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“Just for Tony.”
“So sweet. Thanks Mali.”
Nathan had never gotten complimentary spring rolls here. Suddenly he needed an exit.
He grabbled at his warmup pants pocket like it was buzzing. “My phone,” he mumbled. “I gotta get this. Good seeing you.”
“Good to see you?” Kat parroted back as a question, at once confused, surprised and relieved by the abrupt departure. Tony offered him a pity smile. Flee- ing, Nathan mashed the phone to ear, improvising wooden dialogue as he rushed for the door.
Outside his legs felt rubbery and he gasped for air. An older man was shoeless and passed out on the sidewalk, and Nathan envied how soundly slept. He was unlocking his Nissan when he caught a glimpse through the picture window of the couple, framed by twinkling holiday lights and flanked by sun-bleached photos of lunch specials and a curdled beach poster for a Thai travel agency. He cringed, expecting to see Kat gesticulating towards the exit or dramatically shaking her head with exhaustion; the usual after- math he imagined in his wake. But what he observed was worse. They seemed to have already shrugged off the encounter, talking casually, gesturing with forks for the other to try this or that. He was as inconsequential to their evening as a mosquito. They were too busy being happy.
Then Kat spilled a little soup. She scooted back in her chair to better clean herself up. Which is when Na- than noticed she was wearing a Walt Mink t-shirt. His Walt Mink t-shirt. His perfectly worn-in black Walt Mink t-shirt he bought when he took her to see their one-off reunion show at a club downtown and had in recent months searched wildly for.
That did it.
He re-locked the car, headed back through the strip mall parking lot with purpose and pushed hard enough through the restaurant door for everyone to look up. It was not the t-shirt he wanted, really. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted but whatever it was, he’d be damned if he was going to leave without it.
Birmingham is a writer and filmmaker in Los Angeles. His fiction has appeared in Mystery Tribune (spring 2020), Maudelin House (upcoming), Juked, 7x7, Brooklyn vol 1, Joyland, nerve, Word Riot, Satire, Opium, Story Chord, Oxford Review, and Mr. Beller’s Neigh- borhood. His short films have played the Sundance, AFI, GenArt, New York Film Festival, HorrorHound, and Phoenix Film Festival.
“Nathan felt like the city was littered with exes
who had poached bits and pieces of him to smuggle into their next relationship.”
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