True to You

Saints and Sinners

1999

"Brian!!!!"

Jimmy glanced over at his best friend. It wasn't the first time now that his mother had called his name. Brian, completely unconcerned took another swig from the tequila bottle.

Scuffing his sneaker in the dirt Jimmy reached for the bottle and asked, "Are you going to go find out what she wants?"

Brian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Nope."

"What if it's important? She sounds like she might stroke out." Jimmy swallowed a mouthful of tequila. Aaaah, that burn felt good. The tequila was a way better option than the beer they'd managed to snare last time.

"As if!" Brian said with a scornful snort. Jimmy wasn't so sure. All sorts of shit could happen to old people and Brian's mom was old. She had to be almost forty.

"I don't know man, it sounds important. What if she grounds you? Or worse says you can't stay at your dad's all summer?" That would really fucking suck. Jimmy had big plans for the summer and a lot of them revolved around the easy going attitude of Haner Senior. He did not want Haner Junior to fuck it up for them. Still, Brian was his best friend so he passed him back the tequila bottle.

Brian frowned then raised one eyebrow – a trick Jimmy wished he could master – before bringing the bottle to his lips and swallowing. He passed the bottle back. Looked at the ground. Kicked a rock. Stuck his hands in the pocket of his shorts. Flung his head back and then raised and dropped his shoulders with a huff of resignation. "Fine. We'll go see what she wants. FYI I'm almost eighteen, she can't ground me but my dad would probably take her side."

"Sweet. I wouldn't want Jan to have a stroke. I like your mom." In fact Jimmy liked most people, why the hell wouldn't he?

"I guess we're gonna find out if your theory about tequila not smelling on your breath is right." Brian grabbed the bottle for one last mouthful.

"It's not my theory, I just agreed to test it out," Jimmy said taking the bottle when Brian had finished with it. He was getting a cool super spacey feeling in his head. Way better than the feeble buzz from beer.

"Well whose theory is it?" Brian went to kick another rock and stumbled a little.

"Zacky's. He heard it from Matt who heard it from some kid. I felt like it was my duty to check it out."

Brian leaned in and breathed out heavily. "So can you smell anything?"

He sniffed hard. Nope. Nothing . But there seemed to be a problem. "Can't smell a thing but I think the fumes might have burnt out my olfactory receptors. I don't think I could smell dog shit if I stood in it."

"Fuck Jimmy, what's an olfactory receptor?" Brian frowned, his focus hazy.

"It's like taste buds for your nose. Like your smell buds." Smell buds. That was fucking hilarious. He began to laugh. "Smell buds!" Brian was poking at his nose in confusion but it wasn't long before Jimmy's uncontained laughter infected him too. Soon they were clinging to each other and gasping for breath in the grip of an unrestrained bout of hilarity.

"Fuck you say some crazy shit man," Brian gasped wiping his streaming eyes.

"I'll drink to that!" Jimmy saluted him with the tequila bottle before taking another swig.

"So you think they'll smell the tequila?" Brian didn't seem overly concerned.

"I don't think it matters, your mom will be too busy kicking your ass when she smells the reek of cigarettes to worry about trying to sniff out booze," Jimmy replied with a sunny smile and shrug of his shoulders. Shit happened, they'd bounce back like usual.