Tuesday Night Tweakin

Two: Gimme The Goods!

        "CD shop, CD shop, CD shop, CD shop," I chant under my breath while following Boyfriend and Girlfriend past the bus stop those kids were at yesterday, and down a staircase that goes underground. "CD shop, CD shop, CD shop, CD shop."

"Have you never been to one?" Girlfriend asks.

"Mm-mmm," I shake my head. "CD shop, CD sh-- Whoa, what's this?" My first thoughts of it being an underground tunnel are... Kind of correct? There's a loud noise that echoes from the distance like a tank hitting the breaks while going at full speed. It starts up again and barrels away. I thought we were going to walk there. People flow in the opposite direction to leave as we come up to a blockade with rounded-off spikes. I put my hand on Girlfriend's shoulder to hold her back. "That looks like a trap."

She takes a card out of her hair and smacks it onto the blockade. A green light blips and, despite my loud high-pitched protests, she walks up to the side of the round spikes and pushes on it, making it to the other side as she stepped into the gaps between them. She hands her card off to Boyfriend, and he does the same thing. He reaches over to give me the card. "Skebai."

I take it and look down at the grey card with different colored arrows on it pointed to the right. Words on the left corner read MetroPass. The hell is a Metro? Girlfriend leans over the block holding the spikes. "MC, you put it on the scanner." She points to the off-colored circle with an ✘ and a ✓ below it. I lay the card onto it, and the checkmark blips green. "Now push the thingy to walk through."

I look at the spikes. "What if it kills me?"

"It won't kill you," she giggles. I push on the cold metal and insert my body between the space of the next one and shuffle through to not touch them. Popping out on the other side, Boyfriend and Girlfriend both give me small applause. "You did it!"

"Didn't think it was possible," a lower and gravelly voice starts from ahead of us, "but you found someone dumber than yourselves." The voice comes from behind me, and I see a guy with slicked-back orange hair. His brows are furrowed, but he raises them upon seeing me. He wears a forest green long-sleeved sweater under a short-sleeved lime green shirt and brown khakis. "Hey, did you just move here from Stupid Town?"

I shake my head. "I'm from Utah." I stick my hand out with a smile. "Nice to meet you!"

He smirks, pleased with my introduction as he accepts my shake. "Pico." He crosses his arms and resumes his hard expression. "You don't know what a turnstile is?"

"Mmm, no." I put a finger to my chin. "I don't even know why we're underground." The noise blares again, and I cover my ears as I yell at Pico. "Or why it's so loud!"

Pico laughs and points his thumb at me as he turns to Boyfriend. "Who's this dumbass you're with, BF?"

"That's MC, and they're not a dumbass," Girlfriend answers for him.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and moves our group along to an escalator. "So, what is it you like to do, MC?" I clutch the rubber side of the escalator as to not fall off. Never been on one that moved so quickly. This thing is steeper than I thought it would be.

"Uhh..." I move up a step and place my feet on the yellow landing below. "I'm a mechanic. I shoot guns for fun, though. And Tetris. Tetris is fun." We shuffle to a large hall that gives mall vibes. There's a giant tunnel with a different landing on the other side, with people standing behind wide yellow and black lines on both sides to mark caution. We put our toes on the very edge of the line. Pico crosses his arms as he leans his body forward to see down the tunnel without moving his feet onto the yellow.