Audre & Bash are Just Friends

Audre goes to Bash’s workplace, a gift shop called Just Because. She tries to make small talk with him and learns that Bash doesn’t like to talk about his father, who lives in California, and that his mother is a white woman who owns the gift shop. She claims to love cats, and he tells her that he once had an orange cat who suffocated in a Doritos bag. Thinking that he’s joking, Audre laughs. The boy is hurt and asks why she’s come to see him if it’s not to apologize for her behavior in the park.

Audre apologizes, tells him about the self-help book she plans to write, and makes a business proposal: “Will you show me how to have fun? Be my fun consultant? I’ll pay you. And no strings attached, by the way. This is business only” (75). Bash finds the idea absurd, but he agrees. He feels awkward about accepting payment for helping Audre learn to have fun but agrees to accept $75 and meet her on Friday. Bash wants to meet her cat, and Audre, who is allergic to felines, wonders how she will maintain her story. The chapter ends with the fourth rule in