I can't Hurt You - Marcus Lopez Arguello

65

The next night had come meaning our plan to get explosives was now in action. Marcus and I stood outside the Adolescents show venue waiting for the rest of the Rats to get here. The others were off doing other things. Saya had to go scope out Chester's hideout once again. I'm not sure why but then again, better safe than sorry. Maria had her own issues to deal with, being bipolar and off her meds and all. And Willie... well Willie was on the run. Saya told us he ran off with his new girlfriend trying to get away from our mess. Naive of him to think that he'll be able to hide from Lin or El Diablo if they find out everything he was involved in, though.

"Wonder why Lex picked this show." Marcus asked as we both leaned on a wall outside.

"I'll bet you money it's because he already had tickets and didn't wanna miss it." I teased.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He laughed.

"I don't mind, though. Punk music is kinda cool." I said.

"You like Punk music?" Marcus asked like it was the most unlikely thing for me to be interested in.

"Fuck yeah, it's cool as hell." I smiled.

"I think it's overrated." He teased.

"I think you're overrated." I made a snarky remark to which he laughed.

"Hey guys." Billy said as he came up to us with the other Rats.

"Took you long enough, assholes." I said as Marcus and I leaned off the wall and walked towards them.

"We didn't exactly have a car to get here." Petra pointed out.

"Neither did we." Marcus defended.

"Saya said you borrowed her bike." Billy said.

"She may have given us a ride. Not important, though. Let's get in there and get these explosives, yeah?" I said as I walked towards the entrance of the venue, everyone following in excitement.

Once we opened the doors and stepped through I realized it was more crowded than I expected. Music blasted through the huge speakers in the front and there was either a dude with a Mohawk or a chick with dark makeup everywhere you looked. I'm guessing because it was so crowded that's why it was hot as shit inside. Nonetheless I didn't complain and instead made my way towards the bar so we could all figure out where the fuck Lex's contact was.

"Ugh. West coast punk. The yanks stole it from us and ruined it." Lex complained as we walked through the crowd not wanting to lose each other.

"You're high. Punk started here. The Stooges, the MC5-" Billy disagreed before Petra cut him off.

"Home-scene pride is some thinly-laundered self-congratulation." Petra hinted that Billy's statements were turn offs.

"Right, there's plenty of great shit from both camps." Billy changed his statement quickly.

As we made it to the bar Marcus and I turned around to look at our punk friends.

"Who are we looking for?" Marcus yelled over the music.

"Oh, you'll know him when you see him." Lex said before he started leading the way towards his contact.

I chuckled a bit before taking a hold of Marcus's hand and following Lex to a group of shady looking dudes.

"All the colors of the punk costume rainbow." Marcus said as he looked around at all the punks.

Lex went up to one man in specific who was tall and quiet. He didn't look punk, but he certainly looked scary.

"Oi, Cactus Jack. Bit overdressed, aren't we?" Lex teased the angry looking man.

"You foreign grommet. You couldn't meet in a seedy parking lot or a crack squat? Had to be at this freak show?" The man spat angrily.

"You two must know each other really well." Billy leaned over Lex's shoulder and teased.

Lex turned around to all of us remembering we were there.

"Oh, meet Cactus Jack. Uh, hard to tell by looking at him, but Jack runs an Army Navy surplus store and really likes blowing things up." Lex said before turning to the man again.

"We can tell." I said under my breath.

"But I don't deal with people I don't know. Strange people." The man said, looking back at us on the last sentence.

Lex turned back around to face us looking a bit scared.

"So, Jack's a little uptight. Hard to believe. Best give me the cash and I'll get the stuff." Lex suggested.

"Mm-mm." Petra disagreed.

"What am I gonna do?" Lex asked defensively.

"Buy a bunch of drugs and booze." I suggested.

"Yeah, your suspicion is rightfully warranted. Take it or leave it." Lex gave us no option.

We all looked at each other mentally asking ourselves if this was a good idea or not. It's Lex, of course it's a bad idea, but it's the only idea.

"Fine." I gave up.

"After you get everything, stash it in the comic shop. Back loading area." Marcus took the money out of his pocket and handed it to Lex hesitantly.

"The rest of us, meet there tomorrow. 8:00 pm." I said.

Everyone nodded in agreement before Lex turned around and walked off with the angry man. The music in the show then started to get louder. Well, since business was done for today, why not have a little fun?

"Let's get closer." I suggested.

"You know my position on that notion." Billy said as he made his way towards the dance floor with no hesitation along with Petra.

"I think I'll head back. Gonna get some rest before we go commit suicide tomorrow." Marcus said as he let go of my hand and made his way towards the entrance.

"Are you crazy? The goddamn Adolescents are playing." I said as I grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"I- I'm not interested." He said.

"It might be your last night on Earth. Let's have some fun." I suggested.

"We have to prep, I-" Marcus tried to make an excuse before I cut him off.

"We've done everything that we can do. The rest is out of our hands." I pointed out.

"I mean, I just don't want to get beat up by strangers." He said as he looked at the crowd of people dancing violently.

"Slam dancing, it's not like that. It's a pure expression of their enthusiasm and joy for music. It looks violent but it's not. It's play fighting." I explained as I pointed out people in the crowd.

"Mm-hmm." Marcus mumbled as he stared out into the crowd.

"Quit being so goddamn judgmental and you might actually enjoy yourself. Contrary to what you seem to think, life is supposed to be enjoyed." I teased before running into the crowd of dancing people.

I ran into all sorts of different punks as we all danced together. All of us shook our heads violently and ran around in the circle that the crowd had made. It took me a while to realize that Marcus had joined in and was actually enjoying himself.

Ah, slam dancing, the language of the punks.