We Break Promises, Memories Break Us

Hit the Ground Running

                                                            ELI

         Walking down the same street, the same damn street I walk down every single day of my life. You would think that New Jersey has better shit in their borders but no, they don’t. There isn’t a thing for a teenager to do, except walk down the same street, and meet the gang in the same alley. I guess these guys are decent, I can get a bunch of shit from them, so I am never without my nicotine. That’s all that I will really touch. Jason is more of the one that is in to the whole marijuana and beer scene. Don’t get me wrong, I have tossed a few of those suckers back in my lifetime, and I have taken a hit or two, choking on my lungs the whole time, but I just don’t like the feeling. I know that the cigarettes are bad for my lungs. I’ll quit at some point, its no big deal, I am not addicted, and it is just comforting when I need it in my life. Currently, I need half a pack a day in my life, and at sixteen, it isn’t quite accessible, but that is what I have Jason and Miles for, my homeboys. They have my back and I have theirs.

            I walk over to the alley, secluded behind a dumpster in between two apartment buildings, I meet up with the guys. Jason has Patrik standing as a lookout. I have no clue why; the cops don’t really care what teenagers do during the day on their Sunday afternoons. As I walk closer to the back of the alley, I realize why Patrik was so jumpy. Jason was in the corner of the alley exchanging a deal. If Patrik wants to be inconspicuous, he should just calm the hell down, that is one quick way to get the cops to catch on. But you have to work your way up the ranks. That’s what I had to do. I started on cop watch. I don’t know, I guess I had a knack for it. Maybe that is how I made it up to be one of Jason’s buds pretty quick. I get the respect. He doesn’t harp on me that I don’t do the hard shit. Jay is just fine providing me with my cigarettes when I need them, and he trusts me to do my own thing.

            I walk back when he finishes up, and the kid leaves. I always hate to be associated with this sort of stuff. One night in jail was enough for me to deal with.

            “Hey Bro,” I greeted him, “anything good while I was gone?”

            “Nah, Eli, just that one. Hey, how did Pat do with bacon duty?”

            “Man, he’s jumpy as hell, but he will do for now. At night you may want someone else to watch him though, just to be safe. But he will be a good one to keep around.”

            When we heard sirens, we took off running. Jay is usually good about screening his clients, but you never know who would try to catch him. Me knew our way around the alley. We basically have trap doors set up so that we can get somewhere else that the cops usually don’t know we have. Our strategy—take off, stay out of the main streets and meet up at the Starbucks twenty five minutes later. It tends to be a solid plan. Forty five seconds into our disperse we hear the sirens roll past us, we were safe for now, but just in case, we all head in separate directions towards the coffee shop, but we were all walking at this time, no need to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. That is what I love about these streets, as long as you don’t cause attention for yourself, everyone will pretty much leave you the hell alone. The only people who get remotely any attention from passer-bys are the screaming kids who get upset that their parent will not allow them to go get an ice cream.

            Today however, is a little different. It feels like everyone is staring at me. It’s like those dreams that you have where you go to school and you forgot to put your damn pants on. I actually looked down to make sure I had my pants on, just to be on the safe side. I have no clue what is wrong with these people. I don’t think I did anything noteworthy today. But maybe I am being paranoid with this whole almost being chased by the 5-O. All I know is that I will be relieved when I step into that stupid coffee shop.            

            A few blocks later I walked through the Starbucks, and I saw Jay sipping on some fruity ass drink with his damn pinky in the air, smiling. I walked over to the table and blurted out the first words that could form.

            “What the hell happened, Jay?”

            “Oh, well you see,” he started, cocky as shit, “I came in here, I was waiting for you and Pat, and I was getting thirsty, so I wanted to see what the hype was about these rich people drinks. They are actually pretty good, try a sip,” he passed the cup towards me and I just pushed it away. I sat down next to him at the table while we were waiting for Patrik. I honestly hope he didn’t get himself lost again.

            After sitting there for a few minutes I started people watching. There was that artsy girl with a venti whatever the hell you want to call it in one had and some French literature book in the other. There was that old man with that black coffee and a newspaper. But then there was this other girl, she looked like she couldn’t be more than 13, but she was carrying around a brand new, expensive laptop and the new iPod touch. I have seriously wanted to get my hands on one of those for months, but I am not stupid enough to start stealing them. I still couldn’t believe that she was like 13 and by herself in the Starbucks; I guess that’s how the rich kids spend their Sundays. Hey maybe the mall is over capacity or something. That actually made me chuckle out loud. Jay looked over at me, looking as if he missed the joke, I just pointed over in the rich girl’s direction and he just nodded in understanding.

            “I wonder if we could bring her to the dark side,” Jay stated out loud, although I am not sure if it was to himself, to me, or just in general.

            “Right, lets bring some rich girl into a drug ring, good thinking ace, if you wanted a nark you could have said something, I could have sold you out a long time ago.”

            Jay just stared at me, unsure of what to make of what I just said. All he could muster was a “whatever jackass,” and that was that.

            A few minutes later Patrik came storming though Starbucks like his pants were on fire. I guess he was stupid enough to go back, and our pad got raided. Ok, so we weren’t in the Hotel Bel-Air, but still home was home and I am going to take what I could get. Jay, Patrik, and I ran out the door of Starbucks. I hope Patrik wasn’t shitting with me; I had a rough enough day as it was, and I didn’t need him to mess it up.

            When we finally got back to Casa de la Alley it was obvious that the cops rolled through here, and they were obviously looking for something. I am secretly hoping that Jay’s last deal was the last of his current dope shipment or we were going to be out of a bunch of money, and Viktor would be shitting bricks because his goods were manhandled. Well, at least that is the wordage that he used.

            Now it was time for me to lay bricks. I have no clue where I am going to crash tonight. Jay’s crib is obviously out, since the cops are honestly on to us, and there is no way in hell that I am going back to my house.