Veneer, stationary, the lee to the current of dance, saw upon the stage an idol, a muse, a personal goal. He grasped towards the lit succubi with a frail, gloved arm.
Out of reach.
The drum beat fluttered and a guitar with a faceless player swooned...
"Sis, Floyd's talent definitely did make you sound amazing," said Veneer through bites of a CarnitaWrap. "but we don't need to streak-take Troll for that. Can't wejust, like, use autotune?"
Veneer, Velvet, and Floyd were in abeaten-up green sedan in an Arby's parking lot at 4:30 AM on a dusky, foggy Tuesday. The world around them was asleep, save for the primaryneons of dozing traffic, anti-homelessness displays, and chainrestaurants. Each of their heads was abuzz with the wakefulness thatonly comes after an eventful, dreamless night. Velvet took a sip ofher Baja Blast before speaking. "Check the analytics on the videowe posted earlier." She held out her phone. Veneer's jaw slacked.
"OH. EM. GEE," he said, taking the phone gingerly. "Just like that?!"
Velvet smiled and hugged her brother."Just like that," she said. "And all you have to do is keepyour little troll as a pet! See? You get to keep it! Everyone wins!"
Veneer considered this. He reached intothe cardboard box they had put Floyd and his bottle into and pulled the flap open... and there was Floyd, feigning unconsciousness in thebottle like an injured bird. Veneer sighed lovingly. "Could we atleast get him a little hamster wheel? Or maybe a Nintendo?"
"No, the product stays in the bottle," replied Velvet. "But you'll be in charge of watching him. And..." she said thoughtfully, "hiring us an assistant. We'll need one now that we're rich and famous."
"I'm sorry, rich and famous!?"
"Oh, sure," replied Velvet, turning down the radio by primal instinct as it started to play Demons by Imagine Dragons. " We're booked through the next year."
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***
Veneer gently placed the occupied diamond prison on a little gilded shelf above the vanity. Floyd laidon the cold floor of it, unconscious. Veneer sucked in air throughhis teeth and poked at the bottle. Nothing happened. He grasped it carefully, as though it could shock him, and shook it slightly.
Floyd stayed motionless, for a moment; but then a whisper: "Is your sister gone?"
Veneer released all of the air in his chest. "OH thank golly gosh goodness, I thought you were an angel. I mean like a literal angel, like maybe you died and went to not-H-E-Double Hockey-sticks."
Floyd, with effort, stood and facedVeneer, now at chin-level on the shelf. He blinked away confusion."Excuse me, are you trying to say 'not Hell'?"
Veneer sucked in his lips. "I dunno,just feels off," he replied. "Aaaanyhoozle, uhhh, how's it goingin there?"
Floyd frowned, contemplative, a Michelangelo before his great marble slab.He took a long, honey-slow moment before his voice rang out, unmuffled by the diamond barrier: "I'm doing a lot better now that you're here." And then he winked. Dear reader, Floyd winked at Veneer, the smallest twinge of a muscle, the most fleeting of unspoken communication; but in that motion he took his artist's brush of fine troll hair and painted Veneer's face a burning shade of red.
OH MY FREAKING GOSH, HE IS IN LOVE WITH ME!!! Veneer thought loudly while flapping his hands and standing on his tiptoes.OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. HE FEELS THE SAME WAY. WAIT, AM I IN LOVE WITH HIM? OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH.
"Uuuuuhhbluuhmmmmmwhhhzzz," Veneer gargled.
Floyd responded with a warm laugh that betrayed a more sinister emotion, like a pastry sheet blanketing bitter-dark berries. Veneer would get in line behind the counter for a slice of that pie.Floyd continued: "Veneer, I would love toplay a few more songs for you. Do you think my guitar would fit in this bottle?"
"Oh honey, I've fit bigger things into smaller holes," replied Veneer. But as he grabbed the tiny guitar from the table, he quickly realizedthat it was not going to work. "Erm, actually, maybe you should come out here to play."He reached for the bottle to let Floyd out; the Troll's eyes flashed with intention. Veneer paused. "Oh, but darn it, Velvet would get so upset! She said you can't even have a Nintendo."
Floyd smiled a half smile. "Does Velvet have to know everything you do?"
"Yes?" replied Veneer.
"Oh," said Floyd. "Listen, Veneer, friend-to-friend? I think your sister is taking advantage of you. I know that if it was up to you, I'd be on my way down Mount Rageous right now to see my little bro." He trailed a finger along the edges of his worn photograph of Bitty Baby Branch. "I don't even know what he looks like anymore, or if he's been eaten by Bergens, or... who knows. Maybe he's even got a boyfriend by now." He put the picture away. "All I know is that I let him down. I never should have left him alone like that. It was selfish."
"Exactly!" cried Veneer." I can't be selfish and let my sisterdown by letting you go."His bottom lip started to warble. He started to speak again, but then caught himself. "Are you in an emotional space to receive my trauma dumping?" he asked tentatively.
Floyd's nose puckered, his eyebrows tucked, and his lips pursed.But then, he sterilized his face to a sensitive smile, rested a hand on his heart, and hummed the word "Always."
Veneer put his head in his hands and sat down on the carpeted floor, his noodley knees pointing towards the sky. He counted the popcorn grains on the ceiling and began his confession. "Our parents always put us away in a box. Sent us off to camp, gave us pocket change, enrolled us in every single club."he sighed. "We were comfortable. But as soon as we turned eighteen,they shipped us off to college and haven't really spoken to us since.Lately I've been looking back, and I realized that my parents weren't in my life at all."
Floyd put a hand against the glass."You don't have a family," he whispered.
"No,I do have a family," replied Veneer. "Velvet. She's all I've got. Every breakup, every case of the flu, every holiday... she's always been there. We never really had any other friends. But lately, she's pulling away. She gets so angry every time a post doesn't do well, or when we can't buy things on the internet because of our budget. It's got me so bothered that I barely come home anymore." he buried his face in his hands – he didn't want Floyd to see that he was about to cry. "She's everything to me. I don't think I can handle life without her. I feel like I have beenliving without her for a while now, and it's unbearable."
Floyd smiled sadly. "Do you need to hug it out?"
"YAAASS," wailed Veneer, hugging the perfume bottle tight as tears and snot rolled down his face.
"This moment might be sweeter if I weren't in the bottle," suggested Floyd.
"No, it's perfect," Veneer sobbed as he wiped the tears away. "I've never been able to tell anyone this stuff. Thank you so much." He held the bottle up to his cheek. "I think you're the best friendI've ever had. Besides my sister."
"I'm sure that's not true," laughed Floyd.
"It's definitely true," replied Veneer, shaking his head up and down vigorously. "You are the bestfriend I have ever had."
There was silence that, Veneer knew, carried weight as water carries oil, the kind of silence that was born of chapels in the infant hours of winter; a composition of prayer and emotion. He closed his eyes and existed in this moment, this second, holding his dearest friend and experiencing the weightlessness of sharing one's burden.
It was a silence that, Floyd knew, was frictional as gravel against a sled, the native tongue of acquaintances with no commonalities. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something, anything to say that would convince Veneer to release him, but he was afraid of breaking what could be very fragile trust. He needed to play the long game if he was going to see his baby brother again.
