"It's Lauren." She looks at me dully.
"Lauren, ri-i-ight."
"Yeah," she says in a hard way. "Lauren Hynde? Remember now?"
I pause, freaked. "Gosh. Lauren Hynde. Whoa..."
"Do you know who I am now?" she asks.
"Oh baby, I'm really..." Stumped, I admit, "You know, they say Klonopin causes short-term memory loss, so-"
"Why don't we start with this: I'm Chloe's friend."
"Yeah, yeah," I say, trying to get comfortable. "We were just talking about you."
"Mmm." She starts moving down an aisle, running her hand along the rim of the CD racks, moving away from me.
I follow. "Yeah, it was a totally nice, um, chat, y'know?"
"What about?"
"Just, y'know, positive things."
She keeps walking and I hang back, taking my sunglasses off to check the body beneath the open coat: thin with full br**sts, long and shapely legs, short blond hair, everything else-eyes, teeth, lips, whatever-equally nice. I catch up, keep moving with her, casually swinging the basket of CDs at my side.
"So you remember me from Camden?" I ask.
"Oh yeah," she says half-scornfully. "I remember you."
"Well, did you act this way at college or am I acting different?"
She stops moving and turns to face me. "You really don't remember who I am, do you, Victor?"
"Yes I do. You're Lauren Hynde." I pause. "But y'know, I was away a lot and Klonopin causes long-term memory loss."
"I thought it caused short-term memory loss."
"See-I already can't remember."
"Oh god, forget it."
She's about to turn away when I ask, "Am I the same?"
She looks me over carefully. "Pretty much, I guess." She focuses on my head, scanning my face. "Well, I don't think you had those sideburns."
An opening that I leap into. "Learn to love the sideburns, baby. They're your best friends. Pet the sideburns." I lean in, offer my profile, purring.
She just looks at me like I've lost it.
"What? What is it?" I ask. "Pet the sideburns, baby."
"Pet the sideburns?"
"People worship the sideburns, baby."