The limo driver dropped them off at 11. They leapt up stairs, pulled the others from their video and computer games and the movie playing on TV-Blade Runner-all while shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Move your asses, we gots loads ta tell ya!"
"C'mon, in the cars, move it!"
"Get tha lead outta ya pants!"
The guys piled into David and Spot's cars, and they took off for...anywhere.
The city was just getting started, people everywhere they turned dressed for a night out; clubs, restaurants, cafes, parks, corner stores, out to enjoy the last nice Fall weather, before Winter dumping on the city for the next three months. Some were dressed up for Halloween...next week...
Jack slid into the front passenger seat, bumping knucks with Spot as he revved up his '76 Lincoln Towncar. Guys piled in behind them, and Racetrack reached forward between them to turn up the radio.
"Wonda if this house party is a Halloween party," Jack thought aloud.
"We got invited to a party?" Boots asked from the backseat of Spot's '76 Lincoln Towncar.
"We," Race motioned to himself, Spot, and Jack. "We, and *maybe* you."
They laughed. "Hell yeah we got invited," Spot beamed. "Can't resist The Spot."
"Mush said ya got kicked out," Snoddy said with a laugh and a punch to Spot's right arm.
"Yeah, but not before we reeled 'em in. And Jackie Boy got one on one time with Miss Tiffany," Spot said slyly, sending Boots and Snoddy into a loud frenzy, a car full of grown ass men whooping and hollering. Jack held his arms over his head, laughing under his friends' congratulatory hits.
"On the balcony, too, no less," Racetrack said with a grin, looking at Jack. "Bet that felt good, huh Cowboy?"
Jack shook his head disbelievingly as he stared out the window, "I didn't have a plan, but it worked."
"SPILL!"
The guys flooded Jack with questions and exclamations as Spot followed David around the city, blasting their favorite radio stations. They talked about everything and laughed over each other, and when they stopped at red lights, they jumped out and switched cars. Jack stayed in Spot's car with his seat leaned back a bit, a joint in his left hand, passing it low to Spot when they passed Bulls.
"You're tellin' me these jackasses 'ave four or five dancers hangin' all over 'em?" Specs asked incredulously, as Jack told his story for the millionth time, this time to Specs, Bumlets and Mush in the back seat.
"Don' remember how many of 'em were sittin' in their laps, but I sure as Hell remember tha look on the rich assholes' faces," Jack said with a grin. "They might kill me if I go back in there."
"Oh they will," Mush's voice had a tone of fear. "Tiffany's their best girl."
Jack's jaw tightened at the thought. But it was true.
"They didn't like what they saw," Spot said darkly. "But now we're closer to the inner circle than we was before. Progress, boys. We won't have ta go back there again...let's see if Medda will let us take 'em out."
"I dunno," Mush began thoughtfully, forgetting about his phone. "I don't think they're those kinds of girls."
"All girls are those kinds of girls," Spot said adamantly. "All girls want are nice things and a nice house ta put 'em all in."
"I think you're wrong, I'll bet ya," Mush said with a smile, leaning forward to put his chin on Spot's right shoulder.
Spot laughed; the guys were lucky enough just to get a smirk out of Spot, the toughest nut to crack. So Mush scowled a bit when Spot's laugh filled the cab.
"Stick ta bettin' wi' Race, bub," Spot hit Mush's cheek mockingly.
"So they're roommates? These chicks that you claim actually like you?" Specs asked as he reached up to get the joint from Spot. "Ooo turn it up."
Jack turned up the radio, Intergalactic by Beastie Boys.
"It's gonna be a house full of beautiful women, without tha goons in suits," Spot said with a gleam in his eyes. "Jade might be a surprising woman."
"Jade?" Bumlets said with a wide grin.
"Honey," Mush said dreamily, staring out the window.
"Honey?" Specs laughed with Bumlets. "God they really did numbers on you guys."
"Jealous?" Spot crooned.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see Honey and Jade," Specs scoffed. "Who picks these names?!"
Spot lifted a finger, pointing and glaring at Specs and Bumlets in the rearview mirror.
"I don' like ya tone, ass wipe."
"She looks like honey," Mush mused to himself.
"Gah, they're gonna rob you losers blind," Specs laughed.
"Got a text from Race, they're starvin'," Bumlets said, leaning forward between Spot and Jack.
"Aw man we need booze first," Spot said, the joint hanging on his lips. "Fine, hold on."
Spot threw a bitch, turning left to go down a side street. They heard David's tires squeal behind them and laughed. They stopped at a light, and the guys jumped out. Boots, Snoddy and Race slid into the backseat.
"This thing doesn' have wings, asshole," Racetrack yelled over the laughter.
"You drive it like it isn't a million feet long," Boots laughed, shaking his head.
"This is my baby, she listens to daddy," Spot said as he stroked the wheel. He'd inherited it from his grandfather, from his life before he woke up.
"Ew!"
"Daddy?"
"That's so wrong, bro."
"Is that a thing…?"
Spot braked hard in the drive through, the guys in the back slamming forward, and Spot and Jack laughed at them. "Alright, here we are, hurry up, wadda want fellas?"
Everyone started talking at once, and Spot translated into the speaker.
"Yo, hurry up, what you want?" Spot yelled to Racetrack in the backseat.
"Gimme five Big Mac's."
"Thanks, chunky monkey."
"Fuck you, Spot."
"Can't afford me, sweetheart."
"Specs asks if we're ordering the whole goddamn menu," Boots read from a text on his phone, laughing. They were all beyond silly, smoke circulating in the car, and the woman taking their order didn't bother to hide her giggles.
"Tell 'em we're ordering for his motha," Spot said as he drove around the corner. They got their bags of food, stopped at the liquor store next door, and headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge.
Jack was happier than they'd seen him in a while, or at least not as brooding. He was laughing and joking with them like the old Jack, relaxed. He took big swigs of Jack Daniels, enjoyed the music blaring, his friends laughing...the lights passed by in blurs outside as Spot drove through the city, over the bridge. Like the lights from earlier were following him tonight, carrying the memories back to him... He didn't want to wake up from this feeling. This unexpected and strange feeling, one he hadn't felt before, even with Ira...
"Pass that bag of cheese burgers ," Race said with a mouth full of fries.
"So," Spot began, "what's she about, cowboy?"
"Pass the Jack, Jack," Snoddy said, cracking himself up. Race let out a laugh.
Jack took a swig, and passed it back. Spot turned down the music. Lana Del Rey was playing. "God, I love her," Race mumbled through his food. They drove over the Brooklyn Bridge, and Jack looked out the window to the dark water below them.
"She's so different," Jack answered honestly, feeling warm from the whiskey flowing down his throat..."She sounds different, talks different, she looks the same but doesn't...her eyes are even different. But it was easy, easy ta talk to her, I could've listened ta her all night. She grew up in California, an' she's seen Santa Fe."
"Wow," Mush said quietly with a genuine grin. "That's cool, Jack."
Jack smiled to himself, swept up in his fresh memories..."She's so unexpected, not at all what I thought she'd be...so different...completely new," Jack looked out the window, watching the bridge pass beside them. "She's...not tha same. But the...draw is there, the same intensity…" He sighed, feeling like he sounded stupid.
Mush was watching him. "But…?"
"I dunno if she feels it or what, but I want ta know her, who she is now. Even if she doesn't eva wake up."
Spot's eyes left the road and he studied his friend's face for a moment in silent seriousness. The guys in the back seat exchanged surprised glances.
"She's amazin'," Jack said simply, meeting Spot's eyes.
"Wow, Cowboy," Boots said quietly.
The guys fell into a dreamy quiet as they listened to him; it might've been the booze and pot, but Jack was one of the quieter guys of the group, the most mysterious...most tormented. He was beginning to open up again, to be honest like he used to be with them. When he was down or mad, he toiled within himself. Now, he had something to work towards, like a glimmer of light in the dark. They could see and knew...he meant every word.
Spot parked along the river, David next to him. The bridge was far to the right, spanning over the bay to the bright sparkling city across the dark water, the lights melting into the water's reflection like a painting.
"An' what does this one say when that goddess invited us to their place next weekend?" Race crooned, leaning on an irritated Mush. "'Absolutely, we'd love to!' like she invited us ta freakin' tea!"
They roared with laughter, and Mush blushed, scowling at all of them.
"Honey and I connected, ok," he mumbled gruffly, but they laughed even harder.
"Oh, Honey!" Racetrack whistled.
"So, we're going? This weekend?" David sounded excited and nervous. "I mean, to their house?"
"What kinda question is that?" Racetrack almost choked on the whiskey, handing the bottle to Mush. "How many times have ya been asked to go to a house full of beautiful an' talented women? 's what I thought. Numb nuts."
"Oh, we're goin'," Spot sniffed, his eyes fixed on the view in front of them. "Told Jade I'd take her for a spin in the Townie."
They all walked closer to the river, smoking joints as they meandered down the sidewalk.
"Ya think these are their real names?" Snoddy asked. "I been thinkin' about it, an' somethin' 'bout her havin' tha name Tiffany just doesn't fit."
They stopped at a patch of park, and Jack leaned against a tree, looking out over the river.
"I know what ya mean. It doesn' fit her."
"Of course they're not their real names," Spot said incredulously. "'s tha same wi' tha Newsies - ya gotta work for that information."
He eyed Jack next to him, "an' somethin' tells me she's gonna make you work."
The guys laughed, David threw his arm over jack's shoulder.
"Guys told me what you said, Jack. Can't wait to meet her."
Jack grinned as he looked out over the river.
"I haven't felt this in a long time, David." He looked at his friend, his brow furrowing a little. "Maybe I never have."
