Drama Queen (Kurt Cobain)

34

The next morning Kurt's friend would be there. I woke up at an odd hour while it was still dark. River was asleep beside me. I didn't realize what woke me up until there was another knock. And then another, then another. It was ridiculous, the person on the other side of the door would not stop knocking. I looked at River,  his head on my stomach, sleeping calmly. But there was also an urgency to the situation. I couldn't get up without waking him. I gently shook him and his eyes opened slowly. I pointed towards the door. He waited a second until they knocked again and then got up. As soon as he opened the door two short tattooed gang guys grabbed him by his hair.
"If you don't cooperate, we'll cut your hair off, or worse, your head." One man spoke as he flashed his knife.
"What do you want?" River asked calmly.
"The money you owe us." The other man spoke.
"Okay, I'm going to go get it." He said. The man let him go and River shut and locked the door behind him. He went upstairs and came back with at least 5,000 dollars in cash. He opened the door and gave the man the money. He counted it.
"Thanks." He said.
"Not a problem." River said calmly.

"What the fuck?" I said. He shut the door. He laid down beside me again in the place that he was asleep before without answering and fell asleep again within 15 minutes. I played with his hair for a bit and reached across the coffee table for the tv remote. River was two years younger than me. Both of us born during the Vietnam war. I didn't know much about his past, we didn't talk about it, but I assumed it was rough. He was a a baby, twenty two going on twenty three the next year. I turned the tv to reruns of Ed Sullivan. River was gripping my shirt with his life and seemed quite restless. I put my arm over him and he calmed down.

I didn't like to talk about my past, I assume for the same reasons River avoided his, but I didn't know. I inspected his hand. Half a dozen little dots on the veins, from needles. Word of advice, heroin addicts rarely inject into their arms like in the movies. He began snoring.
"Shit now I wish I would've fallen asleep before you." I whispered softly and then smiled. I brushed his hair out of his face with my hand. I wondered if that was considered cheating, but I didn't really care. I fell asleep shortly after that.

I woke up when it was light out. River was trying to get away from me without waking me up, but he failed. He smiled.
"Good morning." He said happily. I whined a bit.
"What time is it?" I sighed.
"Noon." He laughed. He walked into the kitchen.
I laid back down on the couch. River walked over to me and sat down.
"Have you ever been to Disneyland?" he asked. I shook my head.
"We should go sometime. Not today considering it's rainy. But sometime." He smiled.
"Sounds good."