Potholes

Chapter 7

L.A. and Tulip drove down the dark desert road back towards L.A.'s ranch. Neither talked as soft jazz music filled the air. The silence between them was relaxed, rather than awkward. He turned his head slightly towards her to see her looking up out of the window at the glittering of stars in the sky. He turned his eyes back towards the road as he thought about the rest of their night. He pulled up to the side of his house and parked the car before getting out and opening Tulip's door for her. She thanked him softly as she followed him into his house. As he flipped on the light switches in his living room, he could see Ace sitting laying on the couch, looking irritated by the sudden disturbance.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'm going to run up and grab the stuff. Do you prefer pipe of blunt?"

"Either is fine. A pipe would be less clean up." She answered as she sat on the couch and began to rub Ace's exposed belly.

"Do you want some more comfortable clothes to change into?"

"Your girl, Bird, left some shorts over here?" She smirked, looking up at him.

"I can call you an Uber right now. Maybe the driver wants to hear your jokes." He glared at her, causing her to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I had to do it. Yes, I would love some comfortable clothes." She smiled sweetly at him after she finished laughing. L.A. cut his eyes at Tulip, causing her laughter to start again. He shook his head and walked up the stairs to fetch everything. As he walked up the stairs, he saw Spade sitting at the top of the stairs and looking at him.

"Hey, bud." He bent down to scratch the cat behind his ear before continuing to his bedroom. He walked over to his dresser, opened the sock drawer, and pulled out a black velvet knapsack that held his yellow glass pipe, a lighter, rolling papers, grinder, and blacked-out zip lock snack bags. He placed it on top of the dresser and closed the sock drawer. He opened some other drawers and grabbed some sweatpants and a t-shirt for himself. He dug deeper into the drawers, finding a t-shirt and some sweatpants that were too small for him. He changed quickly and threw his old clothes onto the bed. He walked back down to the living room to see Ace curled up in Tulip's lap and Spade sitting beside her as she scratched his head. All three looked up at him when he hit the floor.

"Here you go," He handed her the clothes, "there's a bathroom down the hall, second door on the right, that you can change in."

"Thank you. Do you have any wipes or an old rag I can use to wash this makeup off my face?"

"Yeah, let me go grab you one." He walked down the hall and opened the doors to his washer and dryer. He grabbed a clean dark blue rag out of the dryer and walked back into the living room. He handed her the rag and she thanked him while easing Ace off her lap and onto the couch. She got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom. While she was changing, L.A. walked over to his coat closet and grabbed 2 large blankets. He took the blankets and his velvet knapsack and put it all in the backseat of his truck. He came back inside and searched his kitchen for snacks, since they were about to start smoking and they hadn't eaten at the restaurant. He grabbed a couple bags of chips, a pack of cookies, a couple cans of soda, and 2 bottles of water. He went back to the coat closet, found an old backpack, and put the snacks in it. By the time he zipped the backpack up, Tulip emerged from the bathroom with her folded dress and heels in her arms. Her hair was pulled up into a large puff that sat on the top of her head, and she was practically swimming in his clothes. He chuckled to himself as he watched her trudge across the floor in the sweatpants that devoured her legs and feet.