“Or why?” I asked. “What exactly are you getting at oh wise pink one?”
“Or maybe she’s still visiting your grave because she feels like you haven’t really come back yet.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “That’s ridiculous, I’m right fucking here...wait, I have a grave?” I again lifted my feet onto the table and expected her to slide hers off to make room. No such luck. Oh she lifted her feet alright, but the second my heels came in contact with the table she rested them across my shins and sighed deeply. “That’s creepy as fuck...and kind of fucking cool.”
“Don’t you want to know who I am?” she asked.
“I was getting to that,” I lied, staring daggers at her offending feet resting across my legs. The girl gave me an eerie sense of deja-vu and although I was positive I didn’t know this her, I kind of felt like I knew about her.
“I’m Thia, Bear’s fiancé,” she offered. “But you can call me Ti if you want.” She patted her stomach and smiled. “This here is Trey. Well, Trey if it’s a boy, or Jackie Marie if it’s a girl.”
“Bear?” I asked, the mention of his name grating against my nerves. The fucker still hadn’t shown his face. “I don’t know a Bear. I mean, the name sounds vaguely familiar but I can’t quite picture him. Sounds ugly as fuck though.”
It would sound more familiar if he showed his fucking face and stopped avoiding me.
Thia rolled her eyes. “He’s giving you time, asshole. Take it as a gift because trust me, you fucking need it.”
“Time for what?” I asked, pushing her legs off of mine and sitting up so I could lean in and better glare at the stranger in front of me. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll find out.”
“Thanks pink haired Dali-lama, I feel much better about one of my best friends ignoring me now that you’ve explained everything. Shit’s all fucking roses again.” I chugged down the rest of my beer and set it harshly down on the table, the bottom of the bottle made a loud SMACK against the glass.
“Why don’t you focus on what’s important, Preppy?”
“And what exactly is that?”
“The fact that Ray is at the cemetery right now putting flowers on your fucking head stone when you’re alive and right here, sitting in her fucking living room.”
“MY living room,” I corrected.
“See? That’s exactly what I mean. You’re not focusing on what’s important.” Thia said, standing up slowly in a series of small motions a lot like a semi truck making an eight point u-turn on a narrow road. “Also, she didn’t want to tell you but she’s been going to see Dre. They’ve become pretty good friends.”
“Wait, what?” I asked, but she too was already across the house. What was with people telling me part of a fact before taking off?
“Chicks,” I muttered again when I thought she’d gone back out the same door she’d entered.
“I heard that!” Thia said from behind me. I jumped and dropped my empty bottle onto the floor.
“You were supposed to!” I said back, picking the bottle off the floor and setting it back on the coffee table. I rounded the couch and grabbed a fresh beer from the fridge, feeling Thia’s gaze on me the entire time. When I sat back on the couch I felt the back of my neck where I could have sworn her stare was burning a hole in my skin. “You sure know how to make an impression,” I said.
“Well, now at least you’ll remember me,” she said, this time making her way to the back door and opening it.
“Pregnant girl with pink hair, no filter, and boundary issues. Don’t think I’ll have any trouble remembering who you are,” I said, raising my beer to her in a mock cheers before taking a long pull from the bottle.
She paused and smiled brightly. “Well, if you do find yourself a little sluggish on the details and you can’t quite remember who I am there is one tiny thing about me that might be able to jog your memory in a pinch.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, “Lay it on me Thia. What is it that will make you so memorable?”
She winked. “You can just remember me as that chick who killed Chop.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
PREPPY
I was beginning to think the excuses that everyone was giving me about Bear’s absence was utter bullshit until he finally showed up, standing in the doorway on the front porch, his massive frame taking up every inch of available space. He peered into the living room. “Prep?” he asked, taking a tentative step toward me.
“About fucking time, bitch. Get your big ass over here. You can’t catch what I have although if you could I wouldn’t put it past you to already have it.” I paused as he entered the room because pure panic rose in my blood. The deep blue eyes, the freckles, the size, the posture, everything about him screamed RUN to me.
I straightened my spine and set my feet into the carpet, pushing back against the cushions of the couch until I tipped it over on it’s side. I stumbled over it, not able to take my eyes off the figure moving toward me. The one that haunted me. “No!” I cried as I shuffled against the wall to find the door.
He’d come for me. I needed to escape but it was too late. Before I could reach the door he was on me, his hands on my arms holding me in place. I closed my eyes tightly and braced myself for the blow, for the pain, because that’s what always came next.
The pain.
Only it never came.
“Preppy! It’s me, it’s Bear. I’m not my old man. I wouldn’t fucking hurt you like that cock sucker did. Do you hear me? I WOULD NEVER. FUCKING. HURT YOU!” he screamed.
Something familiar in his voice triggered me to slowly come back to reality and open my eyes. Much to my relief it wasn’t Chop standing there with concern written all over his face. “You would never hurt me,” I repeated slowly. Bear nodded, his breath ragged. He loosened his grip on my shoulders.
“Never,” he said.
I nodded slowly and he released me, taking a step back. I leaned over to compose myself, shaking off the adrenaline coursing through my veins. “Never.”
“Never.”
The fog cleared and I stood up straight, looking over my old friend, “Even if I fucked your girlfriend?”
“Never. I mean, I’d fucking kill you, but I wouldn’t hurt you. I’d make it real quick though. You know, ‘cause we’re brothers and all.”
“Awe. You’re such a romantic, Care Bear,” I was still trying to catch my breath.
“And you’re such an asshole, Prep,” Bear said, shoving his thumbs through the belt loops of his black jeans.
“Well at least now I know why you didn’t come sooner,” I admitted. “And I was motherfucking you to everyone who’d listen.”
“I know. I heard.” Bear smiled. “Now come here you alive, motherfucker.” He pulled me in for one of the only hugs Bear has ever voluntarily given me and the need to make fun of him lingered just under the need to be reunited with the other half of the duo that made of my best friends.
There we stood, in the middle of the living room, hugging it out, each trying to hold back our tears until our need to cry outweighed our need to be the manly fucking men we were and we were no longer able to hold in the tears.
“I’m not fucking crying,” Bear sobbed.
“Me neither, you fucking pussy,” I sobbed back as my old friend held me tighter and we hugged and punched each other hard on the backs until I was sure we were going to give each other bruises, and if it went on much longer, probably some broken ribs. When he finally let go of me we quickly wiped our eyes and noses on our t-shirts, because real men don’t fucking cry, and that’s when I noticed the new tattoo on the back of Bear’s neck.
“Bear?” I asked, as he pulled a pack of smokes out from his cut. “What is that?” I sang, pointing to the very reason why I’d be able to make fun of Bear for the rest of his fucking life. “Is that what I think it is?” I stepped behind him to try and get a better look.
Realizing what I was gaping at he quickly covered the back
of his neck with his hand and stepped back against the wall. “That ain’t nothing.”
“No, Bear,” I said, slowly approaching him. “That’s a tattoo that says PREP. It’s...EVERYTHING...”
Bear dropped his hand and rolled his eyes. He smiled as he retrieved his lighter. “Fine, motherfucker. I thought your ass was dead so I got a tattoo of your name on the back of my neck. I realize that you’ve probably thought of a thousand dumb shit things to say about it already, but can we just skip that part for now? There will be plenty of time for that later. Besides, I’m going to get it covered up with like a dragon or a tattoo of Chuck Norris or something really fucking manly.”
I looked him in the eye and held up my index finger. “You get one pass. Just this ONE. And it’s TEMPORARY.”
“You’re too fucking kind. Now here,” Bear said, reaching down into a saddle bag that was right outside the door. “This is for you,” he tossed me an extra deep shirt box.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked, following him outside onto the front porch.
“Consider it a Preppy starter kit,” Bear said.
I set it down on the back of the railing and opened it up to find several shirts, suspenders, and bow tie sets. I closed the lid and set it aside. “Thanks, man.”
“When you’re ready,” Bear said, pointing to the box. “Just for when you’re ready.” For all the shit I gave him Bear always had an uncanny way of understanding me and knowing when not to push.
I nodded.
“Now look under the clothes,” he said the cigarette dangling from his bottom lip.
I cast him a ‘what the fuck are you up to’ look and opened the box back up. I felt around under the clothes at the bottom of the box. I pulled out a carton of cigarettes, a plastic bag with several already rolled joints, and a box of magnum sized condoms.
“Again, for when you’re ready,” Bear said, this time with a sly smile. He handed me two more boxes, that had been sitting next to his saddle bag on the deck, the smaller one on top contained smart phone and the larger one on the bottom a laptop. The boxes looked new, but the plastic wrapping had been removed.
“Thanks man.” I fished out a joint from the baggie and rolling it under my nose, inhaling deeply. “God I missed that smell.”
“Well, the weed and smokes are from me and King. Ti and Ray picked out the clothes. Ti even went as far as taking the laptop to the geek guy at the tech store and had him bookmark all sorts of weird porn sites for you. I looked at some of them, made my skin crawl so I think you’ll dig it.”
Fuck, I was kind of a dick to her...
“I met your girl the other day, she seems...interesting,” I said. Bear smiled. “She told me she was the one who pulled the trigger on...” I couldn’t bring myself to say his name. “That true?”
Bear nodded. “Yeah, she saved my fucking life, too. I’ll tell you this, you don’t know what love really is until you see your girl wipe your evil old man from the face of the fucking earth for you.”
“Fuck, I think I kind of love her too.” Bear was looking off into the distance like he was recalling a memory. “Think she’d be down for a pity fuck?” I asked, holding up the box of condoms.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t fucking say that,” Bear said, his nostrils flared. He knocked the box from my hands.
“You’re such a brute,” I said, placing the joint between my lips and held my hand out for Bear’s lighter.
Bear shook his head. “No fucking way, man. You’re gonna have to go to the garage and hide in a fucking corner like the rest of us have to. Dead or not, Ray will toss you off the fucking balcony if you smoke weed by the house.”
“Since fucking when?”
“Since we got Sammy, Max, and Nicole running around here and are about to add to the litter with my kid. No smoking that shit until the kids are either asleep or at school, and even then it’s still only in the fucking garage.”
“Sammy?”
“You don’t know the kids’ names?”
I leaned over the railing, grateful that the sun was setting because it meant the pressure behind my eyes would ease up once it was tucked into the horizon for the night. “I mean, Doe told gave me the cliffs notes about the kids and I’ve heard them yelling at them. I knew the girl was Max and the boy was Doe’s...I mean, Ray’s, kid, but I never really thought about his name before.”
“Yeah, turns out she named her kid Samuel years before she met you, how ironic is that? Now we got two of you running around. He’s a good kid. Funny as shit too. One week he’s trying to copy me by wearing his own little cut and wanting to ride a bike and the next week he’s got belts around his arms ‘cause he wants to be like King. Get to know him. And the girls.” Bear turned sideways to face me, leaning his elbow against the rail. He pointed his smoke at me as he spoke. “Those kids are the best things that have happened to this place in a long fucking time.”
I absentmindedly went to light the joint again and Bear raised his eyebrows. I pulled it from my lips. “I can’t smoke a fucking joint in my own house? How do you people live like this?” I asked, appalled.
It’s not your house anymore.
He slapped me on the back. “One fucking breath at a time, brother.”
“I don’t think I was just gone for a while,” I said, tossing the joint back into the bag. “I think I fucking upset the space time continuum. You’ve got a girl, and I can’t freely engage in my love of illegal narcotics. What the fuck?” I realized I sounded like whiny kid, well, a whiny kid who wants to smoke a joint on his porch, but I was unable to stop the very real confusion that I was feeling.
A part of me, a VERY selfish part of me, always hoped that while I was gone the world was somehow on pause. But it wasn’t. The world moved on.
They all moved on.
“This bullshit, Prep, is called being an adult,” Bear said, slapping me on the back. “Fucking sucks, don’t it?” He laughed but his expression told me he thought it anything BUT fucking sucked.
“I can’t believe you’ve got a girl,” I said. “If I had to bet between you settling down and the zombie apocalypse, my money would’ve been on the zombies. So much has happened while I was...gone.”
Bear flashed me a sad smile. The kind of smile everyone was giving me since I’d woken up. The kind of smile that was making me both furious and sick to my fucking stomach. “So does your girl know you’re in love with me?” I asked, looking at his neck again before tucking the joint behind my ear.
“Prep,” Bear warned. “Later.”
“Buzzkill,” I muttered.
“And yeah I got a girl. Good one too. Knocked her up and everything,” Bear said proudly. He lit his cigarette and tossed me his lighter.
“Wow, you waited until I was gone to become the grand marshall of white trash?” I tapped the bottom the fresh pack against my hand a few times before pulling one out and lighting my own. The first inhale of smoke filling my lungs felt fucking GLORIOUS and gave me an instant high I hadn’t had from a cigarette since I was a kid, toking on my first smoke behind the portables at school.
“Nah, cause I put a ring on her finger, too.”
“There goes the parade I was gonna throw you.”
“Prep, Ti and I have been staying in the garage apartment while the club is undergoing a little bit of a makeover,” Bear said.
“What kind of makeover? Like a Renovation?”
“It’s a little more involved.”
I shrugged and took another drag. “Well, that place was always a shit hole. It could use some paint or getting rid of the swamp you guys call a pool in the middle of that damn thing. What did you start with?”
“Hazmat suits and blood removal.”
“Good call.”
“I thought so,” Bear leaned forward on the railing, looking out onto the ground below. “But since Grace...”
“Yeah...” I interrupted, letting him know there was no need to finish his sentence in order to site the grim obvious.
“Grace’s house?” I asked. “You bought Grace’s house?”
Bear smirked. “Nope. Didn’t buy it.” He glanced over at me. “They didn’t tell you did they?”
I shook my head. “What, motherfucker? Tell me!” I demanded, stubbing out my cigarette on the bottom of my shoe.
Bear’s smile grew brighter. Shit, when did he get so many fucking teeth? “Prep, as it turns out, Grace was my Grandma.”
“Holy fucking shit.” The first thought that hit me was pure fucking joy. “Man, I’m jealous as fuck, but that just might be the greatest thing I’ve ever seen or heard. Like ever.”
“Yeah, just might be,” Bear agreed.
“Well,” I pointed at his neck. “Maybe next to that fucking tattoo.
CHAPTER NINE
DRE
“I wish you weren’t leaving tomorrow,” I said to Brandon as we waited for the realtor to arrive. The house still needed some work. I hadn’t yet started on either the gutters or the painting but Brandon suggested we talk to a professional to see what they thought about listing price and sale time. Especially since I hadn’t gotten so much as a single call from my FOR SALE BY OWNER ads.
“I wish I could stay longer, too. But Ralph called this morning and it seems that the entire world is going to crumble if I don’t return by the weekend. At least, you know Ralph, that’s how he makes it sound. It’s only been a few weeks but alas, I am missed.”
Just then a newer model Honda pulled up and a tall man in his early to mid thirties stepped out. He had a lean build and wore jeans with a white button down and a blue blazer. His hair was slicked back and he wore thick black framed glasses that reminded me of my own. His boots were bright red and pointed at the toe.
“Hi, you must be...Andrea, is it?” he asked with a big smile, shaking my hand. “I’m Easton Feather, but you just you can just call me East because that’s what all my friends call me and I can tell from the second that we spoke on the phone that we are going to be great friends.”
Preppy, The Life & Death of Samuel Clearwater, Part TWO (King) Page 7