Athena pulled her hand back and shoveled more hot dog into her mouth, starting to talk before she had completely swallowed.
“So these are my small heels, for when I’m dancing, not modeling. Only six inches with the sturdy platform.” She stuck her foot out straight into the street, rotating it from side to side at the ankle to show off the shape of the heel as it formed into the base of an ankle boot, securely tied around a long, fishnet-covered leg. “Wouldn’t want to take a tumble.” She smiled at Joel and he stared, completely in awe that someone like Athena existed and that she was sitting on a dirty Hollywood curb beside him, eating a three dollar hot dog at two in the morning.
“What do you do, Joel?” Athena asked him, in her phone-sex operator voice. If Joel weren’t gay, he could easily see the appeal of someone as loud and commanding and utterlybeautifulas Athena, but hewasgay, so he appreciated her in the same way he appreciated his Bibles and his records.
“Not much, honestly,” he replied, swallowing the bite he’d been chewing before he spoke. “I graduated from high school and I work at a little bookstore in Echo Park called Bound to Please.”
“Bound to Please? Isn’t that a sex shop?” Athena chuckled, and her laugh was even deeper than her voice.
“It isn’t, although the general population seems to think it is.” Joel took another bite and looked down, made self-conscious from the attention this brazen stranger was paying to him.
“Huh. Either way though, good to know, and high school? You’re a baby! What are you doing out so late? Don’t you have a curfew?” Athena laughed again through another bite of her hot dog. Joel was pretty sure that while Athena seemed to listen when he spoke, she didn’t seem to ever take a break when she spoke herself.
“Baby? I’m eighteen. And no curfew, I live on my own.” Joel took his last bite, swallowing and using a napkin to wipe some ketchup off his hands.
“Well, you’re four years younger than me, so you’re practically a baby. I like you, though, you’re sweet, and I want to keep you, Baby J.” Athena unfolded her long limbs and stood, then she held her hand down to Joel. He took it and let her help him up, but he had no idea how she had counterbalanced their weight enough to not topple into the street because of those precarious shoes she had on.
“Let’s go get a milkshake, Baby J, I want to be friends.” Athena tightened her fingers around his hand and took off down the street in search of dessert.
At first, Athena forced her friendship onto Joel, but after a couple of months, he became receptive to her advances. If anything, she had helped him become more comfortable with life as a gay man, even though he didn’t think he could ever shake the nagging self-doubt that was such an ingrained part of his psyche.
Athena was a vision everywhere she went. She had been a bondage model since she was eighteen years old and was not shy about her occupation or her sexual tendencies. She was loud, and Joel was sure most people found her painfully obnoxious, but once you got to know her, she was endearing, and Joel found comfort in the largeness of her personality. She physically and literally shielded him, like some patent leather and lace Goth umbrella of protection.
Today she wore twelve-hole Doc Martens, laced up to the eighth eyelet only, with torn black thigh highs layered over dark purple fishnets. She also wore a gauzy black skirt which grazed her thighs and a plain black tank top, almost obscured under what looked to be at least a pound of silver chains and chokers. Her bright red hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and her eyebrows were filled to perfection, but beyond that she wasn’t wearing any makeup.
“Did you come in and leave?” Joel asked her in greeting, trying to find the source of the mysterious door chime. Athena lifted her body onto the store counter and tucked her legs in, so she was balancing cross-legged on the narrow space beside the cash register.
“Negative, Baby J. I just got here. I wanted to stop by before I left.”
“Oh, you’re going to New York, aren’t you? I didn’t even realize it was already time for your trip. Are you looking forward to it?” Joel leaned against the counter, so he was beside her, and smiled up at her.
“Yes, and yes. I haven’t worked with this photographer in years so it should be fun, and he’s working with this new latex designer, so I get to try on all the fun clothes! But I’m definitely not looking forward to the six-hour flight.” Athena tapped her fingernails against her two front teeth as she thought about something. “Maybe I’ll see if they’ll upgrade me to first class, so I can at least catch a nap.”
“I’ll miss you, but maybe I’ll have stories for you when you get back. I met a boy.” Joel turned and propped his elbows on her knees and batted his eyelashes at her. Athena dropped her jaw in shock and pushed him backward, throwing her body off the counter.
“Oh my God, Baby J, you actually talked to another human?” Athena teased him.
“Well, he was quoting Frost at me. How could I not?”
“You and your books.” She laughed. “Well, I’ll be gone for ten days, so you better have something exciting to report back when I’m home! There is a weekend in that time frame, and that’s prime date night, Baby J. Don’t let it slip away.” She held her arms open and Joel tucked himself in for a hug.
“I’ll do good, Theenie, you’ll see. But I’ll miss you all the same.” He squeezed her tight before stepping back.
“You’ve always done wonders for my ego, Baby J. I love you and whatever you do. Cause some trouble for once, okay?” Athena smiled and waved at him before heading back out the door of the shop.
Joel listened to the door bells chime again, and put on a new record before plopping down in one of the cushy wingback chairs facing the street and closed his eyes.
CHAPTER TWO
Joel Doesn’t Go on a Date
Joel crouched down under the hot afternoon sun and shook his hair from his eyes, only for it to immediately fall back into place. He thumbed through a cardboard box full of beat up records to see if anything caught his eye. He had deliberately set some cash aside from his last paycheck in case he saw any signs for estate sales during the week, and sure enough, here he was. Since he was so strapped for money, he didn't have cable, or even a TV, and he preferred it that way. He had his books and he had his records and he had even more books. Reaching the end, he slowly leaned the weight of all the records back against the side of the box before getting up and dusting off his knees.
Joel wandered into the house and delicately skimmed his fingertips over the top of a dark cherry wood sideboard that hugged the entryway wall. To his left, the hallway opened up into a spacious living room, stacked with boxes overflowing with trinkets and fabrics. The far wall had a large brick fireplace, blackened from years of good use, and was piled high with hard cover books. Joel smiled to himself and headed that way, sitting cross legged and dragging the nearest pile closer to him so he could peruse. A few books in, he found a faded green fabric covered novel, thicker than the books, but not as tall. He picked it up and found an identical book underneath it. The covers were blank and he turned them to the side to inspect the spines. He smiled as he traced the gilded gold lettering,Les Misérables,Victor Hugo.
Volumes one and two, a complete set. He opened the cover of the first volume, gently so as to not crack the spine, and read the print year was 1890. The volume seemed sturdy enough so he fanned the pages, holding it closer to his face to inhale the old book smell he loved so much.
It's mold, Baby J, the smell is mold,Athena told him the first and last time she joined him at an estate sale.
