Burnouts

A Song for Not Letting Go

Scene 1: Outside The Avenue

Matt Jensen

Danny twists open the cap of Oxy and puts one into his mouth.

"How many of those have you taken?" I asked.

"Not enough."

Jordan nudges Leo and nods toward the window we can see Heather through. "She looks like she's...alright?"

She is laughing with her friends, and he looks at Leo to see if that's a good thing.

"Yeah," Leo said emotionlessly and stepped out of the car.

"Are we going inside?" I questioned. There's no way...

He shakes his head. "Around back." And we let him lead the way past the lights of the building and down the dim pathway that led to the garbage cans and scummy bricks surrounding the back door.

Leo knocks twice and then steps back.

Ned walks out with two bottles of liquor.

"Thanks, man."

Ned gets odd jobs around the city because he can't deal with being stuck working in one place.

"How are you going to cover it up?"

"Do you know how much money is being dropped tonight?" He said enthusiastically. "It's gonna look like they bought us out."

Jordan pulls out a carton of cigarettes and puts one in his mouth.

"Can I get one?" Leo said, passing the vodka to me so that his hands would be empty.

"You smoke now?" Danny said skeptically.

"It's just one."

Jordan gives it to him, and Leo just looks at it between his fingers as if he's still contemplating whether or not he smokes.

"How'd you know about this gig?" I asked Ned.

"One of the cooks from the catering service called me. We met when I used to work at that seafood joint uptown. He's cool. He didn't snitch on me after he saw what I did to the soup bowl."

"...what'd you do to the bowl, Ned?"

"This dickhead math teacher I had in 8th grade came to the restaurant, and I told everyone that I wanted his table. He remembered me, he had this asshole smile on his face and was like 'are you here because you finally dropped out?' And I laughed with him like he was joking and then went in the kitchen and rubbed my nuts all over the bowl his lobster bisque went in."

We looked around at each other with shocked faces and choked laughs. It's just like him to do something so gross and awesome.

"That's disgusting," Danny sighed before ultimately laughing.

"He downed the whole thing and said it was 'too salty.'"

"Jesus," I laughed through the cringing and took a swig from the bottle.

"What are you doing to the stuff in there?" Leo asked, trying not to sound like he cared that much. But we all know why he does.

"Nothing. Relax. I won't do nothing to them if they don't do nothing to me," Ned declared.
"Besides, I'm having enough fun. These dudes fucking spill when they get wasted. I've been hearing the most insane shit all night."

Danny chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be washing dishes?"

"Yeah, but I take a lot of breaks."

"What'd you hear?" Leo asked.