Robert watched her shadow bounce across the outside of the tent as she ran off. She was already long gone by the time he managed to sit himself up and look inside the bag. When he unrolled the burlap case, an overwhelmed smile spread across his face. He thumbed the grain of the wood handles, whose previous owner had loved them glossless. He rolled them back up and hugged them close to his chest, lying back down again, like a child with a stuffed toy. Though Aria had disappeared before he could thank her, he closed his eyes and imagined her hearing him thank her anyway.

By the time that Aria made it to Griffith Park, she was out of breath and 20 minutes late. Omkar’s car was parked on the side of the street and he was leaning against it. When he saw Aria jogging toward him with the plastic bag containing the clothes she had been wearing before she bought the dress, he bounded toward her. “Did he drop you off outside the park?” he asked, assuming that Aria had followed his directions and taken a cab there.

“Um, yeah,” Aria said, needing an excuse for why all the money he had given her was spent. It was an excuse that she couldn’t use if she told him the actual truth, which was that she had walked and hitchhiked there. He took the plastic bag from her, tossed it into the back of his car and locked it.

“Is this place nearby?” Aria asked, surprised that he hadn’t opened the door for her to get in so they could drive to the party.

“Um, yeah, but they moved the party to later so I thought we could take a little hike up to the Hollywood sign maybe?” he asked.

“OK, yeah,” Aria said, willing, though less than enthusiastic at the prospect of more exercise than she had already had that day. Omkar took her hand in his and led her toward a trail that carved a swath into the dry hillsides.

The trail snaked on for ages. To their left, the white letters of the Hollywood sign promised to be just up ahead, only to tease them by always staying just a little bit farther. Some of the tourists who had set off at the same time as Omkar and Aria (determined to reach the same destination) turned back around, making fun of themselves for how out of shape they were.