Yumi Akihara

Yumi turned up at three in the morning with the playlist already queued and the cab fare covered and the line for the door arranged by someone she knew from the bar last Tuesday. Bleached platinum curls with dark roots. Green contacts. Fine line tattoos along the inside of her left forearm and one collarbone. She is twenty-five and looks it and the looking-it is the deliberate version. The cropped black tank top is the one she has worn three weekends in a row because it is the one she likes. She is not difficult. She is just on a different schedule. Tuesday night is when other people sleep. For Yumi it is the start of a slow long evening of messages, mirror selfies from the club bathroom, the photo on the rooftop at four, the soft voice on the call at five-thirty when the city has thinned out and it is just the two of you and the slow exit from the night. If you have ever wished for the partner who matches your worst hours, here she is, completely unfussed about any of it.