the Poplar and the Gothic

6.

"... Exactly, dude. I saw her in the gallery and now she's sitting in my car waiting for us to go to Genoa... Yes! I can't believe it either!" Kai was walking up and down in front mirrors and sinks in a public toilet. He was trying to briefly explain to his brother on the other side of the telephone wire what happened to him in the last two days. While he and Vivian were having breakfast on a bench in one of Milan's parks, his brother called him but Kai didn't want to answer at the time so he waited for him to call back. Logan, on the other side of the wire, sounded confused.
"I think she's very brave that she's one the road with you."
"No. I think I did the most when I looked like she could trust me," Kai answered narcissisticaly through laughter. He loved talking to Logan, he felt like he could tell him anything at any moment. He would listen. Kai was grateful he existed.
"Yes, I believe so."
"I have to go now. I'll talk to you before I get home. Say hello to Isidore." They cut off the connection and looked in the mirror in front of him.
You're good. You can go.
He had a little talk with himself and then headed to the car.
Vivian was quietly sitting in the car, texting. A few minutes ago, she answered Dorian's call. He told her about the events at home and that Aurelia was getting more and more intolerable and anoying every day, that Victor wasn't answering his calls and texts, and that he had lost a whole bag of weed at a party the previous night. The last thing was what bothered him the most. He had been thinking all day about the way to tell his friends that he had lost the weed they had paid together. Around midday he decided to go grocery shopping with Aurelia just to not think about weed for a moment. He also knew that Lillian didn't go out for no reason but he didn't know what reason she had. Now that he has exhausted a joint in his room to reduce the level of stress in his body, he decided to call Vivian.
Ever since she went on that long trip, she only had called him once. He couldn't speak long at the moment because he was out with his friends. Over the phone she heard every drop of alcohol he had drunk that night. She didn't mind, but Dorian knew she cared. Since then, he has been gathering courage every day  and wisely choosing the words to explain to her that he wasn't planning to drink alcohol his whole life and - in some way - do drugs. Vivian had already known everything that Dorian told her - that he was aware that drugs and alcohol weren't any good - but unfortunately he didn't sound convincing enough for her to believe him.
With one deep sigh, she pressed the red button to end the 15-minute conversation. Then she noticed her mother's message. It said: "How are you?" Vivian decided it was better for her not to know that her daughter had got into the car of an unknown guy who seemed to like her. To Vivian things didn't seem that bad, but every time she thought about it a bit deeper, she came to the same, ugly concusion. Either way she was having good time. She knew that her mother would most likely be struck by a heart attack or something even stronger if she knew the truth so she preffered to remain silent.
With a smile from ear to ear, Kai knocked on her window and waited for it to be opened.
"Is the lady ready to have fun?" When the window came down to the end he put his elbow there and then asked in a frantic boyish tone, trying to raise only one eyebrow to make an impression on her. She burst out laughing and then quickly got excited, ready to give an answer as weird as the question.
"Is the fun ready to have the lady?" Then she heard the stupidity that came out of her mouth and they both started laughing.
"Where are we going?" She asked as he sat into the car beside her.
"I saw this poster on the toilet door. It said Milano good vibes - Mahmood. Below was the date - which was today. It said that the performance was a part of some festival, but I forgot the name of it. We still have two hours to get there." He explained. "Of course - if you want to." He added looking her in the eye.
"How did you say? Mah...mood..." She wiggled her fingertips on her phone screen googling Mahmood's name.
Mmm, he looks good.
She thought and then clicked on one of the artist's songs. For a moment both of them carefully listened to Milano good vibes.
"Here we go!"