04 March 2012

Home Is Where The Heart Is, Chapter 1

"Happy birthday to me." I light a smoke and take a deep drag, blowing it out and sticking my lighter back in my pocket. Today is May 30th, my birthday, I'm 17 years old. I take another drag and rest my head against the wall, blowing the smoke out slowly, letting it swirl into the night air.

"Hey Mick, Don wants'ta see yah." I shift my eyes to Swift, he looks drunk. He's no fun when he's drunk. He gets angry and jealous, even though we were never a thing. I finish my smoke and flick it away from me, getting up and walking the two blocks to Don's apartment. Him wanting to see me can only mean one thing.

I walk up the four flights of stairs and knock on door number 405. I hear footsteps come to the door before it opens, revealing Pollyanna. "Hey Mick, you know where he is." I inch by her and walk down the hall. Polly's always creeped me out, even more than Donny does. I knock at Don's door and hear a shout from inside. I open it and step in.

"Come on in Mick, sit down." I shake my head and cross my arms. He chuckles. "Shoulda known. Anyways.." He holds out a piece of paper and I cross the room to take it from him. I stick it in my pocket without looking at it. I walk backwards across the room to the door. "Says he wants you there tonight, but I told him it's up to you." I nod again. Don's always looked out for me, ever since we met 2 years ago.

"'Kay, see yah later, Donny." I walk out of the room and back to the front door, down the hallways and out of the building. I walk around for an hour before taking the paper out of my pocket and reading it. Geoff. Pssh. Bet he's some 30 year old loser. I change my course to the direction of his place, deciding to just get it over with tonight, get my money and get outta there.

His place is a half hour walk, but I don't mind walking. It's the one thing that keeps me together after all this time. I like to take off for a few hours, not going anywhere in particular, and seeing where I end up. I take my time getting there, arriving 45 minutes after reading the slip of paper. The address I arrive at is a small house with no lights on upstairs. I look around before spotting a light on in a basement window.

I walk back around the house and knock on the side door. It takes a full four minutes for someone to answer the door. What I expected is not what greets me. I expected some 30 year old, fat and balding dude. Who answers the door is a younger guy, no older than 25, pretty good looking, thin. "Hey, I'm looking for Geoff."

"Come in, he's downstairs." I follow the guy down the stairs to the basement. Down there, there's four doors, all closed. The guy opens the last one on the left and stands aside to let me in. I walk past him into a room filled with smoke. It stings my eyes a bit and I blink against the smoke. The light is dim and the t.v's on some music video channel. There's two couches, two people sitting on one and three sitting on the other. The guy that answered the door sits on the couch with the two people. "This is her." One of the guys turns to look at me, and again I'm surprised by his age.

"You Mickey?"

"Mick."

"I'm Geoff." He points to the guy that answered the door and then the girl sitting beside him. "That's Doug and that's Jill." The girl looks over at me and then takes a drink from a beer bottle. Geoff points to the two guys and one girl sitting on the other couch. "That's Shay, Manny, and Heather." I look at each of them in turn. The only one that actually shows any interest in my presence is Shay, who keeps his head turned toward me longer than 5 seconds.

"So where do you wanna do this?"

"Hang on a second, sweetheart." Ugh. Pet names. "Why don'tcha take'a seat?" I shake my head and continue to stand. I see Shay look back over at me, which un-nerves me a little. I'm used to none of the friends giving me any attention at all. This is weird, but I figure he'll probably call on me sometime in the future. Which I have to admit, I wouldn't hate. He's young and good looking from what I can tell.

It takes Geoff ten more minutes before finally getting up off the couch. I step out of the room and let him lead me to the next door over. He opens the door and I follow him in. Another surprise, this room is free of smoke and is actually nice. The bed's made and there's a soft glow of light. I shut the door behind me and take off my jacket. It's still pretty chilly for the end of May. "There's a shower and food if you want it." I look at him in surprise. This is the first time I've been offered anything but money.

Geoff takes a beer out of a mini bar I hadn't noticed before and holds one out, offering me one. "Sure." He opens it for me and I cross the room and take it from him. He opens one for himself and sits on the bed, taking a magazine and laying in on his lap. I look and notice that it's a motorcycle magazine. Not what I was expecting at all. He catches me staring and I look away.

"Honestly, take a shower, eat something. You look skinny." I take a long sip of the cold beer, savouring the taste. "We don't gotta do anything if you don't wanna." I nod mutely, but my mind is reeling. "'Sides, doesn't feel right to me, you being 16 an' all."

"I turned 17 today."

"Happy birthday then." He turns his attention back to the magazine on his lap. I look around the room and notice another door, which I'm guessing leads to a bathroom or closet. It's been months since I've had a good, long, hot shower and I would absolutely love one. But I just feel weird. It's also been a while since I had a good meal. I sigh and take another long sip, half the beer already gone. "Bathroom's through that door. Be as long as you want." I finish my beer before getting off the bed and crossing the room to the closed door. It opens to reveal a bathroom. It's pretty plain, but it's nice. I look back at Geoff before closing the door but he's reading his magazine.

I shut the door and step over to the shower, turning it on to hot. I shed my clothes and fold them, setting them on the counter, before stepping into the shower. The hot water feels amazing against my skin and I just stand there for a few minutes, letting it soak in. Boy am I glad Don found this guy. I can't help but wonder why this guy is different than any of the others. I shrug. Oh well. 'Least I get a hot shower and some food out of it.

Almost an hour later I emerge from the bathroom, clad in just a robe. Geoff is now watching t.v and I wonder what he could be watching at almost 4 in the morning. He looks over at me and then to a small pile of clothes at the end of his bed. "I figured you're about the same size as Jill. She's always leaving clothes here. Take 'em if you want'em." I pick them up and survey the options. A simple pair of dark blue jeans and a light purple tank top.

"Thanks." He nods and his attention reverts back to the t.v. I wonder if I should change in front of him, and decide against it, going back into the bathroom. The jeans are a size too big but the tank top fits nicely. I gather up my clothes and exit the bathroom for the second time. This time there's food waiting on a table near the door to the room.

"Dunno what you like so you got a BLT or something. And there's coffee if you drink it." I'm allergic to tomatoes so I decline the BLT but I take the coffee eagerly. I add milk and sugar and sit on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks. For all of this."

"Don't mention it. Really, it's no big deal. I hate to see young girls like you out there. Figured I'd get you in here, wash you up and get some food into you. Though it seems you don't want the food."

"I'm allergic to tomatoes."

"Huh, never heard'a that before." We sit in silence as I sip my coffee and he watches his t.v show.

"So, how old are you anyway?"

"I'll be 27 in a few months. All the guys are about 24, 25. Shay's the youngest, he's 20." I can't think of anything to say so I keep quiet and drink my coffee. At 5 I start to get tired and my eyes close a little. "Hey, if you wanna sleep here that's fine. I gotta get to work in an hour anyway." Geoff gets off the bed and pulls down the blanket that he was sitting on. I set the cup on the side table and slide down the warm bed under the blankets. I'm too tired and the bed's too comfy to object now. I'm asleep before Geoff leaves the room.