Page 46 of Hamartia

He puts a Korean flag after the word. Then a prayer emoji in the next message. I’m not ready to cut the convo yet, so I pull up google translate quickly and type in the response I want.

Me:??????????????

For you, I’ll do my best.

I wait on him correcting me or something, but he just sends a load of smiling emoji’s that havemesmiling like a fucking clown. Fuck, I want to see him. It’s 6:15 meaning I’ve got five and a half hours to kill until I can do any of that.

It hits me like a brick.

I can see him before that. In fact, I want to. I pull up Sam’s number on my phone and dial. He answers on the third ring.

“Rapha, my dude! What’s up? How’s Colorado?” He’s driving, I think.

“I’m still in New York, man. Fancied hanging out a few more days.”

“Sounds good, you and Camille or?”

I debate telling him about Camille, since he’ll have to field the calls from Deborah and the label, but it feels shitty to do that without talking with her first.

“Nah, just me. She’s still in Sydney. Her shoot has a few weeks left.”

“Gotcha, what’s up? You just checking in?”

“I was actually looking for a favor.”

“Wow, okay, but I’m not gonna fuck you, man. You’re hot and all, but it’s just not my game, you know?”

“You’re breaking my heart here, Sammy.”

“You wouldn’t be the first.” He laughs. “What can I do for you, my man?”

“I’m looking for an in to a sold out show tonight. It’s at the MetLife.”

“Yeah? Who’s playing?”

“K:OS. I fancy checking them out.”

He practically explodes in laughter. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why not? I’m here for a few days, there’s fuck all else on, and they’re our competition. Plus, I wanna see what all the fuss is about.”

“It’s all bullshit, bud. Their label is fixing it, manipulating the lot. It’s a farce.”

“You don’t seriously believe that? They have fans on every continent—you can’t manipulate that. Their fans buy and stream their records, that’s it.”

“Teenage girls don’t have that much disposable income, Rapha, it doesn’t add up.”

I say nothing for a minute, hoping it looks like I’m thinking about it. Of course, chart manipulation goes on, but this isn’t what’s happening here. The reason I know that is because I’ve followed this band closer than I should have, read more articles about their popularity than I should have, and fallen into a lot of Reddit holes the last two years. I know more about this band than Sam does.

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, can you sort out a ticket for tonight?”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be an issue. You want VIP?”

Did I? Did I want him to see me there? To know I’d come and watched him? It was one thing to tell him later, but another to have him see me there, uninvited while he was with his band.

“For the bar, yeah, I don’t need backstage.”

Sam makes an affirmative noise. “Okay, leave it with me. You want two? I thought you guys had scattered to the four corners of the earth?”