Page 64 of By Rude Strength

“That’ll do it.” LA chuckled as he popped open the trunk of his car. “So, I just brought a few. I wasn’t sure how many…?”

“You saw that wall. You can definitely bring more.” Brandon grinned, pulling out the one with intestines made of buttons. “Damn, this was always my favorite. I love the colors.”

“Thanks.”

“Have you done anything new?”

“No. Not for a while.”

“Well, you should! You seriously got a gift. You shouldn’t be—”

“Excuse me!” An older woman with neon pink hair approached them. She was smiling, her eyes fixed on the painting in Brandon’s hands. “Is that for a new exhibition?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Brandon nodded. “LA, this is Georgina Plum. Longtime patron. Mrs. Plum, this is my friend, LA Holmes. He’s also the artist.”

LA offered his hand out to her. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

“A pleasure!” Georgina gushed. “May I?” She gestured to the other paintings.

“Oh, sure.” LA pulled the rest out to show her.

“These are deliciously macabre.” Georgina gasped. “The mixture of mediums gives them all suchpresence. They’re just stunning. Stunning!” She eyed Brandon. “Is he going to be the next featured artist?”

“Yup!” Brandon nodded. “We’ll have his show this Saturday, but I’m probably gonna hang some of these up after the lunch rush. Which I really need to get back to!” He grabbed a big stack of the paintings, only leaving one for LA to tote.

“It was nice to meet you,” LA said to Georgina, offering a friendly smile.

“A pleasure! An absolute pleasure!” Georgina wiggled her fingers in a little wave. “I’ll see you at the showing!”

“Bye!” LA followed Brandon into the coffee shop to the back hallway. It was cluttered with extra chairs and big stacks of soda syrup, and LA nearly tripped over a box of paper straws as Brandon ushered him in his office.

“They’ll be safe in here until I can get ’em up on the wall.” Brandon carefully stacked each painting on his messy desk. He turned to get the one LA was carrying to add it to the pile. “Here we go! I know it looks crazy in here, but nobody will mess with ’em.”

“Thank you, man. Seriously.” LA gave Brandon a quick hug.

“Of course!” Brandon patted LA’s back. “Sorry to rush off like this, but duty calls and all that. Oh, and hey, Georgina? Don’t be surprised if she snatches up all your work.”

“What?”

“She’s, like, this kooky art chick and she’s always looking for new stuff.” Brandon let LA leave the office first and then turned to lock the door. “Last time she was really into one of the artists here, she literally bought the entire gallery out.”

“Wow. Okay.” LA smiled a little. “Cool.”

Brandon brought LA out of the cramped hallway and back into the crowded dining room. He gave him another quick hug. “Hey! Gotta go. But text me! Me, you, Kevin, Cass. Saturday!”

“Yup! Got it!” LA waved as Brandon hurried back toward the counter. “Later, man!”

Brandon gave one last wave and then jumped back in to help the cashier wrangle the crowd.

“Wow,” Cass gushed.

LA jumped. He’d almost forgotten about the giant monster shadowing him. He smiled up at Cass and made a beeline to the car so they could actually talk without him looking like a crazy person.

“He is just wonderful! Oh my gosh! This is so exciting! An actual art show! A wedding!” Cass squealed loudly and then cleared his throat. “I, I don’t mean to assume about being your date. Or it being a date. The show, I meant. I—”

“Can you really turn into a human?”

“Yes?”