12. The Echo LA

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|Van|

I never thought that my heart could actually hurt seeing someone that has nothing to do with me, broke down and cry the way Vienna did. Her eyes were squinting like she was letting go of every ounce of pain in her. I wanted to hold her longer. I wanted her to feel okay. Funny enough, that wasn't my business at all.

To my surprise, Vienna managed to bounce back into her usual I-am-okay-and-happy version of herself in no time. I didn't know how she did it. It would take me days to get my mood right if I was that messed up.

Vienna was smiling again when we entered the convenience store. I thought she faked it really well. Well enough that she should receive an award for it.

"A pack of American Spirit, yellow, please," Vienna told the guy behind the counter while I wander around to look for some bananas.

"That'll be 17.50."

"Thanks."

"You paid that much for a pack of cigarettes?" I asked with furrowed brows. Ignoring my question, Vienna smiled to herself and walked out of the store. I quickly paid for my bananas and joined Vienna outside to smoke.

"It's made of organic tobacco," she murmured, as her hand reached for a lighter in her jacket.

"So, those are healthy fags," I chuckled.

"Something like that. They don't put as much chemicals in these," she said, flashing out the pack so I could see them.

"If they put little chemicals, shouldn't they cost less, not more?"

"They put saltpeter in yours. Your cigs will burn out quickly, so you'll smoke more, not less and at the end of the day, yours will cost more than mine," she muttered, with a fag sticking out between her lips, ready to be lit.

"Vienna, I think you're actually paying for the nice packaging. Those pretty vibrant colours and some reassuring ideas about your life. The rest are just bullshit," I whined.

"Oh, wanna bet?" She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Sure."

"50 bucks."

"I have 50 american dollars with me," I chuckled.

"Ha! Easiest money I've ever made," she proudly announced.

"Don't be too cocky, lass." I gestured at her with my right hand while my left hand worked their way into my pockets to find my pack of fags.

"Okay, we are gonna inhale at the same time for the same amount of time," she said.

"Okay. Got it," I gave her a thumb up.

"Okay! One, two, three!" We both faced each other and lit our fags at the same time. We inhaled and exhaled in unison as we leaned our sides on the concrete wall.

"Uhm, Vienna... I never really apologized for what happened at ACL..." I told her, but she did a hold up sign and asked me to smoke since she was inhaling hers.

"What about ACL?" She asked when she finally exhaled.

"The things I said to you..."

"Forget it Van. Just to make you feel good, a quarter of the things you said were in a way very true," she murmured.

"Just a quarter?" I smirked.

"Yeah. Just a quarter," she giggled. "Smoke!" She reminded me.

"Oh! Right. Are you okay though?" I thoughtfully asked her.

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