fires and floods. | dominic fike

13

Aleida sat in the dealing room, finishing up the last of her orders. There were two more customers left for pick up and she would be done for the day. Natti, her wife, had gone to bed a while ago, leaving the music blasting from the speaker and cigarette in between her lips to keep her company. She flipped through one of the random magazines on the coffee table, one she had already read but liked it enough to scan over again.

Her reading was interrupted by Dominic stumbling in, evidently sick but he was trying his hardest to keep his composed.

"Hey, Napa," Dominic made his way to the chair across the coffee table, plopping himself down. Aleida's eyes followed his slumped figure, her eye brows furrowing.

"Hi." She simply said. "You look like shit."

"Yeah, I'm just getting over a fever right now." Dominic rubbed the tip of his nose, covering his mouth as he said so. Something he did when he lied.

"Oh. You're not on my list for today." Aleida spoke, going to the clipboard and scanning the list once more to see if she possibly missed him.

"I know, I was just wondering if I could get some... coke." Dominic strained out, trying to be as casual as possible. A few seconds went by, which felt like minutes, and Dominic felt antsy. He could sense Aleida's hesitancy, and he was trying his hardest to persuade her to sell to him.

"Just a small amount, nothing crazy." Dominic shrugged, playing off his request as minimal as possible. Aleida's face turned into one of Are you kidding me? She didn't like what the boy was trying to pull right now.

"I can't do that, Dom." Aleida huffed through her teeth, going back to her magazine.

"Oh, you don't have any?" Dominic's head slightly tilted out of confusion. NapaK was always stocked.

"I do. I just can't. I have weed. There's some new strains if you wanna go look in the cabinet. I'll let you take a couple Gs on the house." Aleida used the magazine in her hands to point in the direction of the white cabinet that was bolted to the wall, with glass doors to show the many jars with labels and the plant in them. Dominic turned back around, sucking air through his teeth.

"I think coke should be fine."

He was pushing it and Aleida didn't know how to subtly get him to not buy coke from her.

"I can get you psychedelics. My cousin sells acid, LSD, shrooms. Whatever you wanna try, I can get it for you, on me." Aleida ignored yet another coke request from the boy, finally setting the magazine down and clasping her hands as she rested her elbows on top of her knees. Her long brown wavy hair hung over her shoulders, and in his moment Dominic could see what features Celeste truly shared with her mother.

"Aleida, I just want the cocaine." Dominic softly spoke bluntly.

Aleida sat for a minute, unsure on how to handle the situation. "I can't do that, mijo," She shrugged, "I am offering you other suitable drugs and for free."

"Suitable?" Dominic was getting defensive, "I've bought coke from here before!"

"That was before. This is my business. I get to decide whether you can buy from me or not. Clearly you fucking can't. You're walking in here like a borracho, you can't even hold yourself straight. It's cold as balls in this basement and you're sweating. This is part of withdrawal." Aleida sternly spoke, her voice slightly raising.

"Aleida, please!" Dominic pleaded, beginning to rub stressed hands on his face, his elbows resting on each of his knees. He felt himself becoming desperate, he didnt want to go back to his old plugs, and Aleida is his most trusted source. With the crazy rise in Fentanyl overdoses, it was literally life or death whenever you buy, but Aleida was so legit, there was no need to worry for that.