I pulled into the parking lot of the shopping plaza that my workplace resided. Boca's Basement had been there for over a decade, feeding people cheap pasta meals that were basically reheated in huge portions for a moderate price. The food wasn't fantastic but it also wasn't terrible so we got a fair amount of business. I worked back of house in the kitchen as a prep cook so I didn't really get to see the guests who came here, but the talk from the servers had me guessing that a lot of cheap people came in to dine and do their fair share in driving the employees to alcoholism. Not that I cared. It wasn't really my problem besides providing enough entrees to cover both the food that would be ordered and the food that wouldn't reach satisfaction and promptly discarded. Upper middle class yups were the most wasteful people.
I got out of the car to see Bo already standing in the front of the restaurant, cigarette in his mouth with the wind blowing his gray hair in crazy directions. He was in his upper fifties but he acted like he was stuck in his mid-twenties, always making sly remarks and cat-calls at the female servers as they walked past the dish pit. He was harmless enough, having known him from when we worked across the street at the movie theater. Offhand, he seemed like the kind of man you warn your kids about approaching, but after a conversation or two you realize he's just a drunk old coke-head who spent too much time in jail and was just making up for lost time. He broke out into an almost creepy grin as he saw me approach.
"Hey, kiddo. How's it going?" He said cheerfully.
I pulled a cigarette from the packet in my pocket and lit one, joining him at his spot in front of the store. "I was bored, I figured I'd come down and see who was working." I took a pull of the cigarette and looked out into the almost empty parking lot. It was only Tuesday, so the business in the plaza would mostly just be regulars with nothing better to do.
"Feel like taking a trip down to see Aiden? I figure you grab me a 40 and we can sit and do a line." His eyes skimmed around the parking lot before settling back on me, a hopeful glint in his eye.
Bo was always looking to score some coke. He had a friend that lived in a shady city not far from us that I became friends with over time. From doing pick ups we grew to become familiar with each other until one day when I went to pick up for myself and it was like the relationship status changed from "Business" to "Pleasure". Aiden was a cool enough guy, but it was obvious that he had a thing for me and it made going down there by myself a bit of a chore. I liked him well enough and I'd flirt around with him as a joke or if I felt that it would benefit my cause but nothing ever came of it, and I wasn't really keen to change that. I mostly held him at a distance despite his efforts, but there have been days where I would get bored and we would play on his PlayStation and smoke a blunt or two.
Coke wasn't really my first choice when it came to substance abuse. Asides from fucking up my nose, it always left me with a racing heart and an overactive brain that failed to make the right choices. I rarely chose to use it as a recreational, but I would do it socially hanging out with Bo or if I was dreadfully bored and wanted something to enhance my gaming skills. I mostly stuck with weed and benzos which chilled me out, but every now and again I have to admit that uppers have an occupational advantage that weed just fails to reach.
"Like I said, it's cool, Bo. I really don't have anything else to do." I assured him, taking the 20's out of his hand. I didn't mind doing these runs for him when he asks, but sometimes Bo had this way of telling you to do it, or acting like it was something that was decided beforehand. It felt like I was getting taken advantage of, and with the risks involved, sometimes I just wanted to flat out refuse.
I never did though. Maybe that's my problem.
I headed back to my car, pulling up a Spotify playlist to listen to during the 20 minute trip to Aiden's house in the city. I really shouldn't be driving down that far, especially on the bypass since my car was neither inspected nor insured, but the idea that it made the trip more risky was even mores enticing. I pulled out of the plaza and onto the bypass ramp, heading west to the city.
I zoned out, half listening to the Spanish Fuego playlist and half observing the cars around me. All my trips had me trained to look for police cruisers and undercover, and I found myself doing it out of habit these days. The trip passed by quickly and uneventfully enough, and I found myself pulling into a torn up gravel driveway in an old looking house on the west side.
The sun was almost set, leaving me in the shadow of the house as I put the car in park. I turned the vehicle off and sent Aiden a quick message letting him know I had arrived. Moments later he replied, letting me know it was okay to go inside.
I climbed the old wooden steps to the second level apartment, opening the peeling white door and stepping inside. Aiden stood in the kitchen, looking down at sometime on his phone.
He was an attractive enough guy. He was tall, dark and handsome, dark hair trimmed neatly out of his green eyes, olive skin tanned despite the cold season. Tattoos, some old and faded, others new and bright, covered his arms. Some of the older ones I suspected were jailhouse tattoos, however I had never bothered to ask the slightly older guy.
He looked up at me and smiled, a cheesy grin that reached his emerald eyes. "Hey, baby girl, long time no see!" He greeted, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. I gave him a half-hearted hug back and stuffed my hands in my pockets.
"Hey, man, how is it? Staying out of trouble?" I said, falling back on small talk. I was anxious to get this over with. Some days I didn't mind hanging around, but I was more keen on making this a short visit.
He nodded, leading me into a room to the side where he slept. He reached into the tv stand and pulled out a small black case. He popped it open, pulling baggies of varying substances out until he found one full of a white powder.
"Bobo said he wants a 40" I said, laying down the two 20's onto the floor next to Aiden.
"So whatchu been up to?" He asked, disregarding the money. He looked up at me expectantly.
"Oh you know, I've been working a lot. I have a day off tomorrow so…" I trailed off, looking for any kind of topic to satisfy the man's need for small talk.
He nodded enthusiastically as he carefully separated some of the white powder into a small empty sandwich bag, tying it off at the corner. "Word, word, I go in tomorrow. You working? You know I love being able to come see you." He gave me a quick wink as he ripped the extra plastic off the bundle and handed it to me.
"I'm off but I could get called in. If anything I'll stop by and we can smoke." I offered.
Suddenly the phone on the bed went off, followed by a rapid knocking on the front door. Quickly Aiden shut the case, setting it back into the tv stand and stood up. "Hold on, homie, let me get that quick."
He walked out into the kitchen and opened the front door. "Oh shit, Ashley, come in, come in."
He walked back in, followed by a young girl about my age. She was a little darker that Aiden, with curly brown hair and soft, light brown eyes. She looked at me suspiciously, unsure of who I was.
I stayed sat in the office chair I had found myself on and stayed quiet, not trying to interfere if this was one of Aiden's customers.
Aiden noticed the stiff reaction, realizing we hadn't met before. "Shit, Ashley, this is Spencer," he introduced, pointing to me. "Spence, this is Ashley."
I reached my hand out and she ignored it, choosing to just stare at me. "I worked with Aiden at Movie Pub." I explained. It wasn't a lie. Me and Aiden had worked together, but he had been a dish washer and I was bar tending at the time. We had never formally met but Bo had insisted that we had met before meeting him officially during a drug run.
The brunette turned away from me and looked back at Aiden, who had reclaimed his spot in front of the tv. "You got a 20 I can get real quick?" She asked in a rushed voice, looking at me from the corner of my eye to gauge my reaction. I trained my eyes on my phone, pretending not to pay the conversation any mind.
I had no reason to linger now that I had my goods, but there was something about this new person that had caught my attention. Maybe it was the way she disregarded me. Maybe it was how unexpected it was to see someone this attractive show up at a place like Aiden's.
She was really attractive.
Aiden clicked his fingers, snapping my attention away from my phone. He held a half burning blunt in his hand, the aroma of marijuana hitting my nose. I shook my head.
"No I need to head out and I don't want to smoke and drive. You know, in case I get pulled over or something." I declined, starting to get up out of the chair.
He pointed over to the bed side table where Ashley was leaned over. "Want a line?"
I really wanted to say no. I really did. It would be hypocritical to reject the weed but accept the coke. But something about seeing Ashley bent over with a rolled up dollar at her nose made me say yes. Like I had to prove to the girl that I wasn't just some weird outsider. As if it somehow proved that I was trustworthy to have witnessed the girl's drug transaction and that I wasn't a narc.
I walked over to the table and she handed me the dollar, eyes on me carefully watching what I was doing. I set the bill just inside my nose and aimed the end toward the line she had carefully arranged for me and I quickly inhaled, pulling the snow white powder up the tube and into my sinuses.
I looked up, inhaling sharply through that nostril to clear it, making sure that the drug found its way to its destination. Almost immediately I could feel my heart rate increase, although I wasn't sure if it was from the cocaine or if it was from the look that Ashley was giving me.
A look of approval? Satisfaction? Was that… arousal? I narrowed my eyes in confusion at her, and she cleared her face back to a blank slate that gave off an air of coldness. I inhaled again and turned back to Aiden.
"Hey, thanks again, but I need to get going." I said, jutting a thumb towards the door.
Aiden jumped up off the floor and opened his arms, giving me a tight hug goodbye. "All right. Let me know when you get home," he said, knowing damn well I probably wouldn't.
I nodded and headed to the front door, heart twitching and jumping in my chest.
