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“No shit, Sherlock,” said Kana, rolling her eyes.

Matt ignored her remark with a wider grin. “If you need more, I have it in the back! I know where Auggie stores his—”

“I know,” Kana cut him off.

Matt froze for a moment, shrugged it off, and turned to Jun. “I got you something, Connor!” He reached into his pocket and tossed something at him. Jun caught it, looking down to find a small lightweight smartphone of a brand he didn’t recognize. “I had Auggie drive me back to my apartment to get you that so you can join our group chat!”

Kana furrowed her eyebrows, pulling her head back. “Wait. Augs drove you?”

“It’s a long story,” said Matt quickly. “Also, we are going to have our meeting soon, so if you’re gonna wash out the dye—”

“We’ll be ready,” said Kana. “They can start coming in. It’s not like we are naked or anything.”

Jun and Matt turned to Kana, each looking appalled in his own way.

Matt laughed nervously. “Uh, right. Sure.” He backed towards the door. “I’ll be back!” And then he was gone.

After Matt disappeared, Jun quickly turned to Kana. “Um, I never told anyone,” he started to say as he tore the garbage bag in half from the neck. “About my friend…”

“Oh! No worries, I got you.” She winked at him with a sly and charming smile. “Just as long as you won’t tell anyone what I just told you about Sunny.”

Jun smiled back. There must have been some unspoken rule that came with dyeing someone’s hair—secrets spilled, and you honored them. Jun didn’t mind. It was the first time someone had heard the thoughts he had never been able to say aloud. “What happens in the garage stays in the garage.”

He murmured “Kobe,” threw the trash bag at the bin, and missed.

12

Night Market

If there was anything that could drag Alex back to the Garras’s orbit, it would be the night market during the week of Halloween. Every time he thought about it, his brain defaulted to the old days—the festival crammed under the 110 freeway overpass, back before they moved it to the parking lot of a run-down Asian grocery store.

Despite the new location, it was the same as he remembered, maybe even louder. Costumed crowds packed the aisles between tents strung with marigolds and papel picado, the air thick with grease and sugar. The fluorescent parking lot lights hit him with a wave of something almost childlike. Shouting vendors. Booming banda. It was different now that he was grown, but there was still a sliver of that old magic pressing against his ribs.

The same homies he grew up with still worked the same stalls. His favorite taco stand, where he had helped out, sat next to the popular sugar skull face painting station. They passed Eddie’s black tent, the line snaking around the outside—same as every year, everyone trying to snag one of his discounted tattoos.

“Mmm!” Kana bounced beside him, chewing a long strand of cheese from her cup of esquites. “It’s so good!”

“Right?” said Hal with his hands out in excitement. “Glad to see you approve of the marriage of corn and cheese.”

Kana giggled, scooping another steaming bite. “We should go back and get some for Connor! He might be lonely.”

Alex groaned, kicking his soles against the rocky asphalt. “Man, I don’t want the car to smell like cheese.”

Kana jumped up and down with a mouthful of steaming cheese oozing from her lips. She shoved the cup into Alex’s hands and darted towards a booth splattered with street art, where Day of the Dead flower headbands sat on Styrofoam mannequin heads. She picked up a red-and-black flower crown. Setting it on her blonde bangs, she peered into the table mirror, her dark eyes squinting at her own reflection.

Hal chuckled as they got closer. “It fits your whole look!”

She looked down at herself. Her oversized black-and-red splattered hoodie barely hung over her matching plaid skirt and fishnet tights. She laughed into her mesh glove. “Totally not planned, I swear!”

Alex hid his stupid grin behind his hand. She looked so fucking cute right now—the headband, the outfit, the way she laughed into her gloves like she’d just discovered something amazing.

Hal had mentioned that she didn’t get many chances to explore the city, so maybe it was just the novelty. But watching her like this was doing something to his chest that he refused to name. He dropped his gaze before his heated face gave him away. He wanted to blame it on the hot esquites. But the cheese wasn’t steaming anymore and had turned solid.

“Looks good on you, miss! It’s going on sale now before midnight,” someone said from behind the counter. The three stopped. Underneath the skeleton makeup, Juan’s eyes lit up, and he waved his thick hand. “Augs! And yooooo Hal! Is that you, bro?”

“Juan!” Hal leaned over the counter and gave him a dap greeting. “What’s good, man? You ain’t working that taco stand no more?”

Juan scrunched his lips with a crooked smile. “Nah, foo. Decided to change professions.” He held his large hands at the art pieces surrounding the tent. “I’m a pro artiste now, man!”