Last Stop This Town (10 page)

Pike became defensive. “This is high grade Jamaican Sinsemilla. You can’t get this shit in Connecticut.”

“You can’t get ebola there either,” Noah shot back.

But Pike needed this weed to pay Marco back for the couch he had sawed in half, so the discussion was moot. Pike considered blowing Marco off—after all, what could he do if Pike didn’t pay?—but then Pike came up with a list of about twenty pretty awful things Marco could and would do, not the least of which was to post the literally hundreds of photos of Pike smoking a bong that Marco had taken over the years. Marco was a vindictive motherfucker, and it was simply better to pay him for the couch than lose sleep wondering when the knife was going to slit your throat.

Besides, the twelve hundred dollars of pot only cost nine hundred in the city.

“Come on,” Pike ordered as he opened his door.

The guys rolled their eyes and got out as well.

Dylan locked the car, then checked the handle manually to make sure. As they made their way toward the apartment building, Walker surreptitiously moved his wallet from his back pocket to his front. They reached the front steps and Pike examined the names on the buzzer.

“Here we go,” he said to himself and pushed 3F.

“Hola” came a man’s voice from the speaker.

“Hey. It’s Pike. Ned’s friend.”

“Como?”

“Ned Carney? From Connecticut?”

Pike wondered if maybe Ned forgot to text the guy. That certainly wouldn’t be surprising.

But then, without further discussion, the buzzer sounded.

Pike looked at the other guys, shrugged, and opened the door.

They walked up to the third floor—there was no elevator—and Pike knocked on 3F. After a moment, the door opened to reveal Jesus, a fairly scrawny Hispanic kid not much older than they were.

Jesus was a small time drug dealer, and in his barely-furnished apartment were a couple of guys playing Wii Bowling, a cute girl watching the video game, a case of fire extinguishers, and a guy passed out in the corner. (One of the video game guys was short and fat, the other tall and skinny, like an Hispanic Laurel and Hardy.) Jesus motioned for them to enter and Pike cautiously led the guys in. They tried not to look nervous, but they had seen too many movies where guys in this situation got shot, or worse, not to be a little on edge.

Jesus just stood there until Pike started the conversation. “What up, man. Ned said you might have something for me…?”

Jesus looked him over. “You got the money?”

Pike pulled out a wad of cash from his jeans and handed it over. “Here you go.”

As Jesus counted it, Walker motioned toward the guy passed out in the corner and whispered to Noah, “I think that guy’s dead.”

Walker could have been right, but Noah didn’t think it prudent to make too much conversation here, so he motioned for Walker to zip it. Dylan squinted to get a better look.

Satisfied with the count, Jesus whistled to one of the guys playing the video game (the skinny one) and he whipped a brick of marijuana over to Jesus. “Here you go, amigo,” Jesus said as he handed it over to Pike. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

With the business transaction concluded, Jesus’s whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, he smiled and patted Pike on the back.

Pike picked up on it. “Should we celebrate this new relationship?”

Now Jesus really was his new best friend. “Fuck yeah, man. Fire it up.”

While all this was going on, Dylan stealthily sidled over to the passed out guy and lightly kicked him. He didn’t move.

Twenty minutes later, Pike, Jesus, the cute girl, and Señores Laurel and Hardy sat on the couch passing a fat joint. Dylan, Noah, and Walker stood nearby drinking beers.

“This is good shit,” Pike commented after a particularly big hit.

Jesus laughed, “You are fucked up, man.”

Pike laughed as well and pulled out his phone. He took a picture of the pot and emailed it to Ned. “Ned is going to fucking love this,” Pike said of the picture, not the pot, which unfortunately was earmarked for Marco.

Across the room, Walker was trying to steal a glance at the cute girl. Unfortunately, she looked up right then and their eyes met. Walker quickly looked away but it was too late; she had caught him obviously checking her out. She smiled playfully.

“She’s cute,” Noah commented.

“Should I go talk to her? What do I say?” Walker always made everything so complicated.

Dylan was the voice of reason, reassuring Walker, “She’s stoned. You don’t need to say anything. Just stick your tongue down her throat.”

“Out of the blue?” Walker panicked, “What if she—”

Frustrated, Dylan just
slapped Walker across the face
.

“Owww! That fucking hurt!”

“Proof that non-verbal communication works.” And with that, Dylan pushed Walker away, toward the couch.

Walker stumbled over to the girl who looked up expectantly. “Can I sit here?” he asked nervously.

She just nodded and Pike moved over to let Walker sit between him and the girl.

Walker looked over at Dylan for moral support. Dylan gave him a
trust me
look.

Jesus passed her the joint. She took a big hit and passed it to Walker. But instead of partaking, he just passed it on to Pike, turned to her, and
kissed her
!

He came up for air and looked at her nervously, like,
Is she going to
kick me in the balls?
But all she did was exhale a huge breath of pot smoke.

Walker realized his error and apologized, “Sorry, I—”

But she just laughed and kissed Walker back.

Sure, she was surprised, but as predicted, she was totally fine with it. They started making out.

“I can’t believe he did it!” Noah exclaimed.

Dylan pretended to be all teary-eyed and proud. “Our boy’s all grow’d up.”

Turns out, the girl was totally into Walker. In fact, after a lengthy tongue-bath, she broke away, got up, and took Walker by the hand
into
the bedroom
.

Walker looked back at Dylan and Noah in sheer amazement.
How
could it be that easy?
Dylan and Noah nodded their support and encouragement.

None of the smokers seemed to care one way or the other about the girl and Walker. The door closed and Noah turned to Dylan. “I wonder what Sarah’s up to right now.”

“Probably blowing some dude,” Dylan chastised him for asking.

“Fuck you.”

“I’m just kidding,” Dylan pulled back. “Come on. We’re in a super awesome drug den, there’s a dead dude in the corner, and all you can think about is Sarah?”

“I really love her.” Noah was feeling vulnerable and Dylan knew not to take advantage of it any further. It was his job to cheer Noah up.

“You say that now that you’re broken up, but two weeks ago you were begging me to help you dump her.”

“We had a fight.”

“Look, man, I don’t have any stake in this. I just want you to be happy.”

Noah thanked him with a little nod and Dylan tried to change the subject. “Now can we please just be irresponsible while we still can?”

Noah looked at Dylan for a second, then smiled and went over to the couch to take a turn with the joint.

“Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!” Dylan said to himself as he went over to join them.

In the tiny bedroom with only a mattress on the floor, a cheap particle-board dresser, and a picture of Jesus on the wall (Jesus Christ, not Jesus the drug dealer), Walker and the girl were making out.

“You have really nice eyes,” Walker felt the need to say.

The girl smiled and in one motion pulled off her top. Walker’s eyes went wide at seeing her black, lacy bra but he quickly contained his excitement and played it cool. Walker took off his own shirt.

“You are so hot. My name’s Walker by the way.”

She just smiled and pulled him onto the bed.

Back on the couch, Pike passed the joint to Jesus. Dylan noticed the case of brand new fire extinguishers stacked by the window. “Hey, what’s with all the fire extinguishers?”

“Found ’em,” said the fat guy, a man of apparently few words.

“Can we fuck around with them?” Dylan inquired.

The guy just shrugged.

Dylan went over, took one out, and pulled the pin. He pointed it at Pike’s face and, without even saying a word,
pulled the trigger
.

Dylan blasted him with white foam, covering Pike’s face like he got hit with a pie from an old Three Stooges movie.

Pike leapt up off the couch, beyond irate. “What the fuck!!!”

Everyone else just stared for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Things between Walker and the hot, stoned girl were progressing nicely. They were making out on the bed while Walker felt her up. Walker wasn’t as hopeless as the guys thought—turns out, he was pretty skilled up to, and including, second base. His roaming hand undid her bra clasp and she helped him take her bra off altogether. Her breasts were something to behold. Small, but perfectly shaped and perky.

Maybe it was the pace at which things were progressing. Maybe it was the excitement of hooking up with a total stranger. Or maybe it was just that Walker knew he really was going to score this time. Whatever the reason, Walker suddenly felt the need to confess: “I should tell you, I’ve never done this before. So I might not be that good. I mean, I don’t really know. Maybe I will be good at it. I’ve certainly thought about it a lot, but you know, just in case it’s not good, that’s why. Bottom line, though, if you just give me a chance, I’ll try really hard.”