Page 5 (1/2)
"It’s better that way" I adjust the handle of the bag over le-wide trailer The siding is falling off, one of the s is covered with a piece of plywood, and the lawn is nonexistent; instead there’s a layer of gravel, then a fence, followed by ravel It’s a total crack house, but that’s okay This is the kind of place where I belong, in a place no one wants to admit exists, just like they don’t want to adht?" He steps onto the stairway, and it wobbles underneath his feet "It’s a freaking small-ass town"
"That’s okay" I follow hi "I’ll just walk everywhere"
He laughs, shifting the box to one arm so he can open the screen door "Okay, if you say so" He steps inside the house, and I catch the screen door with rab the handle, and hold the door open as II notice is the smell; smoky but with a seasoned kick to it that burns the back of ht at ho in the ashtray on a cracked coffee table
Tristan drops the box on the floor, steps over it and strides up to the ashtray "You good with this?" He picks up the joint and pinches it in between his fingers "I can’t remember if you’re cool or not"
It’s not really a question It’sto live here I let the handle of the bag slide down my arm and it falls to the floor "I used to not be" I used to care about things--I used to think that doing the right thing would ood"
His eyebrows knit at ue answer and I reach for the joint As soon as it’s insmoke starts to snake up to ain The cal I trap it inthe ss, and singe my heart away It’s what I want--what I need--because I don’t deserve anything more I part my lips and release the shter than I have since I got on that god da drug in" Dylan, Tristan’s roommate, walks out fro, and a blonde girl trails at his heels I’ve onlythe few visits my dad and I made to Maple Grove to visit Tristan’s parents He looks different--rougher--a shaved head, multiple tattoos on his ar the weight loss is fros
"Hi, Quinton" The blonde waves her hand, then winds around Dylan and ht to her side, pressing theainst her chest, so her tits nearly pop out of her top She see clue who she is "It’s been a long ti my brain for some sort of memory that has her in it, but the weed has totally put a haze in ht where I want to be--numb and obliviously stupid
When she reachesher tits against me "The last time I saw you, you were a scraelve year-old with braces and glasses, but good God you’ve changed" She traces a path fro hot now"
"Oh, it’s Nikki, right?" I’ about her… a tihborhood decided to play baseball But it’s nothing et It reain "You’ve…" I scroll up her body, which I can pretty ed"
She takes it as a coh I didn’t mean it that way "Thanks" She smiles and shimmies her hips "I always try to look my best"
I still have the joint in s feel like they’re going to explode, then I free the sed brown carpet I hand it to Tristan, allowing the numbness to leach into my body "Where should I put er over at the hallway "There’s a rooot a bed and shit"
I collectfor the hall "I’ll take whatever’s easiest on everyone"
Dylan nods his head at the hallway and then says to Nikki, "Nikki, why don’t you show Quinton where the rooerated smile at me and snatches the joint from Tristan’s hand She wraps her lips around the end, inhales, and then lets it out She hands it back to him and then saunters in front of me so I can watch her ass as she struts down the hallway
"Are you two dating?" I ask glancing back and forth between Nikki and Dylan
Nikki rolls her eyes "Um, no"
Dylan departs for the small, cluttered kitchen in the corner of the house "I don’t really date," he points out with a nonchalant shrug as he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jeans "Besides, I have an old girlfriend of ht"
"Delilah?" Tristan asks as he flops down on the couch, and Dylan nods "Is Nova back, too? Is she co over with her?"
"Nova?" I question "Is that like her car?"
Tristan shakes his head and laughs "No, it’s a girl, you dipshit"
"Interesting nairl who’s named after my favorite car would be like, but it doesn’t really ain, never feel for anyone