Normally, I leave work through the theater’s back door and pause to light my 6:01 smoke, then once my smoke is lit I rush to the K train so I can go home and goof off. But today my routine’s interrupted by a young lady saying, “That’s a hot shirt.”
I turn to look at her, and she’s just lovely. She’s smoking her own cigarette, and she’s young enough that the habit hasn’t weathered her yet. She stands with her back straight against the brick wall, her posture firm and proper but not stiff. She starts pulling back the sides of her snug motorcycle jacket and thrusting her chest out just a little. It takes me a moment to realize that she’s doing this because we’re wearing identical T-shirts, which advertise an obscure rock band called The Luscious Assassins. I’ve never seen anyone else wear a Luscious Assassins T-shirt- not even at one of their shows- and I’d bet that she hasn’t either.
I tell her, “Thanks. Looks much better on you, though.”
My admittedly cheap line seems to charm her far more than I expected. She asks if I’m going to see the Assassins play at Cookie’s in July, and I say of course. I ask if she’s going too, and she says she thinks she’ll have to. We start talking about other great bands we’ve seen recently, and our tastes overlap in some very important places. By the time we stub out our smokes we’re also bonding over our love of German expressionist movies, and she does the funniest Peter Lorre impression I’ve ever seen.
Her name’s Ferida, by the way. Just finished auditioning for the role of the rebellious 18 year-old daughter in The Honesty of Deceit– that’s why she wore the shirt today. Not that she’s 18 herself…in fact she was just about to go drink her some whiskey. Only problem is she has no one to drink with (hint, hint).
Here’s where I know she must have an angle. I wonder if she thinks I’m some big-shot artistic director who can be charmed into giving her a big break, and not the lowly stagehand I actually am. If that’s what she thinks, I figure she can’t be very bright. I doubt that though. She seems pretty smart, and it’s virtually impossible for a dumb actress to play pretty smart. Besides, wearing that Luscious Assassins T-shirt is too good to be coincidence. It’s like she’s done research on me. She’s certainly up to something. Maybe even something on someone else’s behalf.
Yet my gut assures me she’s not criminally insane, and whatever her angle is, it can’t be a terribly dangerous one. So I think I should just see where this goes for now.
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