35...

Frank was remembering the night before, standing in front of a movie theater on Van Ness with his hands pushed down into his pockets against the damp cold. The street was near deserted of both car and person, and you could occasionally hear somebody nearby, loudly making a point.
Mike had that soft grin that spoke of intoxication. His hands were in his pockets as well, and he shifted from one foot to the other as if he were doing a little shuffle, a little jig on that sidewalk.
“There are special places in the world, Frankie,” he said with a sly grin, referring to a line from the film they had just seen. He gently nudged Frank with his shoulder, attempting to knock him off balance.
“Yeah, one of them is my ass,” Frank said with a dry, sardonic tone.
Mike began laughing in the weezy sort of way he had when he smoked too much.
“Hey! Let’s go get a quick last call!” Mike’s exuberance bounced off the plate glass windows of the car showroom-cum-movie house they stood in front of.
“I think we missed last call, brother,” Frank said, checking his watch. “Yup, it’s 2:12. The movie didn’t start till like 12:30.”
“Damn it!”
Mike looked legitimately crushed, almost near tears, but it was just a quickly moving cloud in an otherwise unmarred sky.
“How you gettin’ home? Did you drive?” He asked with that soft grin once again in place.
“Naw, cabbin’ it.”
Mike looked around this little stretch of the city with that irrepressible smile just shining out there to the empty streets.
“You know what Frankie?” He asked with a pronounced drawl that didn’t show up under normal circumstances.
“Nope.”
“Purple,” he said. Just as if the word justified itself and needed no further information.
“Purple?”
“Purple is somehow cold, even with all that royalty by association, and all those reds. Purple’s the color of the final jump off spot, the last thing before the end. It’s somehow passions coalescing before winking out… Maybe becoming something else? You know?”
Frank laughed, assuming that Mike was just drunk.
“No,” he said.
Mike nodded, he had a thoughtful look on his face. He gave Frank a hug, none of that typical guy, pat three times on the back hug, but a steady, strong and warm one. He released him, looked at Frank with that same thoughtful expression, then quickly turned and walked away towards the water.