“Knock knock,” I hear Jessie call as I quickly swipe on some lip gloss and leave the office bathroom. As I walk out, I see she’s holding a small video camera. Jay’s standing to the side of her, just out of range of the lens.
“Swit swoo, hot stuff coming through,” she whistles, and I shake my head at her, blushing. Jay’s repeatedly flicking a die high up into the air and catching it effortlessly.
“Stop filming me,” I say, self-conscious.
Hitching my bag up on my shoulder, I wave goodbye to Dad, who’s still in his office. We leave down the narrow staircase and out onto the street, but Jessie keeps on filming.
“I swear to God, I’ll sue you if I see myself in this YouTube video,” I warn her. “I work in a solicitor’s office, so you know I’ll do it.”
“Oh, come on. We need a bit of eye candy to get the teenage boy demographic interested,” Jessie jokes. “I’m sure they don’t want to look at Jay’s ugly mug the whole time.”
Jay’s mug is far from ugly, but no way am I admitting that out loud.
“Yeah, Watson. You’ve got to do this. It will help my career,” Jay agrees, a smug look on his face as we walk. He throws his arm around my shoulders and gives them a squeeze, then looks behind to Jessie. “Make sure you get a few ass shots in. Matilda has a rear end deserving of online attention.”
I shove him with my elbow, and he laughs. “If you film my arse, I swear to God, I really will sue.”
He raises his eyebrow at me, and I can’t help the tiny smile forcing its way onto my face. Then he takes things a step too far when he leisurely slides his hand down my back to my bottom. I let out a tiny gasp when he gives it a good, firm squeeze. Immediately, I swipe his hand away.
“Don’t do that again,” I warn, annoyed by the charming grin on his face, and the fact that I still find it charming after what he just did. Jessie’s having a good old laugh as she trails behind us.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be pissed,” says Jay, trying to placate me. “We were talking about your ass, darlin’. I couldn’t myself.”
“He’s an arse man,” Jessie puts in, nodding her head in agreement.
I scowl at the both of them, but I can’t stay angry for too long.
A few minutes later we come into view of the meeting spot where Jay’s fans are waiting, and I have to keep my jaw from dropping. There’s at least a hundred people, maybe more. Jay sticks his finger in his mouth and lets out a loud whistle as we approach; heads turn in his direction, and they all start cheering. He climbs up onto the high wall surrounding a nearby business and gives them all a theatrical bow.
I stand off to the side with Jessie as she captures it on film. She’s not the only one, either. Half the kids here have their phones out, recording videos.
“Thanks for coming, everyone,” says Jay loudly from above. Funnily enough, the acoustics are pretty good, so he doesn’t have to shout to be heard. “Wanna see something cool?” he asks, taking out the die he’d had back in the office.
With it resting between his thumb and index finger, he flicks it dexterously up into the air. We all watch as it goes up and then comes back down, and I wish I hadn’t blinked, because somewhere on the way down one becomes two. The crowd claps loudly, whistles ringing out, while Jay takes the two dice and flicks them the same as before. They multiply again, becoming four, and he starts juggling them. They continue to multiply, moving in a circle through the air, his hands as quick as lightning. Soon he’s got about ten of them on the go, and I can’t figure out how he did it. I didn’t see him slip any out of his sleeves, or slide them from his pockets. They literally appeared out of thin air.
When he has too many to handle, he starts tossing them, one at a time, to random members of the crowd. Dozens of teenagers dive for them, eager to have a little keepsake from their favourite illusionist. Jay pulls out a deck of cards and begins doing an elaborate trick with a girl named Sarah who volunteered. She seems at once mortified and delighted to have been selected. Jay walks through the crowd, shuffling the cards and detailing what he’s going to do.
He’s close to the entrance of one of the businesses that surround the area, fronted by large glass sliding doors. The sliding doors open as three women in office attire leave the building. Jay is walking backward as he speaks, and steps just inside the glass doors. He’s still talking as they shut in front of him, and as the glass closes over his body, he vanishes. The doors open again as more workers come out, and he reappears, still going on with his spiel as though he didn’t just make himself disappear.