glancing down at her own outfit, all-black artech and her comfy turquoise sneaks.
“No worries.” Atlas smiled.
“Are you really wearing those to AR?” Avery blurted out, looking at Leda’s shoes.
“You’ve seen me run in heels.” Leda gave a brusque laugh.
“Right.” She felt a sudden urge to diffuse the tension, to pretend this had all been everyone’s idea to begin with. “I’m so glad we decided to do this,” she gushed, lamely. “I haven’t been to AR in forever!”
“Get ready, because we’re gonna kick your ass, Aves.” The light danced in Atlas’s warm brown eyes.
“Avery,” Leda interrupted, “how was shopping with Eris? Did you get anything?”
Avery felt a stab of guilt. When Leda had flickered her yesterday morning she’d said she was shopping with Eris, knowing it would put Leda off. But Eris hadn’t answered any of her flickers, and Avery had stopped by her apartment only to find that no one was there.
“Oh, um, I got some jeans,” Avery fumbled, naming the first thing she could think of. “At Denna.”
“Don’t you have those in pretty much every color?” Leda asked. Avery faltered, caught off guard.
“Like that’s ever stopped either of you,” Atlas joked, oblivious.
They pulled up to the ARena, which sprawled over a corner of the 623rd floor, just as its massive walls shifted from army-green camouflage to a depiction of a dark stone dungeon. Risha, Jess, and Ming all stood outside, dressed like Leda in cute jeans and impractical shoes. Avery refrained from rolling her eyes. She wished Eris were here; she could use a dose of her irreverent sarcasm right about now. Though come to think of it, the last time they’d all done AR Eris had shown up in a black leather catsuit, just for fun.
“The guys are inside,” Risha offered as they gathered in front of the doors, which now showed a dragon swooping over an icy mountain peak.
“Probably arguing about whether to play cowboys or aliens,” Atlas said, holding open the doors. Avery fought the urge to stay back, walk with him, reach for his hand.