deadly nightshade | fever in, fever out

chapter 31: the three droogs

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."

"Isn't it fantastic?"
Belinda held up a sheet of pearly white stained glass about the size of a foot long sandwich from the shelf on the side of the room, and by the mere look on her face, Sam could see she was eager to make something out of it. The swirled milky grains shone in the overhead lights; Sam thought about the man in her dreams, and also of Alex, all by the very sight of it.
Class hadn't started yet and Marla hadn't showed up for art history earlier that morning but Belinda was eager to share some of what she had worked with over the summer term. As white as the little sliver in Alex's hair. As clean and crisp as the cool night of upstate New York.
Sam rested her chin in the palm of her hand. She sort of forgot what Alex's voice sounded like: she only knew it was so far removed from his face and little boy body. Belinda set the glass against the edge of the table and then leaned it onto the surface. She then ran her hand over the top of the glass.
"I love this opaque glass," Belinda told her. "Back in June, I tried to convince Miss Estes to make a window comprised of nothing but this type of opaque glass."
"And did you?" asked Sam.
"Nah, she was like 'it's too expensive, though!' But it's weird because I've been trying to make my window since August, and yet it's just on my own time, terms, and money. It just makes sense for me to do it. But she talked me out of it, though." Belinda shrugged and returned her attention to the glass under her hand.
"Can I touch it?" Sam asked her.
"Touch it? Yeah! Besides, it's just us here." Sam reached across the table and brushed her fingers against the edge of the glass. Indeed, it had such a rough texture and it made her think of the ridges on a piece of vinyl. Even with the glass upon the surface of the table, she couldn't hardly stop thinking about Alex and the little sliver in his hair, or the man in her dreams. She flashed back on what Cliff had said about his own hair and the little black streak on the side.
She thought of Cliff. She needed to see him again, given she only got to see him for the first day of school, but she knew they were in the studio at that point. All the way over in the impending darkness of Denmark. All he gave her prior to their leaving California was a phone call and a blow of a kiss.
"I don't know why," she confessed to Belinda, "but when I look at this glass, I think of—this boy I met over the summer."
"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows and gave her blonde hair a slight toss back from her shoulder with a flick of her head.
"Yeah, well—it's actually two boys, to be honest."
"Oh, wow. My goodness."
"They're both musicians—guitar players, actually. One's a bassist, the other is a straight up guitarist."
Belinda rounded the side of the table so she could come closer to her. She folded her arms over the cold metal surface and brought her face closer to hers: Sam could smell the floral perfume on the side of her neck and her hair. She dropped her gaze to the serpent around her neck as it glimmered under the overhead shop lights.
"Care to share?" she asked her in a low voice.
"It's just us here," Sam pointed out.
"Indeed, it is. We might not even have class today for all we know." She shrugged her blonde hair brushed against her shoulders.
"Okay. Promise not to say anything to Marla?"
"Why not?"
"I just don't really wanna talk about it to her."
"Hm, twisted. But—yeah, I'll keep it between us."
"Okay. The bassist is Cliff, the guitarist is Alex." She stopped herself when Alex's name slipped out. She never really met him, but at the same time, she and Belinda were still new to one another. She could keep it under lock and key with a fresh new canvas and yet she also had a means of sharing it with someone.
"Tell me about Alex. Start with Mr. Guitarist first."
"Well, he's—really handsome. He's already going gray, though."
"Older guy!" she declared.
"No. Young guy. Young boy who's already going gray."
"Oh, my." Belinda knitted her eyebrows together. "Young boy?"
"Yeah, he's—he's still in high school."
"Does he like you back?"
"I dunno, to be honest," Sam confessed.
"You should ask him," she suggested. "Does he live in New York?"
"Out West."
"Oh my god! Sounds like a pen pal type of thing. You should write to him and tell him via letter."
"I could pick out some nice stationary and make it smell good," Sam quipped. "Like spritz down the paper a little bit with some of my perfume."
"Yes, yes!" Belinda's face lit up at the sound of that. "Make it sexy and sweet, too." She flashed her a wink.
"Lead him into it nice and good. Or—you know—when I get to see him, I can lead him into it." Belinda's eyes twinkled at the sound of that.
"What about the bassist now?"
"He's a classical cowboy," Sam started.
"Classical? Like—with the moccasins and the spurs on his boots?"
"Nah, that's just what I call him. He learned classical music first, and then country music. Classical cowboy."
"Wow. That's gotta be some good pickin' with his fingers." Belinda winked at her a second time, to which Sam scoffed and rolled her eyes at that.
"It's just friendly between us," she assured Belinda. "I also have another guy looking at me right now, too. I dunno 'bout that one."
"You gotta have some conversation," Belinda told her. "Even I can tell you that—" She lifted her gaze to the stairwell on the side of the room. "—and there's Marla."
Sam looked over at Marla, who stood on the middle part of the stairs.
"Hey," Sam called to her.
"Hey," Marla retorted back to her.
"I'm gonna assume—just by the look on your face," Belinda started, "class is cancelled today."
"Yeah," Marla replied with a nod of her head, and she turned her attention to Sam again. "You got any more classes today?"
"Just my writing class. It's way later today, though."
"Okay. 'Cause Charlie's here—he offered to take us to lunch." She nodded at Belinda. "Would you like to come along, Bel?"
"Oh, yes please. I got nothing else, so I might as well." Belinda picked up the sheet of pearly white glass and carried it back to the shelf.
"He'll take us to the rehearsal spot given it's right nearby and then we'll get some pho or something. Aurora's there."
"Aurora Borealis," Sam declared as she picked up her things; Belinda doubled back and fetched her purse from the back of the chair. The two of them sauntered up the stairs and they followed Marla back outside. Even though it was nearly October, New York City still basked with lingering summer warmth and the sun still high in the sky; the three of them put their sunglasses on over their faces in unison.
Charlie had posted up at the curb, not too far from the front door. He had tied his thick dark curls back behind his head to accentuate the roundness of his face; the dark rims of his sunglasses shone under the midday sun.
The three girls congregated next to him: Sam lifted her gaze over to the trees across the street, and the leaves, which began to turn from that bright summer green and into a rich shade of orange. Some of them had already fallen off with the incoming autumn. She thought of that man, Dave, and the rift he had between James and Lars, and she wondered how he was doing back out West himself.
"So are we gonna walk or—?" Belinda asked him.
"We might as well," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Our spot is right up the street here. Aurora got something already."
"Oh, goodie!" Marla proclaimed as she gave Charlie a kiss on the side of his neck as part of her hello to him.
The four of them strode up the sidewalk, towards the corner: indeed, Sam made sight of their rehearsal spot up the street. She adjusted the frame of her sunglasses before they crossed the hot blacktop and made their way up there. A slight breeze fluttered through her dark hair and it in turn sent a shiver down her spine. Autumn was upon them: a few dried leaves tumbled into the storm drain next to them, and she thought of little cups of hot chocolate and s'mores comprised around a fireplace.
Aurora stood on the doorstep with her hands stuffed into her black jeans pockets and her face pointed up to the sky. The midday sun shone upon her sunglasses and so bright that they could see her even from the street corner. Her jet black hair glistened as though it was soaking wet.
"Aurora Borealis!" Charlie called out and his voice echoed across the street. She lowered her gaze into their direction and she waved at them. Sam spotted a few bright purple bracelets on her wrist.
"You guys are just in time!" Aurora said once they came within earshot. "There's a bunch of pizza in here that needs to be eaten."
"Oh, boy," Sam remarked as she ran her fingers through her hair. Zelda poked her head out from behind Aurora: Sam almost didn't recognize her given she had combed her black hair back and soaked it wet for herself. "Oh, hey, Zelda!"
"Peek a boo," she greeted them.
"Got the whole gang here, don't we?" Charlie declared.
"Indeed!" said Aurora, and she brought her attention to Marla and Belinda.
"Aurora, this is my friend Belinda," the former introduced her. "She's a bit of a rocker chick herself."
"The more, the merrier!" Aurora declared with her arms outstretched. "C'mon in."
"Yeah, c'mon in, gang!" Frank called out from inside the building. The four girls filed inside after Zelda, only to be greeted by a bit of cool air from a fan on the window sill as well as the warm aroma of pizza, and Charlie shut the door behind him. Frank had set up a table and, indeed, a dozen boxes of pizza stood in a couple of columns on the surface: meanwhile, he had brushed his lush hair back from his face.
"Ladies first," Frank beckoned them with a gesture to the stack of paper plates. The five girls were quick to serve themselves up plates of pizza and then Charlie and Frank themselves followed right behind them.
"Danny—Lilker—and I think Billy are both gonna be here soon," Charlie told them. "And then I think Scott, other Dan—"
"Spitz," Sam blurted out as she took two slices of pepperoni pizza for herself: she noticed a bit of mozzarella cheese in the crust.
"Mr. Spitz!" said Marla; she plopped down next to Frank.
"The amazing Danny Spitz," Charlie continued as he took his seat next to her with his plate upon his lap. "Scott, Dan, and Joey are gonna be here like—any minute."
"The dudes from Legacy aren't here, though," Zelda told them.
"Legacy," Belinda muttered.
"Our pals Legacy," Charlie stated, and he crossed his legs and kept his pizza close to his body. And then his face lit up. "Oh! There's gonna be another guy here—a friend of mine." He turned to his right. "I think I told you about him, Marla. Big John."
"Oh, yeah, I think you mentioned him last week," she recalled; Sam and Aurora took their seats across from them.
"I hope he'll be here because he's really cool—" He turned his attention to Zelda, who hovered in between Sam and Aurora. "—and he's a drummer."
"Oh, cool!"
Belinda stood next to her and Marla turned her head a bit to see them right behind them.
"Have a seat, girls," Frank encouraged Zelda and Belinda.
"I've been sitting for a long time," the former told him.
"And I've been standing all day long," said the latter, "I'm kinda used to it at this point." Sam turned her head for a look back at her, just in time for a view at her pulsating her fingers.
"Holding glass and tools and stuff all morning long," Belinda muttered, and her face lit up. "Hold Alex and Cliff on either side of you."
Charlie gagged on his pizza and Zelda burst out laughing. Frank gaped at Sam and Marla and Aurora both raised their eyebrows at that.
"Belinda!" Sam snapped as she turned around a little bit in her seat so she could face her straight on.
"I'm so sorry—that just slipped out," she said with a wave of her free hand.
"You told me you'd keep it a secret!"
"Sam, you haven't even met Alex," Marla pointed out, horrified.
"Well, you should talk to him when you get the chance," Belinda encouraged her. "Get to know him."
"But he's sixteen, though," Sam insisted.
"Seventeen," Aurora corrected her. "His birthday was yesterday."
"Wait." Sam frowned at that. "What's the date today?"
"The thirtieth. Alex's birthday is the twenty ninth."
"Aw, happy belated, Alex," said Belinda as she raised up her cup of coffee. "Little Libra boy."
"That's probably why he's so graceful with a guitar," Marla suggested.
"Probably graceful with a few other things, too," Frank joked, and that brought a laugh out of Marla and Charlie. Sam rolled her eyes and ducked out of the room with her plate of pizza in hand, furious. She bowed out of the building and back out to the street. If she could take the subway back to her place, she would do it. Just get away from all of them for a while.
But she had her writing class later on that day, thus instead, she stood at the curb and brought a hand to her face. She need not be seen by the people of New York City that she was about to burst into tears.
"Sam?" Belinda called out the door.
"Get away from me," Sam barked at her. "No—get the hell away from me!" She stepped down into the dry storm drain. She was about to take a seat on the curb and eat her lunch alone.
"Sam, I'm sorry—okay? I didn't mean to do that! It just—it just came out of me."
Sam whirled around so Belinda could see the tears in her eyes. Indeed, she saw tears in Belinda's eyes. She let her shoulders relax and she held her paper plate close to her chest.
"Why did you do that?" Sam demanded in a hushed voice. "Especially when you said you'd keep it a secret."
"I told you," Belinda insisted as she brushed away a tear, "it just came out of me. I thought it would make for a nice little joke. I'm such an idiot, I'm sorry."
"It kind of was a joke, too," Sam told her. "But it wasn't very good, though."
"Well—do you like him, though?" Belinda persisted with a sniffle.
"Like him like him?" Sam raised an eyebrow, to which Belinda slowly nodded her head. "Belinda, he's still a teenager, though. He's a senior in high school. I'm twenty."
"You know—my first crush was a dude in high school," she told her as Sam strode on closer to her.
"And how old were you?"
"I was in middle school." Belinda fetched up a sigh and slipped her fingers into her jeans pockets. "He was a sophomore in high school."
"Yeah, but you guys were both around the same age, though," Sam pointed out.
"You guys are around the same age, too," Belinda said. "You're twenty and he's seventeen."
"And how old were you?" Sam asked her.
"I was thirteen and he was sixteen."
"Younger than us."
"Younger than you. So do you like him?"
"I dunno," Sam confessed.
"You dunno? What do you mean you dunno?"
"I just don't. Besides, I already have a bit of a crush on Cliff right now."
"On Cliff! I've often thought about wanting to befriend him."
"You should," Sam told her with a wag of her finger. "Cliff is such a sweet heart." Belinda brought her finger tips to her lips and Sam noticed some tears rested upon her eyelashes. She opened her arms for her: she only knew Belinda for a couple of weeks but she needed that, even if it was only with one arm. Sam held her plate of pizza right behind her blonde head.
"You know who else is a sweet heart?" she began with her face lowered down towards her ear.
"Who?" Belinda asked in a muffled voice.
"You are."
She sniffled again and then she lifted her head from Sam's chest.
"By the way, I was just joking with Alex," she assured Belinda, even though she had nothing else to fill in for herself. "Really, if anyone in here asks, it was just a little joke between us. It's nothing serious."
And then Belinda nodded and showed her a little smile at that; the serpent around her neck glimmered with the light on the street.
"And promise me something," Sam started again with her face close to hers. "Like—pinky promise me—" She stuck out her free pinky finger for her to hook up. "—that you won't tell anyone about this."
Belinda linked fingers with her.
"Pinky promise."
Sam leaned in to her face.
"I want to draw Joey in the full nude," she whispered to her. Belinda raised her eyebrows at that.
"Really? Does—he know?"
"I've mentioned it before but I don't think he realized I was serious about it. I have my journal in my purse, though, if you'd like to see some sketches I made. But—I don't really want to share them with you just yet."
"Why's that—" And then she stopped right in her tracks. "—oh, right."
"Maybe when we get a moment, I'll show you." Sam then held the plate before her. "But anyway, let's go back inside and clear the air in there."
They walked inside in unison, and Sam kept her gaze fixated on Marla and the baffled expression on her face.
"We were just joking around," Sam assured her as she returned to her spot.
"I had a feeling that was the case," said Marla with a nod of her head. "She did that with me right before Charlie and I got together."
"Except it was with me," Frank recalled before he took a bite of pizza.
"Bel's just got this sense of humor," Marla continued. "You mention a guy in your periphery and she'll wanna make jokes about it."
"Did she cry when you didn't react to it well?" Sam asked her.
"I don't think she did," she answered as she brought her slice of pizza up to her lips. "I think we just laughed about it because we both knew we were joking."
Sam then turned around for a look back at Belinda, who stood right next to Zelda; she flashed her a wink before she took a bite of her pizza. Indeed, she never actually properly met Alex before, but her own thoughts began to catch up with her. But on the other hand, she never met him before. As far as she knew, he didn't know she existed.
And yet, she had Cliff and Joey by her sides. She needed not a third boy before her. She had to come closer to Cliff first, and there was no way she could forget about Joey, either. Two guys on either side of her. Add to this, she had Frank and Charlie before her as her good friends.
Alex lingered in the back of her mind, much like the mysterious man in her dreams. But then she recalled what Marla had said about those sort of dreams. Everything was coming together fine for her.
With nothing more, she took a bite of pizza, which was still warm even after she went outside.
"It's all coming together for us," Frank proclaimed, and he brought his glass up to his lips.
"Another month and we're going nuts with the new record," Charlie added.
"Coming and nuts?" Zelda cracked.
"Coming and nuts, exactly!" Charlie said with a straight face.
"All these veggies are about as fresh as that," Aurora declared with a mouthful of bell peppers, and Sam couldn't help but laugh at that.