"This is a really cute little place, isn't it Abbi?"
"Yeah, whatever." Abbi grumbled, still pretty sour about her mother thinking she was a lesbian because she didn't have a boyfriend.
"Look at these little rocks are shaped like bears climbing another rock, isn't that cute Abbi?"
"Almost like it was carved, on purpose. To look like that."
"Abbi." Her mother said seriously. "I didn't mean to insult you. I just wanted to let you know that it's okay if men aren't your thing."
Abbi took in a breath, ready to express to her mother once again, everything that she felt about the conversation earlier. "Mom, It's just that-"
Her mother spun around, seemingly unaware that Abbi was talking, and said to the shop owner, "How much is this bear?"
Abbi closed her mouth and frowned, pouting like a child.
"For you, twenty." The man said with a wink.
"Twenty, hm. Do you have anything similar?"
"Oh, for ffff-" Abbi noticed her mother glaring at her. "ffflying french toast on a Friday." She improvised quickly.
"Would you like to see the rest of my merchandise?"
"Gross." Abbi muttered.
"Back here." He led them to the back of the shop and pulled back a curtain, revealing a doorway to a convention-sized room filled with people and vendors.
"This is your store?" Abbi breathed.
"No, this is the expo."
"The what?"
"…You said "flying french toast on a Friday""
"THAT'S your code word?"
"…You goin in or not?" He motioned Abbi through the curtain.
Abbi reluctantly stepped into the expo, looking around. Vendors all over the place were doing crazy things, throwing things into the air, performing tricks.
"Wow. You know, I could really get…" She turned around and found she was completely surrounded by the world of the expo. "…Lost. Mom? Oh, crap." Abbi wandered a few steps, getting dizzy trying to look at everything. She found a curtain that looked like the one she had entered through and pulled it back to find her mother making out with the shop owner, losing her shirt fast. How's that for a visual?
"Oh, god mom! Are you kidding me!" She stumbled away and began looking for another exit.
Rounding a corner, she bumped into a vendor. "Sorry!"
"Hey there. You wanna become a gecko?" Another man in a top hat said behind her.
"I'm sorry WHAT?"
"Take this." He held out a few pills.
Abbi backed up slowly, but backed into a box. She turned around to find someone sawing a person in half inside the box. She screamed and jumped backwards, trying to turn quickly but falling right out of the frame.
"Oww!" She hissed, inspecting her ankle. She quickly realized she would be trampled in this place, and hopped off to a bench on the side. She pulled out her phone to facetime Ilana.
"Hey Abs."
"Ilana! I need your help!"
"What's up?" Ilana's eyes weren't quite all the way open, and her right shoulder was moving.
"Listen, I went into this weird store and got lost and my mom- are you masturbating?"
"What? No." Ilana turned her phone around to show that she was in bed with the waitress she had spilled on. "So you're in a store and can't find your mom, go on."
"You too! Are you kidding me!? What happened to your date?"
"It was that heckler guy from earlier. Can you believe that! So I hooked up with the waitress from the restaurant."
"What? I can't hear you very well. You went on a date and brought the waitress home to have sex!?"
"Well, I mean we took advantage of the kitchen, too." Ilana said, and there was female laughter on her end.
"You had sex in a restaurant kitchen!"
Ilana laughed. "Look, you wanna come over? Hang on." She addressed the other woman, " Is it ok if my friend comes over?"
"For what?" Abbi shouted, trying to hear. "You're breaking up. Listen, Ilana! I'm in this weird place and I'm lost and my mother is hooking up with this guy and I twisted my ankle and it really hurts and I need you to come and get me!"
"You're hurt?" Ilana turned serious and stopped moving.
"Yes!"
"Where?"
"Some insane place on 26th street, I don't know how to describe it. It's in the back of a shop called "Gordo's Geodes and More". Oh god, this is the "more"."
"I'll be right there!" Ilana hung up.
Abbi glanced around, rubbing her ankle. "Crap…" She muttered.
"What are you doing?"
Abbi jumped, then looked up. "Lincoln?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here? Also, what is here?"
"The Magician's Expo?"
"Ohhh."
Lincoln sat down next to her. "You don't need to know why I'm here."
"You're a doctor. Can you take a look at this?" She motioned to her ankle.
"Bitch, I'm a dentist."
"Right."
"How… how did that sound. Did that sound bad?"
"Bad?"
"Like, you know, badass?"
"What, calling me a bitch?"
"Yeah. Sorry about that by the way."
Abbi regarded him. "You really need to toughen up."
Lincoln grunted absently.
"Shit, Ilana's gonna be looking for me."
"Ilana's here too?"
"No! I was here with my mom-"
Lincoln's eyes widened.
"-and I lost her and I got offered gecko pills-"
Lincoln nodded knowingly.
"-and I don't really know where I am and I twisted my ankle and now Ilana's coming to get me and I just wanna get out of here!"
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'll get you out of here."
"You know a way out?" Abbi looked almost crazy with stress by now.
"…You know this is the Convention Center, right?"
"Like… the big one?"
"Yeah."
"…Oh."
"Come on, let's get you out to the street and find Ilana."
~/~
