She Coyote

16. Beth pt. 2

JUDE

I woke up in a sweat, Coyote's cheap couch too small to fit my obnoxiously long legs. I had no room to complain, I was offered this out of kindness and concern. But still, my back would be all screwed up for the next two days because of it.

I pushed myself up, the silence of the apartment building taking me by surprise. There was no loud rock music blaring throughout the halls, no noisy twenty something's littering the hallways, nothing. I figured Coyote was still asleep by the way her bedroom door was closed. I didn't want to wake her up to say goodbye.

I creaked open the front door after slinging on my jacket, but before I could exit I spotted something out of the corner of my eyes. My leather jacket hung on the edge of a chair over on the kitchen table. I didn't notice it yesterday, she must have snuck out here and placed it there for me to grab when I left. Some part of me wanted to keep it here, but I knew that was silly and stupid and I didn't really want to see Victoria again. Or, Coyote. Or Victoria. Whatever the hell her name was.

In reality she was too caring and too sweet, even though she was an angry son of a bitch who could murder me with her bare hands. I just didn't want to get her tangled up in my nasty little world.

Before I left, I rolled up a joint from the leftover weed and secured it behind my ear. It would at least get me through the afternoon until I could score some H again.

...

I didn't know where to go. As soon as I exited the building I realized I couldn't go back to my mother's in fear of just being screamed at and kicked out again. I couldn't go to Bobcats, all my other friends weren't really my friends. It was in that moment I realized how stupidly alone I was and that it wouldn't even matter to anyone if someone found me unconscious in my car from overdosing.

I shuffled down the sidewalk aimlessly, passing by random teenagers and other people just floating around looking for places to go. I wondered if any of them were as lost as I was.

To my unforeseen luck, I caught Reggy scoping out the scenes on the edge of a worn down brick building. I thrust my fist up momentarily as a sudden reflex, grinning widely. If I could get something out of anyone it was this guy.

"Yo, Reg!" I called excitedly, swimming through the cars that zoomed down the road between us. He saw me, rolled his eyes.

"You're not getting a thing out of me, you fucking psycho." He spat and moseyed his way down along the sidewalk.

"That's where you're wrong," I laughed nervously, skipping up alongside him and wrapping his shoulders with my arm. "I'll pay you right now, hand in hand cash, no funny business."

"Yeah? You gonna pay me back for the X, too? What about that coke from five months ago?" He paused his steps and turned to look at me. I chuckled and shook my head.