24 Chapter Twenty-Three•Live Wire

Let's skip forward to the beginning of my Senior Year, I took a bus to NYC for a deal that Dani arranged for me and had an in with one of the boys, she doesn't do it that much anymore, it just seems that her life in High School always seems to catch up to her when she's trying to move on, but I told her that I owe her and as soon as we all get that shitty piece of paper, it no longer has to be around her like a shadow. The guy who I didn't know what his name was, but she said that he's a professional at what he does, so it wasn't like he was going to try to kill me,"Are you crazy Dani? I barely know the guy, you're only going to tell me and him the address? I don't even know what he looks like" I asked her when she was making coffee in this cafe and it was early in the morning, she started replacing the coffee filters,"Look, I only know him through my boyfriend who is buddy-buddy with him, trust me...if you want the good stuff, that's your guy, I hear he always hire that one dumbass who is willing to drive down to Mexico smuggle drugs by shoving it up his-"

"Okay, okay, I do not need to know that, I'm not gonna be snorting anything that was in an asshole"

"Its a sealed bag, so it's fine" She stopped for a bit and turned on the Radio, The Waiting by Tom Petty/ The Heartbreakers was playing,"Dani, our friends knew that I had the balls to come all the way out here and back just for that"

"Yeah they're kinda wusses, no offense, but you...I know that you've been through a lot" I scoffed as I walked along with her when she was writing the specials on the specials board,"Yeah, one meaningless relationship and sex after another, it seems that's all these boys in high school ever want" She sighed,"Hon, that's how I felt too and then I met him, David was a guy I definitely underestimated him"

"You met him at a college party while drinking, you practically grinded on him" She nudged me,"Don't make me regret telling you that" I smiled and laughed as she did the same, she replaced the wilted flowers,"We were only 20, now we live together, I'm working through College, looking for a Vet school...and what I wanted to say was. Boys in high school only think through their penis, so what's wrong with having a little fun? You might regret by not taking any advantage"

"Yeah until I get AIDs or worse, pregnancy by a boy who probably doesn't want to be around to see his child" She went behind the counter and I was about to follow her, but her boss caught me,"Hey! No customers behind the counter"

"I'm the only one here Steve"

"And don't make me regret letting her letting you in before the required opening" I stepped out and went to the other side as I rolled my eyes,"If only you own this place Dani"

"Hey, hey don't give me any ideas, I already have a plan getting out of here soon" She gestured her towel at me and I whipped it out of my face,"So what is this guy's name?"

"No clue, he changes it each time when he meets his customers, first would be Ed, the other would be Chris then Bruce then Jack then at one point, he actually told David what his name was, but now David won't tell me" She gave me a cup of coffee,"That's not suspicious at all, doesn't sound like he's hiding from the law"

"Believe me, if I was doing what he was doing, I'd be changing my name constantly too" I thanked her and took a sip,"And that's on the house too"

"Thank you" She nodded and another worker came in,"I'm gonna kill my boyfriend if he pulls that shit one more time. He turned off my alarm and he thought I needed more sleep" This other waitress came in and Dani said to her,"Shoulda called in sick" She took off her jacket and hung it in the back, walked out with her apron and as she was tying it on,"I wanted to, but with him being unemployed, girl's gotta pay rent"

"How can you even put up with it Scout? You're smart, you're beautiful. You should be with a man who knows what he wants in life, hell even for Dinner" Dani made her feel a little better, Scout smiled as she was looking down, tied her apron and looked in the mirror to tie her back hair up,"Unfortunately he doesn't even know what he wants to do yet, apparently being in a band just isn't him and guess who told him that his music wasn't gonna be for the late 80s" I was listening and I asked,"Who?" She didn't know I was there and she answered anyway as she was getting the Decaf coffee maker ready, when she finally got it going, she put her hands on the counter,"His mother, now he is gonna get a job at some Jazz Club after his band quit"

"And was it terrible?" I ask as I took a sip and she sighed,"They were so bad, but he was so passionate about Jazz more than what they were doing" I nodded and finished up, I looked over outside the window and the clouds were starting to form,"Dani are you sure you can't take a break right now and walk me over to this Meetup spot?"

"Honey, I haven't even started work, so how can I take a break?" I sighed and Scout went to go unlock the doors at 8:30am,"Don't worry, this guy isn't going to hurt you or anything, he's a professional"

I nodded in a unsure way wishing that I could at least have some sort of communication to let her know that I'm okay,"Okay, tell you what, when this is done and over with, you come straight back here, give you some money for a cab or bus, that sound good? You know you only have money for what our friends chipped in" I nodded as she walked me to the front door,"My lunchbreak will be at 10:45 and ends at 11:30 here"

"Okay, I'll see you"

"Bye" I walked out and turned on my Discman, started playing some of The Beatles, Spandau Ballet as the sidewalks were slowly starting to become filled with New York people, god were they bitches. I mean who am I kidding? I even got mad when kids in my school walk too slow or don't watch where they're going. It was like everywhere I went, there was no open space until I got to Central Park, I just needed to walk across and go to this alley a block after I walk across. I made it through the rain and waited for a while until I saw this hooded man walking towards me, he was tall like, 6ft, couldn't see his face,"You a friend of Dani and David?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

"Wes, you got the money kid?" He had that crusty voice, made him intimidating, we went underneath this place for shelter and we saw each other's face, I had the crumpled money in my pocket,"As long as you have the weed and cocaine" He nodded,"I'm all business, I don't rip people off, hurry up kid, I ain't got all day" I pulled out the money for him to count, he looked down at me after he got done counting,"Here's half" And he gave me little baggies,"You know I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for Dani, I like that girl, she's kind, but what I just did, that's only for first time customers"

"Yeah she is" He nodded slowly,"Now you know who to go to when you need more. Pleasure doing business with you kid" I thanked him and he just walked away, as if he disappeared into the rain. I smiled with the sight of heaven in just the palm of my hand,

I walked back to the Cafe and just in time for Dani's lunchbreak, this place was crowded, I had to wave to get her attention, her face lit up and she went to the back and signaled me to go in the back with her. I followed her and she asked me,"Did he harm you? If he did, I'll have to deck him for ya"

"No he was actually just intimidating, gave me a half off for these" She nodded as she crossed her arms,"Yeah it's nothing special, he just does that for his first time customers and after that, you pay full price. I was one of his customers and I stopped to be more focused on being a Veterinarian, so now I'm just a connection for you and the others in my college"

"You know, I don't see you as a connection right?" She smiled and hugged me,"Of course I know hon, you've known about this since last year and you are now asking. How's you and mom by the way?"

"She's…..she was getting to the point of….I don't even know. She says she's worried about me, yet I dont see her taking any action and she...she's not really a mom to me anymore, she's more of a woman who gave birth to me and now she's like, a walking corpse" She was hesistant about what I just said about my mother,"I didn't think that it would get that worse"

"I didn't think so too, but its every year that I just don't give a flying shit about her. She's had this boyfriend who is trying to be all Daddy towards me"

"That's a good thing right?" Not unless if he has the hots for you,"Depends. He would try to be a Dad, but he always judges me for every little thing, but he…." I knew I was about to go into a dark hole, I kept thinking about Cliff always in my mirror reflection every time I change, the jumpiness of my heart because he didn't knock, him slowly walking towards me and then Dani's calling out to me made me snap out of it,"Hey!" She didn't yell that loud, but her green eyes were really showing in this backroom light,"He what? This guy that your mom is dating"

"Oh….lost my train of thoughts, its almost 11, I should get going, go to Frankie's place, they're expecting me there around 1pm" She nodded and hugged me,"I really miss you guys, maybe some other time when we're not going to party, we should have a movie night, we can watch that Fast Time at Ridgemont High, maybe a John Hughes movie"

"Yeah that would be nice Dani, I'll call you...when I'm sober of course" She chuckled and I said to her before I walked out,"And if I do happen to call today or tomorrow, just hang up unless I'm somewhere that my dumbass somehow went there"

"I'll make note of that, bye" I said the same to her and I walked out.

I took the bus back to Brooklyn and I walked into Frankie's neighborhood with an elaborate plan that I told my mother that I was staying at Gretchen's house. Frankie's parents were off to their little vacation to Miami, Florida, I knocked on the door and Yvonne came to open the door,"Hey you're back, how's New York?"

"Messy, crowded, bitchy than ever, but what else is new?" Frankie jumped over the couch and sat back, turned on the TV,"So you got it?" I saw Reggie pulling out the alcohol on the table,"You know it" I pulled them out of my bag, they all clapped and thanked me for risking my life in New York for that stuff as Gretchen pulled out the bong and tray,"Let's fucking get wired" Jonathan Danford has been dead to me since Sophomore year, he has been trying to get back together with me, but I tell him to drop dead every time, turned out he was that drug that I needed to stop taking. After that was boy after boy always trying to talk to me just so he can get into my pants, but occasionally when I do let him, he only wants himself to feel good rather than wanting to make me feel good. There was this one boy, Anthony, we had sex in the bathroom stall, he lifted my leg for more access, he just looked like he was so angry while fucking me, so I didn't look at him in the eye and faked it then I whispered into his ear to fuck me from behind, mostly because I was tired of looking at him. I think at one point, when I was trying to close my legs, he just spread them again and just went faster, I actually started to tear up because I wanted it to end right there. I snapped out of it again and took a hit,"Yo guys, what are we even going to do when this shit's over?" Reggie came stumbling in as we all looked at each other as if he just asked us a scientific question,"I might go home, pass out, maybe puke and shit like that" Yvonne laughed as smoke came out and Frankie snorted the coke then scratched his nose, Reggie shook his head as he made his way to the couch,"I'm talking about...life. Like what are we going to do?"

"Fuck man, I haven't thought of it cause I'm surprised I even made it this far" Juliet chuckled and I shrugged then said to the group,"I don't know either, all I know I want to get out of Brooklyn, maybe go somewhere, somewhere that'll...blow my mind like the Grand Canyon"

"Shit I can't believe a whole bunch of people actually spend money to go across states or country just to see a big ass hole" Frankie said to us and I said,"I would, if I had all the money in the world, I would spend it just to see the hole that the Goverment blew up for being dumbasses" I completely spaced out when I said that so it just came out of my mouth and we all just laid around as TV was playing in the background,"What the fuck is that whistling?" Gretchen covered her ears and Reggie looked at the screen that was black and white,"It's that fucking kid show, The Andy Griffin show" He said it wrong, but again, we were fucked up, so our speech started to go and eventually we all just drank and smoked all the coke, weed and alcohol. Then we all paid the price for trying to live like Rock Stars but the thing is that they have more drugs in our systems than us, so we don't know how those bastards are still alive

The party was over

For now