Loveb Irds

Mikey VI

tw an injury and reference to sexual assault

...

I bounced my leg up and down as my phone kept on buzzing. There were more important things than soda to attend to at that moment.

"I hope you're worth four hundred dollars," Jeremy said to the grey pill in his hand.

I tapped the table with my finger. "Four hundred and one. Don't forget the Mountain Dew."

"If this is real, my whole life would change-" He held out the pill to me. "We should split it. You helped me get it. We should both benefit, right?"

"I don't think it works that way," I said while putting a chili fry in my mouth.

The buzzing got more intense. I checked my phone to see five missed calls from the dealer.

Yikes.

I switched it to silent mode and put it face down on the table.

"Besides-" I smiled at Jeremy. "-I like knowing that when you're 'cool' you'll owe me."

"Alright, here goes everything." He unscrewed the cap off the bottle and took a swig with the pill in his mouth.

"So-" I asked. "-How does it taste?"

"Hmm. Minty."

I leaned forward. "How do you feel?"

Jeremy scrunched up his nose. "Like a chump."

He melted into his chair like The Wicked Witch of The West did after water was thrown at her.

"Nothing, at all?" I rubbed my temples. Something had to have happened. Maybe he just needed to try to do something. "Try to say something cool?"

"I think I just blew all my bar mitzvah money on a wintergreen Tic Tac."

I inhaled sharply. "Yeah, not cool."

"Please leave me alone to mourn in my chili fries, forever?"

"Nah-" I stood up and put my phone in my pocket. "-I'll give you five minutes."

"Where are you going?"

I whipped my phone back out and unlocked it. Jeremy already knew that I was addicted to getting old sodas, so it wasn't that weird showing him the text thread.

"Check it out. A guy in Spencer's Gifts is hooking me up with a case of Crystal Pepsi. It's like regular Pepsi, but clear!"

"But it was discontinued in the nineties?" He squinted at the screen and tilted his head.

"Yeah, Jer. That's what makes it so awesome!"

Jeremy just shook his head and waved me off with a small smile. I decided that I'd let him have some when I got back.

My dealer was standing near the handcuffs in the back when I got there. "Mikey! You didn't reply to anything or answer. I thought that you weren't going to show up."

I rolled my eyes and readjusted the headphones that were around my neck. "I was busy with something. Now, do you have the stuff?"

She readjusted her strap back and leaned against the wall. "Well, that depends. You gonna give me that thing you promised me?"

I shook my head.

"Grace, you asked for me to go out on a date with you last time. My answer is still the same."

She let her head fall back and hit the metal wall.

"Ugh. I knew you were straight. And after all I've done for you." Grace looked over and winked at me.