The blonde nods and touches a large Torch, the more commercial tablet. She clicks on the correct table and alters the yellow symbol to neon green. “You’re all set. Head to the left and look for the green light,” she says, her eyes already on to the next group.
“Thanks,” I say, hiking up my bag again as I turn to the tightly clustered labyrinth of tables. I swear there’s more crammed in here than last time.
Four servers swerve out of my way, balancing a large tray between two of them as the others stop to dole out their piled-high plates. I look up and lock eyes with a handsome guy walking toward me.
Oh no, I’m so terrible at this. Whenever I try to flirt it always comes out so awkward. My cheeks blush and I flip my hair over my shoulder, trying to appear confident and relaxed. The cute guy raises his hand and waves. Oh, my God.
He’s seconds away; we’re going to bump into each other. I rack my brain for something to say as my palms start sweating. Crap, please don’t think I’m always a sweaty mess! Yeah, that’s a great opening line. I straighten my shoulders and try to push out my non-existent chest.
“Hi,” I whisper as the guy steps in front of me. “Talk about claustrophobic!”
“Kina, hey baby!” the guy says easily, staring blatantly over my shoulder. “I’ll be right there.” He moves past me, brushing me aside gently like one might an overeager child. It catches me off guard and I stumble into a table.
“Oh no!” I manage to cry as I catch myself on the fresh plates of food. My right hand crushes a perfectly square dinner roll and my other hand splashes into a bowl of French onion soup. “Oh!” I yank my hand out of the steaming liquid.
“Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?” the male diner yells. A piece of half-chewed broccoli hangs out of his mouth.
I throw up my hands. “I’m sorry, so sorry, that guy pushed me and—”
A manager appears and is already moving me away. “Please continue to your table,” he says out of the corner of his mouth. “Evening folks, I’m so sorry about that. Allow me to add fifteen extra minutes to your Torch gaming time for the inconvenience.”
Curious, I lean around the manager’s side and notice the couple staring at their table. I stare too. Large bubbles ranging in color float all over. Their plates sit on the edge of the table, allowing more room for the screen.
I scoff. “So that’s why it takes three hours to get a table,” I mumble under my breath.
The manager’s eyes narrow. “Is there anything else I can help you with, miss?”
“No.” I shake my head and spin around. What am I doing? Oh, yeah, looking for a green light. I resume my search of the maze, looking for a green light or the familiar faces of my roommate and brother. Like the couple I bumped, each dining patron and family sit with their heads down, their eyes glued to the large screens, their fingers frantically trying to squash mutant bugs or stack uneven blocks.
I also notice their plates. “The Cheesecake Factory is going to have a ton of food to throw out tonight,” I say aloud. No one looks up.
“Maggie! Maggie, over here!” Sarah’s high-pitched voice rings out amongst the sound of clattering forks and beeping machines.
I spot her and head to my right, relieved. “Hey!” My high heels clack against the smooth stone floor and I collapse into the semi-private booth. “Oh my God, that was an adventure!”
“I know! It’s packed tonight. It took us ten minutes just to find the damn table,” Sarah agrees. She looks down at the large screen and checks the awaiting box. “This is handy at least. Now this weird green light can calm down.” She draws a checkmark with the tip of her finger and instantly the tabletop screen fades from alien green to normal black. The Cheesecake Factory initials are intertwined, roaming around the confines of the screen.
“I hope I didn’t keep you guys waiting too long,” I say, shrugging out of my coat and looking across the table.
Andy shakes his head. He’s wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball cap backwards. “Nah, we just got here,” he says, winking at Sarah as he lifts the bottle of Corona to his lips. He’s wearing a dark red shirt with a faded white insignia. I can’t make out the design because the table’s in the way, but it accentuates his biceps and triceps and all the other kind of ceps being a personal trainer has given him.
I nod in his direction, pointing to the side of my head. “You shave it again?”
Andy grins, removing his hat. He runs his hand over the shaved sides of his head then combs his fingers down the length of the brown hair on top. “You know it! I can’t have it any other way. The hair tickles my ears. I almost shaved it completely this time.”
“Gross!” Sarah chimes in, swatting my brother’s shoulder. “Don’t do that. You’d look so weird. So how was your day, Mags?” My roommate tosses her raven black hair to the side, but it’s cropped so short it doesn’t go anywhere. I squint as a flash of blue winks near her ear. Sarah sees me staring and laughs. “Like it, I just got it this morning!” She lifts her fingers to the side of her neck, tracing the small navy blue rose with her triangular nail. “Isn’t it so cute?”
I force a smile, wishing this didn’t bother me. “I love it, but I thought we were going to get them together?”
Sarah waves a dismissive hand. “We were, but you take forever to decide,” she stresses. “I’ll just get something else when we go, kay?”
“Fine…is that my lipstick?” I point, noticing Sarah’s crimson lips.
“Maybe,” Sarah says, smiling beautifully.
My stomach growls.
“Damn, Maggie, did you eat anything today?” Andy laughs, throwing me a piece of bread from the center of the table.
I catch it. “I had a few Hershey’s Kisses and a pack of pepperoni slices.”
Sarah rolls her slate eyes. “Well at least that’s better than yesterday! I swear all I saw this girl eat was a handful of Cheerios before she left for work. You’re working way too hard, Maggie.”
I sigh, knowing where this conversation is heading. “I know, I know.” I nod, biting into the white bread. Even without butter it’s glorious. “As soon as I get through the editor’s notes it’ll calm down.”
“And speaking of the relentless agent, let’s toast to your promotion!” Andy cheers, raising his almost empty Corona high in the air. “Sorry it’s taken us a few weeks to do this but I’m really proud of you, Mags! My baby sister is finally a big shot literary agent, people!”
Sarah laughs at his antics and smiles at me. “I’m proud of you too, Maggie! I can’t wait to read your first represented novel! But let’s be honest…I say I will but I’m really not going to!” She winks and raises her beer.
I look around the table for a fun drink to toast with as well, but the only liquid available is a glass of lukewarm water. I wrap my hand around it and join the toast, fighting to keep my happiness from overrunning my face. “Thanks guys. I’ve wanted this for so long and I can’t believe it’s finally here!”
“Tell me about it. I remember when you would steal the birthday cards I made for Mom and Dad and go over them with red crayon, telling me how I should fix them.” Andy laughs.
“Well, I saw opportunity and I wanted to help you make it better,” I say defensively.
“You were six,” Andy retorts, cocking his head.
“And you were a lazy ten-year-old who didn’t know how to spell birthday,” I shot back.
“All right, enough, siblings!” Sarah commands. “This is Maggie’s night. To Maggie!”
“To Maggie!”
“To me!”
We all clink our glasses together and drink, delighting in the moment.
“Let’s eat, I’m starving! Can we order?” I ask, craning my neck for any sign of a server. “Isn’t it weird that they haven’t come over yet?”
“They don’t do that anymore, Mags.” Sarah scoffs. “They stopped taking orders like a year ago.”
“Oh, guess I haven’t been out much,” I say with a laugh.
“You ha
ve, just not to places that are brightly lit with comfortable seating.” Andy grins, jabbing my love of clubs and bars.
Sarah directs me to the Torch at our table. “Here, pull up the menu on the screen and select what you want. There’s a spot to customize it so you can get your food without spices and all the healthy crap they try to sprinkle on it. Twelve cheese pasta, right?”
“Yes,” I say, dragging out the word. “If they ever get rid of that I don’t know what I’ll do.” They laugh and quickly select their meals from the endless menu.
“Does anyone want another drink?” Sarah asks, navigating to the long list of beverages.
“Another beer for me,” Andy chimes.
“Can I get an amaretto sour?” I volunteer.
“Done and done and a margarita for me! Timetable says two minutes for the drinks and fifteen for the food.” Sarah sits back, partaking in the bread slices. “So are you excited, Maggie?”
“Of course! Mr. Bruit, the author, is creating the perfect soundtrack to his novel so as readers explore the story, a song will trigger when they flip certain pages. It’s really cool because—”
“Whoa, Maggie, slow down!” Sarah laughs. “I didn’t mean about your job. We all know how excited you are about that. I meant are you excited for tonight? In just a few hours we’ll be like the pretty models on the app ads, a beautiful Vertix H2 decorating our necks.”
Disappointment descends as I realize what she’s saying. I don’t have a problem with the Vertix, but I don’t see why we have to go to the release rave.
Frowning at my silence, Sarah shakes her head, setting her empty beer down. “Come on, Mags, we talked about this, remember? We’re all getting one together! It’s going to be so much fun!”
I smile weakly and nod just as a server approaches our table with a tray of drinks. She places the beer and cocktails in the center of the table, collects the empty glasses and walks away without a word.
I draw the small square glass toward me, smiling wider as the juicy cherry lolls around on the surface of the golden liquid. I love when they remember. I withdraw the cherry from the liquor and pop it between my teeth. Instantly my tongue sets to work separating the fruit from the stem, eager to tie a few knots.
“I heard this new model is insane,” Andy says, his blue eyes lighting up. “Jay from the gym said they’re only releasing a few thousand to start—just to enhance the craze.”
“Well that’s why we’re going early. What time is it?” Sarah asks no one in particular. She glances down at her sleek, black iJewel and issues a command. “Display Scarlet Meadows Plaza Plaza.” Immediately a looping image of the large shopping plaza dances on her screen. Sarah taps an arrow on the iJewel screen and transfers her display to the big screen at our table so we can all see.
“Ah, man, it’s already filling up,” Andy observes, pointing to the gathering crowds surrounding Yeti, the biggest telecommunications store in Boston. “Is that a virtual reality course? No freaking way!”
My eyes roam everywhere, spinning in their sockets like a pair of loose marbles. There’s so much to see and hear. There’s at least four different bands competing to out-do one another and the pulsing beats give me a headache. Great, wait until I’m standing in the middle of it.
“Wow! Is that R.C. Mills on stage?” Sarah gasps as a twenty-something girl with purple dreadlocks jumps up and down. “Why is the food taking so long?” She cranes her neck for a second and then looks back to the captivating image.
I try looking at the bright colors, try to find something to get excited about, but there’s too much noise and movement. It looks like one of those chaotic pictures my grandmother showed me last Christmas where you end up searching for a tall guy wearing glasses and a white-and-red-striped shirt. A small ache begins behind my eyes and I look away, shutting them for a moment.
“Oh hey, look at that!” Andy exclaims, and I look back. “They even have weights. Jay was telling me about a new app that shows you how the workout affects each muscle. I’m definitely trying that out.”
I begrudgingly watch as Sarah inches closer and closer to my brother. Their heads are almost touching now and I smirk as Sarah points to more cool stations. Her lavender-sprayed nails bump Andy’s nonchalantly. Soon she’ll be sitting in his lap. I sigh at my thwarted attempt to keep my best friend and brother away from one another and take a long sip of my drink.
The sweet amaretto makes me shiver and before I know it, I’m holding the glass upside down, licking the last few drops from the bottom of the glass. I wish there was a way to magically refill that. I set the glass down with a frown and glance around at the nearby tables, listening to Sarah and Andy talk.
Seated all around us are friends, families, children, and couples, all enjoying their dinners and the 6J laser screen tables. Fingers are moving so fast across screens that one couples’ water glasses threaten to tumble off the edge of the table.
I study the couple, wondering if it’s a first date. Vaguely I recall what my high school boyfriend, Chaz, looked like. Light blond hair and pale brown eyes. I tried to convince him to tag them turquoise when I got mine done but he refused. I wrinkle my nose. We didn’t last very long. He never wanted to do anything fun.
“Mirror,” I command my iJewel. The black screen brightens to a silvery sheen, reflecting my oval face. I’m not beautiful or alluring like Sarah with her surgically enhanced cheekbones and heart-shaped lips, but my eyes are unlike anyone else’s. For my sixteenth birthday my mom had taken me to get my irises tagged, changing them from dull brown to electric purple. Guys had started noticing me.
“MAMA!”
I shift my gaze to another table, where two young kids sit moving their hands around the large screen, maneuvering fighter jets through narrow passageways. A younger boy beside them is waving a napkin in the air. “Mama, look, look, I colored it,” he squeals.
His mother doesn’t look up from her iJewel. I wonder what she’s looking at.
“Mama, look it. Mama!” the little boy tries again. She seems to hear him at last and looks up, dazed. “Mama! Mama!”
“What? What do you want? The food is coming, now sit down and keep your mouth closed, all right?” she barks, ripping the paper out of the child’s hand and pointing to the chair. “Play with your brothers until the food comes.”
The little boy whimpers for a moment and then bursts into tears, his face turning red.
Sarah and Andy stop talking and turn to look. “What the hell is that?” Sarah demands.
“A kid at the next table,” I say, pointing. He’s still crying. The rest of the family ignores him. I wish I could do the same.
“That’s so annoying,” Sarah groans, covering her ears. “You’d think they’d tell him to shut up.” I nod. “See, this is why I go to upscale places. No kids allowed,” she says with a laugh.
“Usually it’s not bad. I don’t even notice kids, but this is awful.” Andy frowns.
“What did I say?” the little boy’s mother yells, grabbing him by the arm. “Stop crying. Eat some bread.” She tosses the full basket at him and then double-clicks her iJewel, resuming the video. At last he stops crying, turning his tear-streaked face down to the crumpled picture in his tiny hands.
“Thank God.” Sarah sighs.
“Some people just shouldn’t come out in public,” Andy agrees. “Have you heard about the split screen?”
I stare at my glass, running my index finger along the rim as they discuss the features of the Vertix. Rebel T capabilities. Short switch. Optic channels. I hear all these words but don’t pay attention to the context, focused on not staring at the other table. It’s none of my business.
“Yes, can we have to-go containers?” Sarah’s sweet voice asks, breaking me from my thoughts. “Mags, come on, we’re leaving.”
I turn my head and see Andy and Sarah stuffing the contents of their plates into large Styrofoam boxes. “But we haven’t eaten yet.”
“Yeah, but Scarlet is filling up. We
need to get there now if we want even the tiniest hope of getting a Vertix H2 by midnight,” Sarah says, tossing me a box.
I catch it before the bottom can slide over the top of my pasta. I look down at my newly arrived food. “They didn’t put the extra mozzarella on it,” I say to myself.
“Whatever, Mags. Here, have some of my cheddar to make up for it.” Andy pinches a small pile of yellow cheese between his fingers and tosses it onto my pasta. “There, all better. Let’s go!”
With reluctance I pick up my plate and scrape the warm pasta into the box. My stomach growls, objecting. “How about I eat and catch up with you guys after?”
Sarah reaches over and jerks the plate out of my hand, quickly dumping the rest of the noodles and marinara sauce into a messy heap. “Oh no you don’t,” she says, clicking her tongue. “Then we’ll never see you again. You’re coming and that’s final.” My empty plate clatters to the screen below and Sarah pulls me to my feet. “Come on, this is going to be so amazing!”
I smile in spite of my starvation. Few can resist the charm of Sarah when she’s excited about something. “You’re right,” I say with a grin. “New job, new device! I can eat on the way.”
“That’s the spirit!” Andy claps me on the back. “I’ll check UPick for any shuttles headed downtown.”
“Good, but make sure it’s an actual person please. Those automated cars still freak me out,” Sarah cautions, shoving our takeout boxes into a plastic bag.
“Yes, princess,” Andy concedes, touching her waist.
Startled, Sarah jumps and bumps into me. “Andrew, cut it out,” she scolds. “You know I’m off-limits.” She squeezes my hand and bats her eyelashes in his direction. “Come on Mags, let’s get some fresh air while Andy pays.” She winks at my brother and pulls me away from the table.
As we’re leaving, the crying boy looks up to stare at me and my loud friend. His cheeks are still red and he’s too little to wipe his tears away. He still holds the napkin with his picture on it. He hasn’t tried to show his mother again.
Wired Page 2