by Carrie Asai
Katie stared at me for a few minutes, not saying anything.
“Really,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.” I stared at myself in the mirror. “Whoa, not too pretty!” I said, trying to be flip. My eye had turned a hideous purplish blue.
Katie still was quiet. It seemed like she wanted to say something but kept stopping herself.
“Can you cover it up?” I asked nonchalantly.
“Of course…,” Katie said, trailing off. She opened her makeup bag and took out a bunch of foundation bottles, powder compacts, moisturizers, glitter tubes, and self-tanners. “Does it hurt?” she asked, spreading a foundation cream on my eye.
“A little,” I said.
We didn’t say anything for a bit. I wondered what was going through Katie’s mind.
“Your skin as a whole looks really clear,” Katie said. “You said you’ve been working out?”
“Sort of,” I said. “With Hiro. Martial arts stuff.”
“Working out always helps,” Katie murmured. I heard her take the cap off something and then felt a pressure on my eyelashes. “Honestly, Heaven, you don’t even need that much makeup except for this eye…and you look so buff…. It totally gives you sex appeal.”
“Put glitter on me,” I said, looking at the bottle. “Give me more sex appeal!”
I felt her putting the eyeliner on me and then felt a cool tube on my lips. “Okay, open,” she said, giggling.
I opened my eyes. They looked insane. I looked like a crazed cat with coral pink lips. And my black eye was gone. “Whoa,” I said. “I’m ready for my close-up.” Katie had put so much eyeliner on herself that the rest of her face looked deathly pale in comparison. Except her lips—she put a strange bluish-red lipstick on them.
I grabbed a tissue and started wiping it all off. I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror, framed by my new hat. I pulled it to one side and slouched my pants down past my hips. I tapped Katie. “Yo, yo,” I said in a deep voice. “I’m Teddy Yukemura.”
Katie and I cracked up. “Teddy Yukemura with coral lipstick!”
“Teddy Yukemura in drag!” I burst into laughter. I thought of Teddy carefully putting on lipstick and at the same time making sure his pants were pulled down precisely enough so he looked like a “gangsta.” The thought made me laugh even harder.
When I calmed down somewhat, Katie said, “Hey, if you want to change out of that T-shirt, I’ve got an extra tube top in my bag.” She fished around and found a simple black tube top with tiny silvery threads running through it. She tossed it to me. “How’s that?”
I tried it on, pulled up my pants, and looked at myself in the mirror. “Not bad,” I said.
Katie stepped back. “Check you out!” she squealed.
I did a few bodybuilder-type flexing moves. “I’m so glad we’re going out,” I said. “Remember how my dad used to be about this stuff? We were completely trapped!”
“God, yeah,” Katie said. “Remember when we went out just to get some movies, but we went to that sort of indie movie place in Roppongi, and your father freaked out that we were going there because he thought we were going to go to a club?”
“Yeah,” I groaned.
“And he sent one of the guys he worked with…what was his name? Taru? He sent him to follow us! And there was Taru on the train, there was Taru in the video store…and you were finally like…”
“I finally confronted him and asked what he was doing,” I said. “And he said he wanted to watch some movies. And he was holding the box for the first season of Sex and the City!” I exploded into laughter again. “And when he looked down and realized what it was…”
“Oh God, he got soooo embarrassed!” Katie hooted. “So then we took a very looonnnnng way home and nearly got lost!”
I took a deep breath and turned to Katie. “So…did you know that my father was involved in…some pretty rough stuff?”
Katie stopped reapplying her makeup. “Um, well, maybe. I don’t know,” she said in Japanese. She didn’t look me straight in the eye.
“Yakuza,” I said. Katie nodded.
I took a deep breath. “After everything happened at my wedding, I started to really wonder about who my father is. So I did some research on him. And then…there was this guy at this cybercafé I worked at….” I told her how I’d extracted the information from another yakuza member at Life Bytes, the cybercafé I’d worked at for only a day.
“I also found out that Teddy’s involved,” I said.
“Really,” Katie said. She didn’t seem very surprised.
“Yeah,” I said. “Apparently it was some deal struck between his family and mine…for money. Or something.”
Katie put all her makeup back in her bag silently.
“Did you know this stuff?” I asked her.
“Well, no,” Katie said. “Or…I don’t know. I mean, no. I didn’t know about Teddy.” She smiled faintly. “Teddy really is a gangsta.”
“But…well, he’s not that bad,” I said. “I’ve been through some stuff with Teddy lately that makes me think he’s not all bad. His father, maybe.”
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “From what you’ve told me, Teddy seems pretty horrible. I mean, I met him that one time, at one of your engagement parties? Totally slimy.”
“Yeah…” I drifted off, wanting to change the subject. “Really, my mind keeps circling back to Mieko…but I don’t know why.”
“Mieko?” Katie laughed. “I mean, she was a little weird, but she looked like she wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was afraid of everything, remember? She was afraid of squirrels.”
I considered this. Mieko was deathly afraid of squirrels. She also had a weird thing about cleanliness, thinking we were all going to come down with some crazy infectious disease.
“Still,” I said. “Something about her…” I explained the phone call, Marcus, and the fire.
“I can’t quite see Mieko, like, plotting stuff out. A mastermind.” She had sort of a pensive look on her face all of a sudden. “Although…,” she said quietly.
There was a silence. “Although what?” I said.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Little Mieko, threatening my life,” I continued. “But my house burned down just days after I’d spoken to her. Isn’t that a strange coincidence?”
“But if Mieko is behind it and doesn’t want you to know that it’s her, why would she do something like that? It seems too obvious,” Katie said. “She must know you’re a smart girl. That you’d figure it out. If she didn’t, she majorly underestimated you. I mean, is she that stupid? Really?”
“Maybe,” I said. Katie’s voice was awfully high-pitched all of a sudden. I looked at her, my face squashed up. “Is there something you do know that you aren’t telling me?” I asked her.
Katie didn’t answer. “What?” I asked. “Did they…do something to you or something?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Katie said. “It was nothing. I just knew your dad wasn’t into good stuff, that’s all.”
What did she know? Why hadn’t she ever told me?
And then, all at once, even though it totally wasn’t what I wanted to discuss, I blurted, “Hey, whatever happened to Yatsumi?”
Katie stopped what she was doing. “Huh?” she said.
“Yatsumi,” I said again. “I know you went out with him a couple of times. You know, the really cute gardener? You dated him right around when I got engaged…. Whatever happened with him?”
“Oh…,” Katie said. “Um, I don’t know. We didn’t keep in touch.”
“Really? Did you just not care about him anymore or what?” I said.
“I…guess not,” Katie said.
“You know, I really liked him,” I said, not looking at her. “I was really jealous of you for going out with him. For being able to go out with him. And now you’ve, like, not even kept in touch with him?” I sighed.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me you liked him?” Katie asked. She still wouldn’t quite
look me in the eye.
“I thought I did,” I said.
“You didn’t,” Katie said. She took a deep breath. “Besides, he’s dead. I guess I can tell you that now. That’s why I didn’t keep in touch with him.”
I looked at her. “He’s dead?”
Katie nodded. “I don’t know how it happened, though. I just know he’s dead.”
She crossed her arms, as if to say that the conversation was finished. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I had no idea. But…I’m hurt, too. I don’t want him to be dead. I liked him. I haven’t had a boyfriend in ages. It was weird being a blond, white girl in Japan, you know?” She sighed.
I nodded. Sort of like being a sheltered Japanese girl in L.A.
We both stood, looking in the mirror in silence.
“He’s dead?” I asked. Katie nodded again. “Is it because of…my father?”
Katie’s head didn’t move. She stared at me in the mirror. “You couldn’t have survived as long as you have and not learned the truth.”
“Wow,” I said, breathing in nervously. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Finally Katie straightened up. “Listen, let’s not think about this now. That’s behind us, right? Let’s go party.”
I straightened up, too. “You’re right,” I said. I smiled at her. I had to try and shake this weird feeling for the night, but I knew it would most likely stay at the back of my mind for the remainder of the day and probably into tomorrow. Katie wasn’t as naive as I’d thought. And I had a feeling she was tougher than I’d thought, too.
The party was at Baby’s, back at the Hard Rock. “I’ve already been here once tonight!” I proclaimed to Katie. We had to climb a spiral staircase to even get to the club, but I could hear the beat pounding away. Judging from the people who were going inside, I thought it seemed like a hip spot to be.
“You on the list?” a big guy asked us as we strode up to the entrance. Katie gave our names and the guy opened the rope and ushered us inside. We had to go through a couple of metal detectors and a pat down before we even saw the inside of the place.
Katie and I walked in and saw a huge dance floor, spinning lights, and various twisty staircases. People were everywhere.
“What do you think?” Katie asked.
“It’s great!” I said. I could hear different music coming out of different little dancing rooms we passed. One had hard-core house, where kids with light sticks and baggy Adidas pants thrashed away; the next had ambient stuff, where people sat on sofas, drinking cocktails. Women in leathery zippered shirts passed, taking drink orders. The place looked like something out of a James Bond movie. Something by Royksopp was playing on the main dance floor.
“So…you want to get a drink?” Katie asked. I nodded. Katie walked up to the bartender and smiled. “Hey, Cleo,” she said. The girl behind the bar waved. “What do you want to drink, Heaven?”
“Um…maybe a lemon drop?” I asked, trying to conjure up my knowledge of drinks. I’d had to pour a lot of lemon drops as the Vibe shot girl.
“A lemon drop?” Katie said wryly. “You don’t really want a shot, do you? Let’s get sexy drinks, like cosmos or something!”
“Okay,” I said. I’d never tried a cosmo before, but I liked the idea of holding the long-stemmed glass and slowly sipping. Perhaps it would make me look ultrasexy.
I remembered my anti-alcohol vow again. This was drink number two. Screw it, I immediately thought. You’re not in L.A. anymore.
“Two cosmos,” Katie said to the bartender. She turned back to me. “Sex in Sin City! We’re going to find you a man tonight, Heaven!” she said, smiling. Cleo made our drinks and set them in front of us—they looked delicious. Katie waved a twenty at Cleo, but she shook her head. “On the house,” she mouthed. Katie smiled in thanks. I leaned against the bar with mine and sipped. The drink was great—sorta like the peachy one I’d had earlier at the pool party.
The DJ switched records, and I heard strains of something familiar layered over a basic drum track. It was sped up and sort of garbled, but I knew what it was right away.
“Heaven’s Gone.”
I broke into a cold sweat. I couldn’t believe it. What was this song doing on?
First Daphne and Speedo guy…now this club?
“Heaven?” Katie looked at me inquisitively. “What is it?”
“Um…nothing,” I said. My hands were shaking. The dancers on the floor were going crazy.
“You look kinda pale….”
“I’m okay,” I insisted. How popular was this song going to get? How long until MTV got ahold of it and translated it? Was my face soon going to be plastered all over Us Weekly? My head started to spin. Katie bounced her head to the music but looked like she wasn’t listening very carefully to the words. It seemed that she didn’t know the song at all. I took a quick look around the club but didn’t notice anyone Japanese or even Asian. Was it possible no one noticed? Was it possible I was just totally paranoid?
I gulped down my drink.
The “Heaven” song ended quickly. The DJ kept the drumbeat going and put on a new song. It was one from Madonna’s American Life. They’d layered it into a clubby, dreamy sort of song. I started to sway, really feeling the energy of the music.
I opened my eyes and noticed a lot of people around me dancing together, looking into each other’s eyes, making out. I frowned. I couldn’t help but think of Hiro. I recalled those brief moments Hiro and I had shared in the cab, just before we discovered my place was on fire. And what had he meant by “You don’t understand…”?
“C’mon,” I said to Katie, swilling my drink. “Let’s go dance.” We sauntered out to the dance floor. “I’m wallowing in Hiro misery,” I told her.
“You really love him, huh?” Katie asked.
“I do,” I said. Despite myself, I was choking back tears again. “I’ve done my best to put it out of my head and I’m so happy that I found you, but honestly, I’m just so heartbroken right now….”
Katie grabbed me and gave me a huge hug. “I’m sorry,” she said. Then she took me by the shoulders. “Look, this is why we have to find you a man for the night! Now, come on.” She led me onto the dance floor.
We’d been dancing for a while when I noticed two guys watching us. They stood on the edge of the floor, their arms crossed. Katie nudged me.
“See?” she said. “They’re hot! Let’s get them to come over!”
Eventually Katie took one of the guys’ hands and dragged him out onto the floor. The other one followed quickly and came up to me. He moved very close to me for a while, our bodies not touching but dancing in unison. Finally he put his hand lightly around my waist. We did that for a while, and then he whispered into my ear, “I’m Mike.”
“I’m Heaven,” I said, trying to sound sexy and not like I was screaming over the throbbing bass.
“You sure are!” he said, this not quite coming out a pickup line, but more a blurting of the truth. I’d heard the “heavenly” metaphor before. “You wanna sit down for a little bit?”
Mike—tall, brown hair, deep, soulful eyes, black shirt, nice-fitting Diesel jeans—led me back to the bar. “Another drink?” he asked. I nodded.
We sat with our drinks and tried to have a conversation over the noise. “So, let me guess,” he said. “You’re an actress.”
“That’s right!” I said. What else could I say? “Well, really I’m more of a dancer, but I’d like to get into acting. I’ve even had a couple of auditions.” I didn’t know where these lies were coming from. But once I got started, it was pretty easy.
“You had some great dance moves out there,” Mike said, eyeing my drink. “You need another drink?” I looked down. My drink was gone. Had I drunk it that fast? My head was starting to spin. I had to slow down. “Sure,” I said, promising myself I’d pace myself with drink number three.
“You’re beautiful,” Mike said. “Girls like you don’t come in here that often. And I know. I work over at New York, New Y
ork—and you are a rare breed, let me tell you.”
“You’re making me sound like a dog,” I said. I had a feeling I was getting a little too tipsy. That joke, as soon as I said it, sounded like the most hilarious thing I’d ever heard in the world. I tipped my head back and started laughing. Mike looked at me funny, then started laughing, too.
“Have you ever been to New York?” he asked me. “The real place, I mean. Not the casino.”
“No,” I said. Was I slurring my words? “But my father used to go there a lot.”
“Oh, yeah? Who’s your father?”
“My father is…my father is…” I chugged the rest of my drink—I couldn’t exactly help myself at this point. “Come on,” I said seductively. “I want to dance.” I took Mike by the wrist and led him back onto the dance floor (Hiro, just look at me now!), where Katie and her guy were wound in a tight embrace. The DJ switched songs again to a sexy, ambient one. The lights dimmed even further. I could feel the heat thrown off by the other bodies around us—the air was humid and charged. I put my arms around Mike. He looked down at me. And then, all at once, before I could quite control it, we started to kiss.
Now, for how long we made out I had no idea. It seemed like hours. It also seemed like seconds. But even in my drunken state my senses were ultraheightened. Every part of my body felt awesome. Here I was, making out with a gorgeous guy (with no strings attached) at a Vegas club. I felt like a balloon set free in the air.
Oh, and he was a good kisser, too.
We finally broke free. “Heaven,” Mike whispered in my ear. I realized that the room was spinning slightly and that I really had to go to the bathroom. Katie was getting tired, too, so we all headed back to the bar again. “Another cosmo?” Katie asked me. I looked at her wearily. I’d had three times the alcohol she’d had tonight. “Sure,” I said. “Order me one.” I headed in the direction of the bathroom.
It was probably about 2 A.M. now, and the crowd was getting superthick. I had to really shove my way through people to get to the bathroom. I looked around me and realized that this place looked a lot like the swinging club scene in Austin Powers—sorta retro, girls in leather outfits, people in skinny, tight miniskirts. Free.
