Escaping Reality

Chapter 34: Slimed Out

I woke up with a smile on my face. If I'm being honest I don't know if it had left my face all night. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and looked at my tattoo. Day two and I still liked it, hopefully, that wouldn't change anytime soon. I threw a pair of shorts over my boxers, grabbed my phone, and stepped into the downstairs media room. I turned the TV flipping it to SportsCenter trying to get my daily sports fix.

I sat there half watching the TV half daydreaming. I pulled out my phone to see I had a few unopened text messages. The most recent from Lola wishing me a good day, and thanking me for a good night. The second was from the Soundcloud rapper I had texted. He said he crept on me via social media and wanted to meet up today and to call him to set up a time.

I gave him a ring and he answered promptly and asked me a few questions before finally asking me if I wanted to work with him on his most recent single. I agreed faster than I probably should have. He chuckled and told me to send him my location and he would swing by in a little to pick me up.

I had about an hour to get ready and wasn't quite sure what to expect. What should I wear? How should I talk? There were a lot of questions running through my mind but I decided to go take a hot shower and just relax. I showered quickly because I still wanted to fit a late breakfast in before he picked me up. I dried off and picked out my least preppy clothing combination.

As I sat at the table eating my microwavable french toast sticks I searched for the guy's Twitter. His stage name was "U-Neek" but I found out his real name was David. He had amassed quite the Twitter following and seemed to have a decent music following around the Miami area. I dug some more and listened to a couple of his most played songs on Soundcloud. He seemed like he was the real deal, or at least more legit than any of the Soundcloud rappers from my hometown.

As I washed off my sticky syrup fingers and placed the plate in the dishwasher my phone rang. David was here. I snagged my wallet and phone charger off the counter and walked outside. I don't know what I expected a Soundcloud rapper to drive but David's ride seemed to be a pretty accurate representation of his profession.

"What's good my man," he said sitting confidently in a vintage Cadillac painted a nasty slime green with an even grosser fuzzy interior. It also had those ridiculous white wall rims and even looked as if it had been lifted slightly.

"Nothing much just excited to get in the lab," I said pretending to know what I was talking about.

He had two of his friends with him so I sat in the back seat. The car reeked of weed and got me wondering if it always smelt like this or if they lit up this early every day. His buddy Derron answered my question pretty quickly by producing a joint and taking a deep inhale.

"That is some good kush man I'm telling you. Hey, newbie, you want a hit" he asked me.

"No man, I'm good right now, maybe in a bit," I said hesitantly weighing the pros and cons of accepting the joint. I didn't want to seem vanilla but I also didn't want to be high in the middle of Miami with a bunch of strangers.

We drove for a little while venturing into a part of town I had not yet been. It was getting a little rough, definitely not the suburban part of town where I had spent most of my days here. The houses seemed to be a little more run down and the cars seemed to have a little more rust and a few more dents. People also seemed to be hanging out on the streets too. Even this early in the morning multiple people were sitting on the curb working on brewskies.

It felt strikingly similar to Kevin's neighborhood bordering the local university.

We eventually pulled up to a modest white ranch style home. It was painted white but the paint was flaking off and the shingles were curling. The grass was about double the length that it should have been and there was a piling of dog shit visible in the front yard.