Lights, Cameras, Outsiders!

Chapter 35

LCO 35

"You wanna come down to the set today?" Matt asked me the next morning.

"Sure, I'll come," I said. He helped me get out of bed until I got moving. I got dressed and sat on the bed as Matt and Ralph squeezed in the bathroom, trying to brush their teeth and hair.

"Matt... Can I ask you a question?" I said.

"Sure, babe."

"Okay, uh, well Tommy wants me to ask this."

"Go ahead."

"How do you handle a woman the first time you have sex?" I said. Ralph spit out his toothpaste and stared wideyed.

"He asked you to ask that?!" He said.

"Yes."

"Well I can answer that for ya. You don't, he's fifteen," Ralph said.

"What you do is you gotta be gentle at first," Matt said.

"No, I don't wanna hear it," I said.

"Damn..." Ralph said.

"I'll talk to the kid later. Hey," Matt hit Ralph's chest, "you Comin' with me?"

"Yeah I'll teach him a little something, something," he said.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, don't embarrass the shit outta him," I said.

"Okay, look, doll, when you ask a question like that to men that are three, four, five years older than you, you're gonna get an extreme answer," Matt said.

"You're an ass," I said.

"Kiss it."

*******

"Hey, Tommy!" Matt said. Tommy whipped around to look at Matt smacking his gum with his arm around my waist and Ralph staring him dead in the eye. I guess Matt really did look untouchable.

"Yeah?" He said.

"Hey, uh, Essie tells me you wanna know a couple things," he said, moving closer.

"Yeah."

"Okay, like what, what do you wanna know? How to caress a woman or-"

"Essie!" Tommy said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry!" I said.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's the issue here, I'm not understanding," Matt said.

"I asked Essie to just ask you to talk to me," he said.

"Well, pal, you're out of luck there cause Ralphie and I are gonna give you a lesson," he said.

"Christ..."

"Take a seat," Matt said, gestured to the plastic chairs they set up at the Admiral Twin Drive In. Tommy sat, Ralph sat, and Matt sat while laying me on his lap. Today, Matt was acting real tough like he thought he was the slickest guy on the streets, as if he could get all the girls, and he was in charge. The accent was the thickest it'd ever been, and I smelled whiskey on his breath. I lowered my lips to his ear.

"Have you been drinking?" I said.

"Just a little. Okay, Tommy, Imma show you a little demonstration here with ole Essie," he said, sticking a new cigarette in between his lips. I pulled out his lighter.

"No you're not," I said, catching the tip on fire and watching it go into flames.

"Alright, I'm not but I'll tell you how a woman wants to be felt up," Matt said, taking his cigarette out from his lips.

"I don't really want to know all that stuff anymore, Matt," Tommy said.

"But you told Essie-" Ralph started.

"I know but now I don't. That okay with you?"

"Well, do you want to know anything?" Ralph said.

"yeah, I do. And it's concerning these two right here," Tommy said.

"What?" Matt said. I snuck the cigarette from his lips and into my fingers.

"What is it like for two? To be in love? How did you know?" Tommy said.

"Why you askin' that, Tommy?" I asked.

"I'm not really sure what you're asking here, Howell."

"How are you two in love? What does it feel like?" He said.

"Seriously, outta all the questions you can ask these two and you pick that?" Ralph said.

"Okay, then what does it mean to be in love?" He said. Matt looked up at me and then back at Tommy. I started to raise the cigarette to my lips when Matt looked back up at me and ripped it out of my hands.

"Don't you dare smoke that! I swear to God, I see one of those death sticks in your mouth, I'll lose it, understand?!" Matt snapped. I smiled and moved the hair out of his face.

"I'm serious, Essie. They're addictive little shits and I don't want to see you become a victim," he said. I lowered my chin to his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his shoulders and smiled at Tommy.

"That's the kind of love we have," I said, kissing Matt's cheek.

"What's the kind?"

"Addictive," I said.