"Yeah right."
The voice rose with a high pitched, laconic drawl from the bulky figure sprawled against the sun-beaten white plastic of the lawn chair. "Bull-shit I tell you, that the boss would ask for us. You done be played son!" The young man took a long draw on the scrawny joint in his hand, maintaining his composure for another second before his frame shook and rolled up a heavy cough. He exhaled and looked into his friends eyes for a response, squinting to see past the greasepaint and into his heart.
"Fo shizzle it's ON" exclaimed Z Dope Snagz, gesturing wildly with the hand holding a half-empty bottle of Faygo. Orange dots speckled his undershirt, a testament to his enthusiasm even when the bottle was fresh. "It checked out dog, it's real! We gonna meet the man on the morrizzle, Huffle!" He paced around the yard with such energy and enthusiasm that Huffle G Puffinstuff knew that, joke or no joke, they had to take the chance. This could be big.
The two bangers stood side by side after entering the dimly lit room. Smoke hung heavy in the air and only a faint silhouette was visible behind the desk, a mammoth bulk in vaguely human shape leaned back into the deepest shadows. The posturing and talking of the past afternoon fell from the young men like a sheet being pulled off a new car, and they were revealed in their base form.
Violent J leaned forward slowly, following the glowing tip of his joint into the light, slowly revealing the arcane sigils etched onto his face in greasepaint. The lines were as sharp as if they had been drawn by a razor, the right angles and straight edges an impossible contrast against his cheeks and jowls. He slowly came to rest with his elbows on the desk. His voice smooth like silk yet dripping with understated menace he opened, "So I hear you boys wants to be family."
"Man, we got this room, and we getting some cars, and..." Z Dope was pacing again, just about bouncing off the walls, the tiny by-the-hour hotel room too small to contain his energy. His kicks near sparked off the carpet, the undershirt hanging loosely on his lanky frame. "And man, this cooler, all we gonna need!"
"Yeah brother" rasped Huffle, taking another long pull on a joint nearly as fat as his pudgy fingers. "I think he must see something, y'know, in us. I mean, for this. We gonna be a big deal man, real soon now." He leaned back onto the bed and regarded Z Dope lazily through eyes like pits of tar in a field of white. The way his jeans hung low on his skinny hips, his shoulder blades popping out like razor blades from his wirey torso. "We gonna go up in the family together, brother."
It was a warm day but Z Dope felt a shiver run up and down his spine as the garage door swung up on well oiled chains, ascending to the heavens and revealing the treasures within. Never one to follow behind he felt paralyzed by anticipation, and Huffin G Puffinstuff rolled smoothly past him across the threshold, the silken contours of his team jersey flowing smoothly across his broad back as he walked.
"Maaaaan" intoned Puffinstuff, and for once Z Dope Snagz has nothing to add.
The sedans shone under the harsh lighting, glossy finish still pristine on the custom paint job. The blindingly white base coat was accented along the main lines with jet black. Larger rectangles framed the headlight, hinted at the windows, triangles menaced just below the windshield with points that seemed to stab out at their own eyes. "It's like us bro;" said Huffle, "they look like us."
Deep in enemy territory, light from the setting sun streamed brightly through the rare crack in the boards over the windows. Empty shards of brightly colored latex lay scattered across the floor, shortly joined by one more as Huffle G Puffinstuff bit into an elaborate tied balloon dog and sucked back the nitrous contained within. "Ahhh yeah" he said, pulling his bulk upright with only a slight wobble. "We're here bro, we're in."
Z Dope Snagz finished his own balloon giraffe, feeling himself on top of the world in this moment. He stepped across the stained mattress on the floor, marvelling at their fortune, admiring the muscles buried deep beneath the heavy set frame of his long time friend. "Yeah bro" he agreed, playfully punching at Puffinstuff's shoulder, "yeah bro."
"No man, I mean... we're here." said Puffinstuff - and pulled Snagz in tight for an embrace. "We're here, and maybe tomorrow we won't be. Y'know?"
Snags hand was sweaty on the knob of the shifter, the sun in his eyes, his heart full of joy and uncertainty at the night before. His foot was heavy on the accelerator as his vehicle raced forward, tight on the rear of his partner. At the last second he punched forward and they burst through the wall together; splinters of wood seeming to rain into the dusty interior in slow motion.
Window down he reached out with his left hand and sprayed wildly, barely keeping his grip on the pavement while pointing the barrel roughly at the other cars. In a blur it was over, they were racing out the far end of the building into the rays of the sun. He would never admit it but in this moment he didn't care if he had hit or missed. Everything was right, and they were family now.
Woop woo.
