Chapter 2
At the end of the day I find a note inside of my locker. It's from Elly. I open it up and it contains a phone number which I presume to be hers and one sentence.
Don't forget about me :P
A smile forms on my face. I couldn't forget about her even if I wanted. I quickly add her as a contact in my phone, my mom is secretly paying for me to have a phone so she knows I am ok.
I start to head for the buses when Rob passes by and nods for me to follow. We walk out the front doors.
"Where are we going?"
"Ben went home early, pretended to be sick so he didn't have to take a test. He texted me and said his dad's liquor cabinet is full of the good stuff. We're going booze shopping." Rob says smirking.
"Aw shit man," I say in response, smirking as well. I know this is wrong on so many levels but I'm just a go with the flow kind of guy. I like free shit too.
We arrive at Ben's house and he says
we have to make it quick cause his dad gets out soon. We open the cabinet and it is like we have found the holy grail of alcohol. There's so much. Now I know you are thinking, won't his parents notice? No, they won't, they never do, mostly because their cabinet is a liquor store. I grab one bottle of jack, one of the many many Svedka bottles and one of the more empty tequila bottles.
We stuff all of this in Rob's bag and hurry out. Ben stays behind because he has to check in with his dad before he goes anywhere. Rob and I start the hour trek to his house since we missed the buses.
"Tonight is gonna be great!" Rob says punching me in the shoulder.
"Fuck yeah it is," I say laughing.
"Are you gonna invite that Elly chick, she is kinda hot," Rob says.
"Don't you have a girlfriend dude?" Rob laughs at me.
"When has that ever stopped me?"
"You're right," I say and smile tightly. I feel a wave of jealousy roll over me. Rob always gets the girl and he always does it right in front of me. I'm not sure how he keeps getting girls, but maybe it has something to do with girls always going crazy when a guy is mysterious and quiet. His straight brown hair probably helps him too. I hate that using girls is like a game to him, but I don't stop him, so I guess it is my fault too. Maybe I shouldn't invite her. Save her the humiliation that is sure to come if she sleeps with Rob tonight.
I have to stop thinking so negatively, maybe she won't sleep with Rob, maybe we will all just chill and have fun. I take out my phone and text her.
How does 5 sound?
My phone beeps 5 seconds later.
What about 6? I've got this essay due on Monday and I want to get it out of the way.
I text her that six is cool and send her Rob's address. Rob's parents pretty much keep to themselves so we are able to do a lot without them noticing, plus they have a decent amount of land so that helps too. I used to think it was pretty nerdy to blow off fun to do school work but I think it is great that Elly has her priorities straight. It kinda makes me want to do my homework.
We arrive at Rob's house with some seriously sore legs and we go up to his room. I fall down on his sofa and take out my homework. Rob gives me a weird look and then gets on his computer to video chat with his girlfriend.
I get about halfway through my homework when I decide to quit out of laziness. I grab the tequila out of my bag and take a swig, pure warmness spreads throughout my body and I relax. I look over at Rob, still on his computer but on a website instead of video chat.
Rob and I hear a car door slam. I can't see who it is from Rob's window so I run downstairs to see. When I get there it's only Ben who appears, with a nice black eye too.
"Whoa! What happened dude?" I ask staring at his swollen eye. He doesn't answer until we are back in Rob's room. Rob comes over when his sees the state of Ben's face.
"My piece of shit Dad finally noticed that we have been jacking booze and he went off on me. I told him to fuck off while I was walking away so he pushed me into the corner of the wall." Ben goes to Rob's mirror and touches his eye.
"My mom gave me a ride here, told me to stay the night cause my dad needs to cool off," Ben says grimacing.
"Here man, you definitely need this right now. Sorry you got in trouble," I say sincerely, handing him the tequila. He takes a big sip and grimaces.
"Man tequila is nasty," Ben says and we all laugh.
I look at my phone and it's only five-thirty. I wish time would move faster. I'm anxious for Elly to get here. I need a distraction.
"Hey Rob, you got any cigs?" I ask. Rob answers by holding out a pack. "Wanna go smoke in the barn?"
Rob nods and we head out to the barn. The barn is back a ways on his parents property so it's good for partying and what not. We usually smoke outside of the barn because Rob is paranoid that if we smoke inside then it will catch on fire. It is close to spring so it's warm and I don't really mind smoking outside.
We smoke a cig and then we sit around enjoying the spring warmth. I love nature, it can be really calming. One of Rob's cats come towards me, mewing softly. An orange tabby named Juice. I scratch between her ears because if I pet her back she tries to bite me. Juice rubs her head on me and leaves bits of her fur behind. Cat hair is the worst to get off clothes, especially when the clothes rarely see a washer. I know it's gross, but I only have a limited amount of resources at my disposal.
I look at my watch, it's five-fifty, I'm anxious for Elly to get here. She makes me feel, I don't know, light. It's crazy, I barely know her and she's making me feel all out of sorts.
"Is Elly coming?" Ben asks while picking at the grass.
"Yeah, at six, she's got some work to finish." I get up off the ground. "Should be here any minute."
"I haven't done homework since middle school," Ben laughs and Rob joins him.
"I'm gonna go check to see if she's here." I turn around to walk to the driveway and I run right into Elly.
"I'm glad you all were so eager for me to arrive!" Elly pats my head and walks past me. "Is this the party? Seems a bit boring, good thing I've got a little something to spice it up." She grabs something out of her sweatshirt and holds it out.
"Are those LSD tabs? Fucking sweet!" Ben says and we come in for a closer look. I'm confused.
"Where did you get this Elly?" How did she even know where to look? This stuff is rare and expensive around here.
"One of my mom's boyfriend's left it at the house so I took it. He's an asshole anyway." Elly shrugs. I'm worried but she doesn't seem to be, so I guess no harm done. I just hope the guy doesn't come back looking for it. Elly gives us each a tab.
"Tastes like earwax," I say, frowning. I swallow the tab because I can't handle the taste.
"I know, I took a couple before I left!" Elly says and we all look at her.
"Elly you drove while on acid? And you've had three tabs already counting right now?" I say pretty concerned but Elly just laughs and shrugs.
"I'm fine, don't I look fine?" She does, she's wearing dark red skinny jeans and a flowery red sweatshirt, her hair is down and curly.
"Yes you do," Rob says to her, taking advantage of the obvious fact that Elly has no idea what she's gotten herself into. Elly smiles at Rob and he winks back at her. Jealousy rises like bile in my throat, I don't know what to do though. I don't know how to flirt, I don't know how to steer her away from him.
"It will take about an hour for it to kick in, or that's what I've been told." I watch Elly carefully because I know she will get hit harder and sooner than the rest of us.
"Let's go back to your room?" I suggest. Rob nods and we head back to the house. When we walk inside Rob's mom Lacey, is right there at the kitchen table.
"Hey you guys, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Elly jumps forward out of nowhere with her hand out.
"I'm Elly Jacobs!" Elly smiles at Lacey. Lacey smiles back and shakes her hand.
"I'm Lacey, Rob's mother." Lacey looks over at us. "What are you guys up to tonight?" I look at Rob, Rob looks at Ben and Elly looks at me. A moment of silence passes in slow motion, must be the acid. Rob breaks the silence.
"We probably just gonna hang around the house or the yard. You know, just around."
"Okay, let me know if you go anywhere else," Lacey says and goes into the living room. Rob always avoids talking to his mom so we probably will end up sneaking out.
Elly skips up the steps to Rob's room, clearly on a whole new level of high. The rest of us trail behind, snickering at Elly's craziness. When we are at the top of the stairs Elly slips and falls backward. Rob is in front of me and behind her so he gets to her first. Elly falls in Rob's arms. He smiles at her.
"It's okay, I have you." Oh god, he sounds like one of those sappy romance movies and then Elly smiles back at Rob.
"Oopsies," she giggles. Really, I can't believe my eyes are seeing this. Well, if she wants to be all googly eyes at Rob then he can have her. It isn't anything new that I don't get the girl and Rob does, I can't protect her, she can make her own decisions.
Rob helps Elly back on her feet and then we pile on to the sofa. Rob grabs the bottle of Vodka, opens it and hands it to Elly. I look away, he's trying to get her more wrecked than she already is. I decline when the bottle is passed to me, I'm already feeling the effects of the acid. Everytime I look around the room everything blurs as I move, my anger at Rob and Elly lessen as a feeling of serenity grabs me.
I start to feel crowded so I lay on the floor and stare at Rob's low ceiling that is covered in posters. I look at one Pepsi poster and the logo starts to swirl around, I close my eyes and it feels like I'm floating.
"This feels amazing doesn't it?" I hear Elly say, I open up my eyes and she's beside me. The sight of her makes my heart beat a hundred miles per hour, I think. I just want to pull her close and never let go. Elly reaches out and runs her fingers through my hair, a blush creeps across her face. Everything is so blurry but her, she is here, she is real and I love her. I barely know her and I love her.
"Your hair is dark brown, Declan." Her voice sounds far away. "It looks black but it isn't. It's so beautiful and soft Declan," she says in what now seems like a far away whisper. She starts to disappear, I try to reach for her but my body doesn't respond. I try to tell her not to leave me, but I fail at that too. I look up and a cloud of dark mist begins to settle on me, blacking out everything.
I wake up drenched in sweat, everything is still black and I begin to panic. My eyes quickly adjust to my surroundings and I can just barely see light coming in from under the door of Rob's room. I slowly make my way over to the light switch, which is by the door. I make it there and I only stepped on one person in the process, but whoever it was didn't wake up. I switch the light on and I see that during our trip everyone had moved to the floor. Rob and Ben start to stir from the light, Elly doesn't. I go over to her.
"Elly wake up, are you ok?" I shake her gently. She just barely opens her eyes and then she shoots up covering her mouth looking at me for help. I point to another door on the other side of Rob's room.
"That's the bath-" She's gone before I finish. I sit on the couch still feeling a bit high, but too sober anyway. I pick up the bottle of vodka and finish what's left.
"That was crazy dude, that acid had me on a whole other level!" Ben says to Rob. Rob nods in agreement.
"Indeed. I can definitely say that I had a good trip, not sure how good Elly is feeling right now though." I look at the bathroom door but she doesn't emerge. Ben and Rob start discussing each other's experience and I go over to the bathroom door, the sink is running.
"Hey Elly, how are you doing in there?" I knock lightly on the door, it opens and Elly is sitting on the toilet looking really sick. I come in and lean against the counter.
"I feel like I need to not be anywhere close to sober right now," Elly says with a sad look on her face.
"I don't think that is a good idea, you look really sick," I try and tell her, but she jumps up.
"I don't give a fuck about what you think Declan!" She storms out, grabs the bottle of jack and takes a very big swig. Elly makes a face but she does keep it down, she hands the bottle to Ben and he hands it to Rob. What a bitch, I was just worried about her, still am, but I don't think I can do anything about it. I'm just trying to have a good time and I can't when she has me feeling crazy. I walk out and grab the bottle of jack from Rob and take a moderate sip. Man I need to calm down and I know exactly the thing for that.
"Everyone, I think it is time for some bud," I announce smiling. "Rob, call the weedman!" Everyone laughs. Rob pulls out his cell phone.
"How much are we getting?" Rob looks at me. I look at Elly.
"Oh, I guess forty dollars worth?" Elly shrugs and smiles. We all smirk at her because we know she doesn't know anything about weed.
"So an eighth? Ok I'm gonna call." Rob goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.
"So an eighth? Ok, I'm gonna call." Rob goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.
"So what is an eighth?" Ben and I laugh at her, she returns our laughing with a dirty stare.
"An eighth is forty dollars worth of weed, wow you must be new to this scene," Ben says, teasing Elly.
Elly sticks her tongue out which only makes her look more cute. I wish I didn't feel like this around her, especially when she clearly wants Rob. I've never felt so...unbalanced because of a girl, it's really messing with me. I want to scream at her because Rob is the worst thing for her, but I also want to hold her in my arms and kiss her. I'm going insane, that's gotta be it.
"Alright, we gotta meet him down the street from Sal's." Rob walks out of the bathroom. Sal's is our go to store and it is pretty cheap.
"When?" I ask.
"Now, let's go. We are going out the back door and be quiet." Rob opens his bedroom door and slowly walks down the stairs. We follow behind.
Rob's back door is across from his front door, usually his mom will watch T.V in her room. Sometimes she watches it in the living room, so we have to be very quiet to not be noticed. I reach the bottom and see that Lacey is in the living room tonight, so I make sure to be extra quiet.
We all safely make it outside and a visible relaxation is seen in our bodies. Still, no one says anything so we begin the trek to Sal's which is about a mile away. We have done this walk plenty of times so it isn't really a big deal.
"So..." Elly says breaking the silence. "What happened to your eye and your eye?" Elly looks at Ben and I. We answer at the same time.
"Shitty dad." Elly frowns, she looks sad.
"Dad's do tend to suck, mines off in some other state doing God know what. I have never even met the guy, but at least he doesn't beat me," she says empathetically.
"True," Ben says. It would be nice if my family never had to deal with my dad. I've tried to get my mom to leave him, but she's too weak. I should probably push her to leave him more or do something, I just don't want to make anything worse on her and my little brother. I called the cops one time and they just left, my dad is good at acting like everything is perfect. When they left, he literally threw me outside and then off the porch. I broke my arm that night and stayed at my best friends place.
Jonah and I have been friends since birth, but I don't hang out with him as much as I should. He is sort of a goody two shoes kinda person, we drink together occasionally but mostly we stay up playing video games. I do have fun hanging out with him and his parents treat me like one of their own, I just am a bad person. So that's why I would rather be walking the streets at ten o' clock then be a good person with Jonah. Rob comes to a stop in front of us.
"Alright, he doesn't want a big crowd so Declan, do you want to go ahead?" Rob gestures down the street, to where I can see the faint outline of a car.
"Sure," I agree and Elly hands me the money.
As I walk toward the car I think to myself that this is pretty sketchy, but my life is based on sketchy events. It only takes a minute to reach the vehicle, it isn't the usual car our guy drives, then again he is always switching up cars. Jake gets out of the driver side and hands me a bag to examine. When everything checks out, I give him the money and start back to my friends.
I get there and Rob is behind Elly, clearly not sober, and he is kissing her neck while she giggles. My heart drops in my chest and I push away the anger that's threatening to burst out of me. Rob stops when he notices me come back. I throw the bag at him and continue to walk back to his house.
The walk back is silent except for the giggles Elly makes as Rob flirts relentlessly with her. I thought she was smart, I guess I was wrong because she's being extremely stupid and naive. Rob is just going to use her for sex and drop her. No more flirting, no compliments, nothing. She's going to be expired milk to him after he gets what he wants. I want to tell her, but she's too far gone to listen to me. Something is going on with her because she isn't doing all of this to have fun, she's doing this to forget something or someone.
Instead of going back inside Rob motions for us to follow him to the barn. It's so dark that I can only see the outline of the barn. We stop outside of the barn and Rob sits down, the rest of us follow suit. Ben pulls out his wooden pipe and Rob packs it.
"Hey Elly, want the first hit?" Rob grins at Elly and hands her the pipe. I toss her a lighter as well. After her hit, which she takes like a champ, she hands it to me. We go around a few times until the pipe is empty. I watch Elly cuddle up to Rob and feel my high dissipate. Ben jumps up out of nowhere.
"I've gotta go, apparently my mother is here and my dad wants to talk. Uh, See you guys later." Ben runs down the path and disappears.
"So, are we gonna do this or what?" Rob stands. I know exactly what he's talking about and I just look away.
"Sure," Elly says not sounding sure at all, sounding scared.
"Alright, I gotta go get something." Rob walks off towards his house.
"I'm scared Declan, I've never had sex before. I want to but not with him." Elly scouts closer to me, I can see that she is shaking.
"Then don't." I look away, it isn't that hard to say no.
"I don't know, I feel like I have no control over it now, I don't want to make him mad. I already told him yes," Elly says quietly.
"Who cares? I won't be mad, I'll be right here. I don't think you should do it." Rob comes back and stands next to Elly.
"You ready?" Rob asks Elly, she looks at me. Just say no Elly, I tell her with my eyes. Please say no, just stay here with me. Elly wobbles as she stands up and she is still looking at me. It's like she wants me to stop him by intervening. Finally she turns away, looking at the ground.
"Yup." They both vanish into the barn.
The anger I've been holding in flies out of me. I punch the tree closest to me, big mistake. Blood bursts from my knuckles and falls to the ground. It stings like a bitch, but I don't care. Pain is better than the crazy anger and jealousy I'm feeling. I walk away from the barn because it makes me sick just being near it. She wanted to have sex with him, she was just messing with me. That's it, she knows that I like her and she was just throwing it in my face.
"Hey dude, I'm gonna go to bed."Rob walks back to his house, Elly is nowhere in sight. He just left her, like I knew he would, she got what she deserved. I go to the opening of the garage to see if Elly is there.
"Elly? Are you alright?" I call out because I don't see her and I'm not too keen on going inside. Elly slowly walks out, still shaking. She looks pretty sober now. There's tears on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I...uh gotta go." More tears fall down her cheeks before she turns and runs away.