#p; 02

     she made it a point to be early to her coffee date with aj. lena’s nerves wouldn’t allow her to even be a little late, fashionably late, or anything of the sort. the nauseous feeling in her stomach would bubble and bubble until she was sitting down at a table in java junkie and sipping on her latte. so she arrived fifteen minutes early, the latest she would allow herself to be, which worked out since the line was a little long when she arrived. so when she would sit down at her table, she’d be right on time to watch for aj to walk through the door. 

          lena didn’t know what to expect out of this meeting of friends. aj is someone she’s still building a relationship with, becoming more than just artist & customer, but as friends. she also didn’t know what to expect of the pit. she’s heard about it, since growing up in oakland one tends to know all about the town -- no matter where the location is. but with her growing up primarily in the east and west ends of the town, the south end is a little bit more mysterious than she’d like to admit. lena didn’t act like she was a typical east ender, or tried not to, with how some of them could be so snobby. making fun of anyone who wasn’t like them. the artist simply isn’t that type of person, she kept her mind open to what she didn’t know. an open mind with an artist’s brain can lead to some creative ideas. the pit was a new experience, her mind has to be open, even if she was going without her sister to coax her to it. she’s going with a friend.

           with her mind open, lena did feel excited to find out about the pit. maybe it isn’t how people describe it, since aj owns it, it could be different. though she was anxious to see her art work. maggie has a couple pieces on the walls of sugar, a surprise to lena once she saw it, and it definitely helped change the way artist felt about her work. they weren’t failures like she thought they were, they weren’t something to be put in the trash but something that belonged on the walls of every establishment in oakland. maybe one day outside of oakland, too, that would be the dream.