"...are you invite to costume party on Vale Drive?" Jun asked softly.
The three friends' eyes widened in shock.
"Yeah," Cliff said. "How did you guess that?"
"Wata-- uh, I was invite too," Jun nodded. "I pick this costume for it."
"Oh! That's awesome!" Nadia said. "It should be a blast. You'll really get an impression of how Americans soc___ize. Just a little warning, there will be a lot of drinking so prepare to deal with some ramb______us people."
"Err... thank you..." Jun smiled awkwardly, not wanting to make a fuss about not knowing some of the words Nadia had used. She tried to fill in the blanks with the context she could understand. "I'm looking eager to it."
"'Looking forward,'" Cliff corrected her. The others gave him a stare. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry. That just slipped out."
"Uh, that's okay," she said diplomatically. "It's good to learn more English."
Nadia tugged on her purse strap and glanced at her friends. "Well..." She said in an assertive tone, turning back to Jun. "It was nice to meet you. We should let you get back to shopping, though. Maybe we'll get to talk more with you and your boyfriend at the party."
Jun and Kelan tilted their heads at the same time. "My...?" June started.
"Oh, sorry, I just a_____d. Don't mind me!" Nadia giggled, trying to brush off her mistake.
Jun opened her mouth partway, but hesitated. It didn't feel quite right to press the matter since Nadia already apologized. But she wanted to make it clear Kelan wasn't...
Actually, was he? Or not? She turned to look at Kelan. He looked confused, too, but he also wasn't saying anything to correct Nadia. Jun doubted that they could have formed that close of a relationship if they had just met that night. But... she had given him her phone number. Why would she do that, unless...?
She suddenly realized that her friends had started to move away. Goodbyes were exchanged by the others. Automatically, Jun dropped into a curtsey. By the time she straightened back up, the trio had moved into an aisle, out of sight, leaving her with her boy-- with Kelan.
"Um, so...," he smiled sheepishly. "Before all that, you were trying to leave. I hope you enjoy the party."
She frowned. "Were you invite to it?"
He scratched the back of his head. "I... don't remember." He pulled out his phone to check it.
Jun held his arm in place with both hands. Her long nails clacked against each other. "You're invite." She smiled at him. She remembered that guests could bring one extra person.
Kelan's face brightened to a warm smile. "Oh. Thank you."
They exchanged details about the exact time and place. Jun was glad to find out that her memories of the party details were still intact on her phone. Kelan had to navigate the phone's interface for her, due to her nails, but that was more convenient anyway since he needed to text himself the info.
After saying goodnight, Jun turned and started walking toward the check-out counter. She stopped when she glimpsed a flash of motion on a shelf to her right. It was just another mirror. She took another look at the pale Japanese woman looking back through it.
She had changed in subtle ways since the last time she saw her reflection. Her eyelids were adorned with massive, doll-like sheets of fine black lashes. There were also marks on the left side of her neck. Turning her chin, she saw that just below her cameo choker was a small dark blue tattoo of a butterfly. She remembered the feeling she got when Kelan mentioned tattoos. She wondered how many others she had.
The longer she stared at the person in the mirror, examining each detail as if meeting a stranger, she also wondered whether she had gone too far.