The First Time
Sgt. Rocko ducked as a hail of bullets narrowly missed his head. Throwing himself behind cover he thrust his submachine gun around a piece of rubble. "He's in the window!" shouted one of his men.
Very carefully he peeked over the debris and spotted the enemy soldier reloading his rifle. Bringing his Thompson to bear Sgt. Rocko shouted "Eat lead and die!" and opened fire. The burst caught the man dead on in the chest and he fell from the window with a piercing scream.
Sgt. Rocko cautiously climbed to his feet. All was quiet now but he advanced carefully towards the building, followed by the rest of his squad. Suddenly a young blonde woman appeared from a first floor door. "Oh, we are saved! Thank you!" she cried in English with a French accent. More women appeared behind her, and like her were dressed only in various items of lingerie.
"Sgt. Rocko, U.S. Army. Glad to be of service," he replied.
"You, Sgt. Rocko, have saved us, the women of the Chat Noir brothel, from those 'orrible Nazis. However can we make it up to you?" replied the first woman.
Slinging his submachine gun over his shoulder he grabbed her around the waist. "Well, you could have wild sex with me all night long."
She looked at him with an expression of utter adoration. "Oh yes Sgt. Rocko, yes! We all will!"
His gaze swept over the women. "Well, if you insis...."
BUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Cursing Rocko smashed his fist into the clock radio. "Dammitt!! My best dream in weeks and that stupid piece of crap ruins it!!!! @#%#!!!!!" Angrily he flung the radio to the floor in a corner of the room, to join a half dozen others that had ruined his fun this semester.
Rocko quickly dressed in his favourite red and white t-shirt and blue jeans. This morning's class was one he always made sure to catch, as there was a hottie in it who always wore a tight skirt and a low cut blouse. Not that she was doing it for him. He figured she was trying to score points with the professor who taught the class. But nothing said he couldn't watch. Hence the offending clock radio.
He made his way downstairs into the Alpha Alpha frat house kitchen. A quick check of the fridge found its contents limited to half a loaf of bread, a jar of mayonnaise, and a plate covered with a pile of a green...something. "I thought someone was supposta buy some stuff," he muttered as he made a sandwich of a couple slices of bread with some mayonnaise between them. He had eaten half the sandwich when he remembered that he was the one who was supposed to buy food this week. With a shrug he finished his meal, threw the knife in the sink, and walked out the back door to head for class.
Unnoticed by Rocko as he made his way down the street was a beat up green Chevette sitting several houses away from the frat house. A man wearing a very obvious wig sat behind the wheel. He opened up a compact cell phone and began to dial. "Subject is on the way," he said into the mouthpiece.
"Maybe you'll finally catch them together," replied the woman on the other end of the line.
"Maybe," he replied. He reached down to turn the key in the ignition. All he got when he did was a loud grinding sound. "Oh shit," he cursed.
"What's wrong," the woman asked. "He spotted you?"
"Uhh, negative. My car quit. Again."
********************
Walking through the cafeteria with his lunch tray Nitz noticed Rob Brodie sitting at a table with what looked like a box of t-shirts. Probably for the Exposed Expo, he thought as he quickly walked over to Brodie. One of State U.'s sillier traditions, the Exposed Expo involved freshmen students running around naked outside during the first snowfall of the school year. Nitz had actually summoned up the courage to take part last year along with Jesse, Cal, and some other people he knew. Snow had been forecast for the end of the week and anticipation was rising for this year's edition.
"Hey Nitz," called out Brodie as Nitz walked up to the table.
"Hey Brodie," replied Nitz. He put his tray down on the table and picked up one of the shirts. It was the same buxom female stick figure/"Co-ed Naked Nakedness" logo design that Brodie had sold last year. "Same as last time."
"Of course," replied Brodie. "It's a classic design." He leaned forward and said in a much softer tone,"Besides, I still had 175 in a box left over from last year."
Nitz chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't tell any of the freshies."
"Thanks." Brodie looked over Nitz's shoulder. "Rocko just walked in."
"Yeah, he probably wants me to help him get cameras in here for the Double Ex again," sighed Nitz. "Better go get this over with. See you later." Nitz picked up his tray and motioned to Rocko to join him.
They walked over to an empty table and sat down. "Look Rocko, before you even ask, the answer is no, I'm not gonna help you get cameras onto campus for the Double Ex again."
Rocko looked perplexed for a moment until he remembered what the Double Ex was. "Huh, is that coming up? I forgot all about it. I ain't here for that."
"Sorry Rocko," replied Nitz.
"No prob. Besides, I'm not impressed with this year's crop of freshman chicks," he said bluntly. "They're either too flat chested or kinda dumpy. Wouldn't wanna see 'em naked anyways."
"So, you're just here for a chat?" asked Nitz, trying not to laugh at the dirty looks and angry mutterings Rocko's statement had provoked amongst a group of women at a nearby table.
"Yeah," Rocko replied as he leaned back in his chair. "Seems I've seen just about zilch of you the last couple of weeks."
Nitz shrugged. "Well, I have been pretty busy lately."
"Yeah, Kimmy's got you on the go a lot I bet," said Rocko, a sly grin on his face.
"Well, actually she's been busy doing stuff, so I haven't seen her much the past few days," said Nitz, a small frown on his face. "But hopefully we can hook up tomorrow night. I got invited to Melinda Cane's latest party."
"Well hot damn!" said Rocko enthusiastically. Reputed to be the richest student to ever attend State U. Melinda Cane was famed for the regular parties she held at her family's large estate. "Got any idea why you got invited?"
Nitz shook his head. "No. I've never met her, and I don't think I know anyone who knows her. But you've heard the rumours I'll bet. They say even her friends don't know why she invites the people she does. Who knows, maybe she picks names randomly out of a hat."
"Probably why I got invited to one," said Rocko with a nod. "Don't think I'm gonna get invited again."
Nitz laughed. "So, I suppose you drank too much and did something stupid."
Rocko shrugged. "Yeah, something like that. Anyways buddy, you're gonna have lots of fun, just wait and see."
"Well, its got to be more fun than the last party I went to with Kimmy. It was some Drama student thing, so they spent most of the night talking about acting stuff and gossip about the Drama Department. I just sat there most of the night being bored."
"Civilian boyfriend syndrome," Rocko said knowingly. "You're there because you wanna be with your girl, but otherwise you'd be anyplace else. Chicks suffer from it too, like when their guy takes 'em to a motorcycle show and they've go no interest in cycles, but they go because, hey, its an excuse to be with their man."
"Wow, that's a pretty deep idea Rocko," said Nitz appreciatively.
"Hey, you're not the only one who can get all philosophical and stuff." Rocko started looking around the room, as if looking for someone.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Nitz.
Rocko shrugged. "It's the weirdest damn thing man. For at least the past couple of days I've had the feelin' someone's been following me around."
"Rocko, I can think of no reason why anyone would be following you around," said Nitz in his best "Rocko, you're being silly again" voice.
Rocko grinned. "I dunno man, I was hopin' some hot chick had decided to stalk me or something."
"And you'd like to be stalked?" asked Nitz with a chuckle.
"Yeah man. Way things are going with the ladies I'd be glad to have even a nutty one obsessed with me." Rocko laughed and smiled ruefully. "Pretty pathetic huh?"
"Oh, I'm sure someone else is even more pathetic," countered Nitz.
Rocko looked at his watch and stood up. "Gotta run bud. Besides, you proabably wanna finish your lunch anyways. Have fun at the party."
"I will. Seeya later," said Nitz with a wave as Rocko walked away.
Unnoticed by the two friends a man in sunglasses and a baseball cap sitting at a corner table got up to follow Rocko as he left the cafeteria.
******************
The next morning found Rocko's mysterious shadow once more sitting in his Chevette down the street from Alpha Alpha. He stifled a yawn and reached for a large paper cup of coffee sitting on the dash. He'd followed Rocko until 1 A.M. when the junior college student had staggered back to the frathouse after a night of heavy drinking. Looking at his watch he saw that it was pushing 11 and the kid still hadn't left for his morning classes, or whatever the hell it was he was going to do that day.
He hoped something happened today. So far all his surveillance had resulted in was a sore back, boredom, and a drain on his bank account. Despite the possible payoff he couldn't wait forever. Still, the money was too tempting not to give it just a little more time.
*******
Nitz drummed his fingers on his desk as he listened to the dial tone. He'd been trying to get in touch with Kimmy all day to ask her out to the party tonight, but so far hadn't had any luck. He knew he should have phoned her yesterday, but things just hadn't worked out that way. "Finally," he muttered as he heard her pick up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Kimmy, its me. Listen, I got invited to Melinda Cane's lastest party and I was wondering if you were interested in going tonight?"
"Oh Nitz, I'm sorry," said Kimmy apologetically. "If you'd phoned me earlier...."
Nitz grimaced. It sounded like she was going to be unavailable yet again. "Actually I did phone you earlier. But I kept getting a message that your cell phone was out of service, and I didn't get an answer when I phoned your room."
"Just a second," she said, and Nitz heard her rummaging through her purse. "Oopsie. I forgot to charge it last night, so it went dead on me. I've been out all day, so that's how come you couldn't get me here."
Nitz shook his head. It wasn't the first time she'd forgotten to charge her phone. "So you're busy tonight?"
"Yes. The Africa support group I'm involved with is protesting at a speech by the Zimbabwean ambassador. We only just found out he was coming to town or I would have mentioned it before."
"That's okay. I know this kind of stuff is important to you," Nitz replied, not letting disappointment creep into his voice.
"Thanks for being so understanding. I really, really appreciate it. Look, you should go to that party. Don't worry about me not coming along, I'm sure you'll have a good time. All my friends say those parties are lots of fun, and you never know if you'll get invited to more than one so you don't want to miss it if you do get the chance."
"I'll think about it," he said.
"Good. Look Nitz, I have to run. I'll try phoning you tomorrow, I think I'm free tomorrow night. Bye!"
"What the hell," muttered Nitz as he hung up. Kimmy was right, he should go to the party. He slipped on his jacket, grabbed his hat, and walked out the door. As he walked down the corridor he ran into Jesse and Kruger. "Hi guys, what are you up to tonight?"
"Hey man," replied Kruger. "Goin' to the Cane place."
"Ah, so you guys got invited too."
"That's right," added Jesse. "So, I suppose it's off to go pick up Kimmy?"
"No, she's got something else to do tonight," Nitz said with a shake of his head. "But she said to go anyways, so I am. No point in spending Friday night sitting around in my room doing nothing."
"That's the spirit," said Jesse approvingly. "So c'mon guys, lets go!"
*******************
"Damn that's good," said Rocko after he finished swallowing the last of his hamburger. He smiled contentedly and rubbed his stomach.
As he looked out the window of the restaurant something caught his eye. It was a beat up green Chevette, parked across the street. Normally a Chevette wasn't something that Rocko would have paid much attention to. They were hardly the most rare or interesting vehicles on the road. But this one had a rather distinctive looking patch of rust on its left front fender. It sort of reminded Rocko of Australia. It was a rust spot Rocko realised he'd seen several times lately. That same car had been turning up a lot at places Rocko went to, including being parked near Alpha Alpha several times over the past week or so.
Rocko's eyes narrowed. He'd thought it was simply his imagination that someone was following him. Nitz had thought the idea was silly. But the car had shown up one time too many for Rocko's taste. He was now pretty much certain he was being followed. Thinking for a moment he decided he was going to find out for sure. It wasn't like he had anything better to do that evening.
******************
Nitz whistled as he walked into the Cane house with Jesse and Kruger. "This is quite the place," he said appreciatively. The elegant, wood panelled interior was the kind of thing Nitz had expected to find in a mansion like this, as were the tasteful and expensive furnishings. The throng of college-aged partygoers and the rap music booming out of the stereo system seemed entirely out of place, as if they'd been dropped in randomly for no apparently reason.
"So, where is this chick anyways?" asked Kruger as the trio walked around.
"That's her over there," said Jesse, pointing at a tall woman in a loose white blouse, leather vest, and leather miniskirt.
Kruger stared. "Yer telling me that's her? Geez, I figured she'd look like a $&% debutant, not some punk rock chick with magenta hair and a $^%% nose ring."
"Yeah, she's a real surprise when you actually meet her," said Jesse with a smile. "You wouldn't know she's from money by talking to her, she's really down to earth."
"You know her?" asked Nitz.
"Yeah, we take the same karate class, and I run into her here and there occasionally."
"I'm surprised Evans ain't here," Kruger mused as he scanned the crowd. "I wonder if he's ever been invited to one of these?"
Nitz smirked. "Actually Cal's got an open invitation. He's welcome at any party Melinda Cane holds."
"#^$& figures," groused Kruger.
Nitz chuckled. "Don't worry, tonight he's got some of his RA time scheduled."
"Thank ^$^$&*# heaven for small favours," sneered Kruger. "Hey look, its Dan and that new girlfriend of his. Guess he likes 'em tall," he mused, as the slim blonde was somewhat taller than Dan.
"Either of you met her yet?" asked Jesse. Nitz and Kruger shook their heads. "Well, I guess we'd better go and see if she's as talkative as Dan is."
"I'll be with you in a couple of minutes," said Nitz. He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "They've got quite the spread over there, so I'm gonna get some food first."
"Better be careful Nitz, you don't want to put on too much weight," teased Jesse as she and Kruger started walking towards Dan.
Nitz quickly walked over to the large buffet. He decided to get something to drink before he took a look at what was available to eat. He grabbed one of the large plastic glasses of punch sitting on one of the tables. He took a sip, finding that whatever the mixture was it had a bit of a bite to it, and that he quite enjoyed the taste. He quickly piled a plate with food and went to join his friends.
Nitz made a couple more trips to refill his plate and grab a drink before everyone decided it was time to go mingle with the other guests. Jesse teased him a bit about his bottomless stomach, but she and the others didn't pay any attention to what Nitz was drinking or how much he was drinking. With no one warning him the punch was spiked, and no actual experience with what effect alcohol had on him Nitz was quickly becoming drunk by the time they split up.
****************
Cal walked purposefully down the hall, wearing his RA bathrobe and carrying a clipboard. "An RA's work is never done," he muttered. "Except when its ladytime!" Even before he reached his destination he knew why he'd been summoned, the roar of heavy metal pumped out of a stereo system cranked to an ungodly level assaulting his ears. He wasn't surprised to see where the high decibel racket was coming from. Once more the occupants of Room 506 were rattling the walls of Chilton Hall.
Cal stopped in front of the door to 506 and slipped his clipboard under one arm. From past experience he knew he'd need both hands free. Balling his hands into fists he slammed them as hard as he could into the door, hitting it a half dozen times. He then stuck a finger in each ear, knowing that the volume would increase greatly when the door opened. A few moments later the door opened, and a young man with long hair wearing a Slayer t-shirt stepped halfways out of the room. "Heya, it's the Calster dude!" he screamed. "Just let me turn things down!" He disappeared back into his room, and the volume soon dropped to merely loud instead of standing directly under a 747 at full throttle loud. He reappeared with another young man, this one with a shaved head and goatee, wearing an identical Slayer t-shirt. "What can we do for you dude?"
Cal shook his head. "Guy, people are complaining you're playing your music too loud again." Cal looked down at his clipboard. "That's the fifth time in a week guy, and people have made lots more complaints before that."
The duo looked at each other and grinned sheepishly. "Dude, we just love our music so much, and when we rock out its gotta be loud!" explained the bald one.
Cal looked at them sternly. "I'm sorry guy, but we've had too many complaints. If me or another RA writes you up again you'll have to leave Chilton Hall."
The metalheads looked at each other in dismay. "Bummer," they moaned in unison.
"So, try to be quiet, okay guy? And maybe you better turn your music off for tonight, okay?"
"Okay dude," said the bald one contritely. "We know when we have to listen to the Calster." Together he and his roommate walked back into their room and shut the door, the music coming to an abrupt halt soon after.
Cal shook his head as he made a notation that they'd been warned their behaviour was unacceptable. The sound of a door opening made him look up, and he saw a redhead stick her head out of her room. She gave him a thumbs up as she pulled off a pair of ear protectors. "Thanks for coming so quickly," she said. "I thought I was going to lose a filling if they didn't stop!"
"That's not good lady, so I'm glad I could help. Pretty ladies should have really nice teeth."
The girl blinked. "Ummm, thanks, I think."
*************************
There were few things Melinda Cane liked better than a good party, which is why she held them frequently. Of course being given a ridiculous sum of money and free reign to do what you wanted with the family mansion on your eighteenth birthday by your very wealthy parents helped. Tonight's party was going very well. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and more importantly behaving themselves. She hated having the State U. football players she hired as bouncers throw people out, and for once they hadn't had to.
She grinned as she spotted Nitz sitting on a couch. He was just the guy she was looking for. "Hey Walsh, howya doing?" she asked as she sat down beside him.
"I'm doin' pretty good," he drawled.
"Well good. So, where's that girlfriend of yours?"
"She couldn't come tonight," he replied, a melancholy frown crossing his face.
"Rats! I wanted to talk to her about a couple of charities I'm interested in. She's not sick or something?"
Nitz shook his head. "Naaah, she's out savin' the world." He crossed his arms, and his expression changed to one of annoyance. "Guess that's more important than spending time with me, cuz that always seems ta come first."
"Yeah, she certainly spends lots of time with that kind of stuff." At least he's enjoying the punch, she thought, noticing Nitz's slightly slurred speech and several empty plastic glasses sitting at his feet. "But hey, you can still have fun tonight, right?"
"Uhuh," he said with an exaggerated nod. "I don' even need her get up and dance, see?" he said as he rose to his feet and started moving towards the stereo system. Melinda laughed as he waved his arms in the air and swayed back and forth as he crossed the floor. She guessed he was probably "the drunk in the blue hat" she'd just heard someone laughing about.
"Be careful man, that's a 6 grand speaker cab you're tangoing with!" she shouted good naturedly as Nitz grabbed onto one of the large speaker enclosures while continuing to dance. "That's funny," she said softly as she watched Nitz's erratic solo performance, "I thought Kimmy told me the guy doesn't drink."
*********************
"Ah man!"
Jesse grinned at her opponent, a goateed young man wearing a beat up Yankees cap. "Good think we're not playing for money," she said as she lined up her shot and sank the 8 ball.
"Yeah, you're hot tonight," he replied.
"Well, its probably time for me to let someone else win," she said as she put the pool cue she had been using back on a rack in a corner of the room. She'd come across the game room while going for a bathroom break, and had played several games of pool against different players. She'd surprised even herself by winning all of them.
Jesse leaned back against the wall to watch the guy in the old cap take on a weedy boy she was sure she'd seen at Tekerson. She had been watching for several minutes when a familiar voice called out "Hey Jesse!" It was Miyuki, a girl Jesse shared a couple of classes with. "You know Nitz Walsh right?" she asked.
"Sure," Jesse replied with a nod. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, he seems to be good and drunk, and he's acting kind of goofy."
Jesse frowned. "Are you sure? Nitz doesn't drink."
Miyuki nodded. "That may be true normally, but he's had a bunch of glasses of that punch they're serving, and its got something more than fruit juice in it."
"Damn! God knows how Nitz will react to getting plastered for the first time!" said Jesse with concern. "I better go find him. Thanks Miyuki."
"No problem," the longhaired girl said with a smile. "I like Nitz. If he wasn't spoken for I might go after him myself."
Jesse laughed. "You've got good taste," she said as she walked off to find Nitz. It didn't take her long to hunt him down. He was out in the backyard, sitting on a bench near the large swimming pool that took up much of the yard. He was bent over, holding his head. "Hey Nitz, you all right?" she asked as she walked over and sat beside him.
"I don' feel so good," he moaned. "My head feels all funny."
Jesse got a strong whiff of something as he spoke. Yep, he's been drinking all right, she thought. "So, how many glasses of that punch did you have tonight?"
"Ummm, this many," he said, holding up a hand with all five figures raised. He frowned. "Or maybe it was this many," he added, bringing up his other hand, again with all five fingers raised, to join the first one. "I can't remember."
Jesse grimaced. She suspected it was closer to ten than five. She slipped an arm around Nitz's shoulder. "Well then, I hate to break it to you buddy, but you're drunk."
He pushed her arm away, an annoyed look on his face. "I am not!" he said in a near shout. "Why do people keep sayin' that?"
"Nitz, there was alcohol in the punch."
"Wuz not! Idda know if there was!" he said belligerently.
"Fine, whatever," she replied in annoyance. "Anyways, you're not feeling well. Maybe you should go home, and maybe I should go along, just in case you have problems."
"Awww, that's nice, but ya don' haveta do that," he said softly. He stood up slowly. "I can walk okay, see?" He walked a few feet before stumbling into another bench. "Ooops, maybe I ain't so good at walking right now," he said as he sat on the bench.
"Nitz, I am definitely going to go along with you back to campus. No ifs, ands, or buts."
"Thash an order, just like when I patted yer bunny, right?"
"You got it." Jesse grabbed Nitz's hand and pulled to his feet. "Okay, we'll go inside and phone a cab."
"Jesshy, ya don'...."
Jesse crossed her arms and looked at him sternly. "What did I just say? No arguments. Now come on dude, I want to tell Kruger we're splitting."
Jesse led Nitz inside. It took a few minutes before they finally found Kruger. "Whats up with Nitz?" he asked. "Guy looks $^%$ awful."
"He's had way too much to drink," she replied. "And he doesn't drink, so he really can't hold his liquor too well."
Kruger looked surprised. "He doesn't drink? I didn't know that."
Hands on her hips, Jesse raised an eyebrow at Kruger's response. "Geez, Kruger, you've known Nitz for something like a year now, hung out with the guy a bunch, and you didn't catch on that Nitz doesn't drink?"
"What, I'm supposed to know the guy's the #%#^ poster boy for the $&%%^ Temperance Society?" he retorted. "I got better things to worry about." He grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of a jacket pocket. "So, you need any help getting him back to Chilton?"
Jesse shook her head. "Nah, I'm gonna call a cab right away. No reason you should miss the rest of the party."
"Well, good," he said happily. "'Cuz I've been sweet talking this cutie from Central State, and I might get some tonight."
"Hmmm, maybe you should come with us. It would probably be doing that girl a favour," she said deadpan.
"Ah, yer just $^$& jealous because you're not gonna be getting any of this," he said, pointing at himself.
"In your dreams buddy," she said with a smile.
Kruger just smiled back, wondering if she had any idea of what kind of dreams he had about her.
*********************
Rocko grinned as he slipped into a darkened alley. It was finally time to confront his mysterious pursuer.
It hadn't been a problem to figure out he was being followed once he left the restaurant. He'd gone to a couple of different places and sure enough when he came out he found the green Chevette parked somewhere nearby. Then inspiration struck. It was kind of a silly idea, but he decided to lead whomever it was on a wild goose chase around town, hoping to sucker the guy into getting out of his car.
After walking the streets for a couple of hours he'd finally gone into a small shopping mall and spent a while walking in and out of the various shops. He had spotted what he assumed was the stalker or whatever he was, a guy wearing a New York Mets cap and dark glasses, reflected in the window of one of the stores. Confident the stranger could see him he ran out of the mall, knowing the guy wouldn't have the time to go back to his car if he wanted to keep up with him. He ran for several blocks, the mystery man close behind, before turning a corner and spotting the convenient alley to hide in.
He stood in the dark, waiting for the man to appear. Rocko soon saw him walk by, the alley apparently being more than dark enough for him not to notice Rocko. Rocko then quietly crept out of the alley.
With a snarl he charged after the man. "Aha! Gotcha!" Rocko shouted as tried to grab his pursuer. He was shocked however when he found himself tossed over the man's shoulder. Rolling with the fall he jumped back to his feet and balled his hands into fists. "Alright pal, I don't know who the hell you are, but I want some answers, now!"
Rocko tensed when the man reached into his jacket, but instantly relaxed when he saw a billfold in his hand and not a weapon. He flipped it open and shoved it in Rocko's direction. "Name's Frank Hall. I'm a bounty hunter licensed with the State of New York.
"Bounty hunter?" said Rocko in confusion as he took the billfold. Rocko had no idea if it was legitimate or not, but the photo ID card inside stated that this guy was indeed one Frank Hall, licensed by the State of New York as a bounty hunter. "What the hell are you following me for?'
"I was hoping you'd lead me to your uncle, Pianos Pete."
"Who?" asked Rocko, still confused. After a moment however the name rang a bell. "Waitaminute, you mean Pete Gambiani, the Mafia guy from Cleveland?"
Hall nodded. "That's right. There's a 250 grand reward for bringing him in."
Rocko started to laugh. "Oh boy, have you screwed up. Yeah, we've got the same last name, but my family has zero connection with him or any other Mafia people. Hell, my family ain't even Sicilians."
A furious expression appeared on Hall's face. "That goddamn little son of a bitch! He screwed me over!"
"What, you got a bad snitch or something?" asked a smiling Rocko.
"Yeah, the little bastard claimed you were Pianos Pete's nephew. 'Oh, they're really close, all you have to do is follow him around and you'll catch Pete,'" he said in a whiney voice Rocko assumed was an imitation of the snitch's. "Two weeks down the drain!" The bounty hunter suddenly looked nervous. "Look pally, do you think we can keep the cops outta this? I know you got a legit reason to call 'em...."
Rocko smiled. "No problem. Last thing I wanna do is waste time filling out forms and crap with the fuzz just because you got some bad info. Just do me a favour and give your snitch a shot for me."
A nasty grin appeared on Hall's face. "Oh yeah, me and the little SOB will be having...words when I see him again. Anyways, thanks kid. I'm outta here." Spinning around he headed down the street.
Rocko grinned as he watched the bounty hunter walk away muttering a stream of curses. The idea that someone could think his family had Mob connections amused him to no end. Looking around, he found his weird ramble around town had led him to the edge of the State U. campus. As he considered what to do next a cab pulled to a stop further down the block, and a familiar pair climbed out. Rocko watched with interest as Nitz leaned heavily against Jesse for a bit, and then started walking down the sidewalk with a stumbling gait, Jesse guiding him along. "Yo!" Rocko called out. "Something wrong with Nitz?" he asked as Jesse led Nitz over.
"Yeah, he's drunk," Jesse replied.
"What the hell are you talking about? Nitz doesn't drink."
"Thas what I keep tryin' to tell people!" Nitz said loudly.
"Hush you!" Jesse ordered him sternly. "He drank a bunch of some punch they had there tonight, and he didn't realise it was alcoholic."
"Now I get it," said Rocko with a nod. "Kinda funny that would happen, cuz I haven't touched a drop today. Maybe its some sort of cosmic balance thing that I can't be boozed up if Nitz is."
Jesse chuckled. "Wow, that's deep, especially for you! Maybe you should stay sober more often."
"Maybe," said Rocko, nodding in agreement. "Anyways, you need some help hauling him back? I do owe the guy for that time me and Kruger got clipped by the cops."
"Nah, I think we're alright, but thanks for asking," said Jesse. "We would have gone directly to Chilton Hall, but I couldn't take it anymore. The cab we caught smelled horrible. I figured if I stayed in there much longer I was gonna hurl, and I hate to think what Nitz might have done. Besides, walking a few blocks in the fresh air can't hurt him."
"You're probably right." Rocko turned to Nitz and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Look buddy, you take it easy, okay? That first hangover can be really nasty."
"I'm not drunk," Nitz said petulantly.
"You'll be wishing that tomorrow," Rocko replied.
******************
Jesse sighed in relief as she led Nitz out of the elevator. She was starting to think that maybe they should have stayed in the cab, gross as it had smelled. Nitz was looking sicker and sicker, and she half expected him to throw up at any minute. As they approached Nitz's room his roommate Chris was starting to unlock the door. He looked up with surprise when Nitz let out a moan.
"Hey Jesse, what's wrong with Nitz?" he asked.
"He's had way too much to drink tonight."
Chris smiled sympathetically as he finished unlocking the door. "Yeah, he's definitely looking kind of green." He walked into the room and quickly moved out of the way to give Jesse and Nitz as much room as possible.
"Thank God we made it," Jesse said, obviously relieved. "I wasn't sure we were gonna...." A loud choking sound interrupted her, and she spun around to look at Nitz. "Definitely not a moment too soon!"
Nitz's face contorted, his eyes bulged, and he brought his hands up to his mouth. Spinning around he stumbled into the bathroom, and to no one's surprise the sound of Nitz puking his guts out soon followed. He stumbled out of the bathroom a few minutes later and flopped face down on his bed. "I don't feel so good," he groaned.
"You'll feel better once you get some sleep," Jesse said, covering Nitz with his blanket.
"Zmuh," he mumbled.
Jesse looked over at Chris. "I guess I'd better split. You gonna be here tonight?"
"Yeah, I will. Don't worry, he'll be alright," Chris said with a nod. "Given how much he just puked up I doubt he'll throw up anymore tonight."
"Thanks Chris," she said as she walked out the door and closed it behind her.
Chris grinned as he turned to look at Nitz, who had already fallen asleep. He knew Nitz didn't drink, so there must be an interesting story behind how he got drunk. And from the look of things Nitz was in line for a hell of a hangover in the morning.
***************
Nitz popped a couple of Tylenol into his mouth and followed them down with a large glass of water. He rubbed his head a bit as he walked back to his bed to lie down. A few minutes later he heard a soft knocking on his door, and called out, "Come in."
The door swung open slowly and Jesse walked in. "Hey dude. Figured I'd come and see how you're feeling this morning," she said softly as she sat down in his desk chair.
"It feels like someone kicked me in the head, over and over again," he groaned. "So this is what a hangover feels like."
"Uhum," said Jesse with a nod. "Well, at least when you drank as much as you did last night. It doesn't help you've never done that before. That's the reason you did some praying at the altar of the Porcelain God as well."
"Well, never again," he said sternly, a determined expression on his face. "I'm going to make sure I keep away from alcohol, period."
She looked at him skeptically. "C'mon, aren't you overreacting? It's not like you did anything particularly stupid or dangerous. And you seemed to like the taste of that punch well enough, or you wouldn't have guzzled down so much."
"Look Jess, there's more to me not drinking than generally not liking the taste of booze. Just look at who I've seen drunk the most."
"Rocko, right?"
Nitz nodded. "Yeah. I've seen him do so much stupid shit, and he's not even legal yet. Like our high school graduation ceremony. He was drinking beforehand, and he got so drunk he fell off the stage!"
"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that from your picture," Jesse said with surprise, pointing to the picture on Nitz's desk of Nitz and friends in their high school graduation robes.
A smirk appeared on Nitz's face. "You can thank Gimpy for that. He Photoshopped that picture up a bit to make Rocko look presentable." His expression shifted back to a frown. "Frankly I sometimes kinda wonder if he isn't an alcoholic. Anyways, seeing Rocko make a complete buffoon of himself over and over again has really turned me off the idea of drinking."
Jesse nodded. "I can understand that. I do think you're overreacting, but hey, there's nothing wrong with not drinking. Besides," she said with a mischievious tone in her voice, "that means the rest of us have a permanent designated driver handy if we ever need one."
"I suppose." Nitz smiled at her. "Thanks for last night. I owe you one, again, especially since you left the party to help me."
"It was no problem at all," she replied with a shrug. "I would have spent the rest of the party worrying about you anyways."
Nitz sighed. "Now I really have something to feel guilty about, making you worry."
"Forget about it, I know you'd do the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot. Besides, it's been a while since I've pulled your ass out of some mess, so I needed the practice. Anyways, I suppose I should get out of here and let get over your hangover."
Nitz frowned. "So, I guess you don't have a hangover cure recipe handy."
Jesse gave Nitz a sympathetic smile. "'Fraid not. You'll just have to wait for it to go away by itself."
"Somehow I figured you'd say that."
**********************
Finally, almost a month after I figured it would be done this finally appears. It seemed like the chapter than would never been done, so I'm really glad to get it out at last.
Sgt. Rocko ducked as a hail of bullets narrowly missed his head. Throwing himself behind cover he thrust his submachine gun around a piece of rubble. "He's in the window!" shouted one of his men.
Very carefully he peeked over the debris and spotted the enemy soldier reloading his rifle. Bringing his Thompson to bear Sgt. Rocko shouted "Eat lead and die!" and opened fire. The burst caught the man dead on in the chest and he fell from the window with a piercing scream.
Sgt. Rocko cautiously climbed to his feet. All was quiet now but he advanced carefully towards the building, followed by the rest of his squad. Suddenly a young blonde woman appeared from a first floor door. "Oh, we are saved! Thank you!" she cried in English with a French accent. More women appeared behind her, and like her were dressed only in various items of lingerie.
"Sgt. Rocko, U.S. Army. Glad to be of service," he replied.
"You, Sgt. Rocko, have saved us, the women of the Chat Noir brothel, from those 'orrible Nazis. However can we make it up to you?" replied the first woman.
Slinging his submachine gun over his shoulder he grabbed her around the waist. "Well, you could have wild sex with me all night long."
She looked at him with an expression of utter adoration. "Oh yes Sgt. Rocko, yes! We all will!"
His gaze swept over the women. "Well, if you insis...."
BUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Cursing Rocko smashed his fist into the clock radio. "Dammitt!! My best dream in weeks and that stupid piece of crap ruins it!!!! @#%#!!!!!" Angrily he flung the radio to the floor in a corner of the room, to join a half dozen others that had ruined his fun this semester.
Rocko quickly dressed in his favourite red and white t-shirt and blue jeans. This morning's class was one he always made sure to catch, as there was a hottie in it who always wore a tight skirt and a low cut blouse. Not that she was doing it for him. He figured she was trying to score points with the professor who taught the class. But nothing said he couldn't watch. Hence the offending clock radio.
He made his way downstairs into the Alpha Alpha frat house kitchen. A quick check of the fridge found its contents limited to half a loaf of bread, a jar of mayonnaise, and a plate covered with a pile of a green...something. "I thought someone was supposta buy some stuff," he muttered as he made a sandwich of a couple slices of bread with some mayonnaise between them. He had eaten half the sandwich when he remembered that he was the one who was supposed to buy food this week. With a shrug he finished his meal, threw the knife in the sink, and walked out the back door to head for class.
Unnoticed by Rocko as he made his way down the street was a beat up green Chevette sitting several houses away from the frat house. A man wearing a very obvious wig sat behind the wheel. He opened up a compact cell phone and began to dial. "Subject is on the way," he said into the mouthpiece.
"Maybe you'll finally catch them together," replied the woman on the other end of the line.
"Maybe," he replied. He reached down to turn the key in the ignition. All he got when he did was a loud grinding sound. "Oh shit," he cursed.
"What's wrong," the woman asked. "He spotted you?"
"Uhh, negative. My car quit. Again."
********************
Walking through the cafeteria with his lunch tray Nitz noticed Rob Brodie sitting at a table with what looked like a box of t-shirts. Probably for the Exposed Expo, he thought as he quickly walked over to Brodie. One of State U.'s sillier traditions, the Exposed Expo involved freshmen students running around naked outside during the first snowfall of the school year. Nitz had actually summoned up the courage to take part last year along with Jesse, Cal, and some other people he knew. Snow had been forecast for the end of the week and anticipation was rising for this year's edition.
"Hey Nitz," called out Brodie as Nitz walked up to the table.
"Hey Brodie," replied Nitz. He put his tray down on the table and picked up one of the shirts. It was the same buxom female stick figure/"Co-ed Naked Nakedness" logo design that Brodie had sold last year. "Same as last time."
"Of course," replied Brodie. "It's a classic design." He leaned forward and said in a much softer tone,"Besides, I still had 175 in a box left over from last year."
Nitz chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't tell any of the freshies."
"Thanks." Brodie looked over Nitz's shoulder. "Rocko just walked in."
"Yeah, he probably wants me to help him get cameras in here for the Double Ex again," sighed Nitz. "Better go get this over with. See you later." Nitz picked up his tray and motioned to Rocko to join him.
They walked over to an empty table and sat down. "Look Rocko, before you even ask, the answer is no, I'm not gonna help you get cameras onto campus for the Double Ex again."
Rocko looked perplexed for a moment until he remembered what the Double Ex was. "Huh, is that coming up? I forgot all about it. I ain't here for that."
"Sorry Rocko," replied Nitz.
"No prob. Besides, I'm not impressed with this year's crop of freshman chicks," he said bluntly. "They're either too flat chested or kinda dumpy. Wouldn't wanna see 'em naked anyways."
"So, you're just here for a chat?" asked Nitz, trying not to laugh at the dirty looks and angry mutterings Rocko's statement had provoked amongst a group of women at a nearby table.
"Yeah," Rocko replied as he leaned back in his chair. "Seems I've seen just about zilch of you the last couple of weeks."
Nitz shrugged. "Well, I have been pretty busy lately."
"Yeah, Kimmy's got you on the go a lot I bet," said Rocko, a sly grin on his face.
"Well, actually she's been busy doing stuff, so I haven't seen her much the past few days," said Nitz, a small frown on his face. "But hopefully we can hook up tomorrow night. I got invited to Melinda Cane's latest party."
"Well hot damn!" said Rocko enthusiastically. Reputed to be the richest student to ever attend State U. Melinda Cane was famed for the regular parties she held at her family's large estate. "Got any idea why you got invited?"
Nitz shook his head. "No. I've never met her, and I don't think I know anyone who knows her. But you've heard the rumours I'll bet. They say even her friends don't know why she invites the people she does. Who knows, maybe she picks names randomly out of a hat."
"Probably why I got invited to one," said Rocko with a nod. "Don't think I'm gonna get invited again."
Nitz laughed. "So, I suppose you drank too much and did something stupid."
Rocko shrugged. "Yeah, something like that. Anyways buddy, you're gonna have lots of fun, just wait and see."
"Well, its got to be more fun than the last party I went to with Kimmy. It was some Drama student thing, so they spent most of the night talking about acting stuff and gossip about the Drama Department. I just sat there most of the night being bored."
"Civilian boyfriend syndrome," Rocko said knowingly. "You're there because you wanna be with your girl, but otherwise you'd be anyplace else. Chicks suffer from it too, like when their guy takes 'em to a motorcycle show and they've go no interest in cycles, but they go because, hey, its an excuse to be with their man."
"Wow, that's a pretty deep idea Rocko," said Nitz appreciatively.
"Hey, you're not the only one who can get all philosophical and stuff." Rocko started looking around the room, as if looking for someone.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Nitz.
Rocko shrugged. "It's the weirdest damn thing man. For at least the past couple of days I've had the feelin' someone's been following me around."
"Rocko, I can think of no reason why anyone would be following you around," said Nitz in his best "Rocko, you're being silly again" voice.
Rocko grinned. "I dunno man, I was hopin' some hot chick had decided to stalk me or something."
"And you'd like to be stalked?" asked Nitz with a chuckle.
"Yeah man. Way things are going with the ladies I'd be glad to have even a nutty one obsessed with me." Rocko laughed and smiled ruefully. "Pretty pathetic huh?"
"Oh, I'm sure someone else is even more pathetic," countered Nitz.
Rocko looked at his watch and stood up. "Gotta run bud. Besides, you proabably wanna finish your lunch anyways. Have fun at the party."
"I will. Seeya later," said Nitz with a wave as Rocko walked away.
Unnoticed by the two friends a man in sunglasses and a baseball cap sitting at a corner table got up to follow Rocko as he left the cafeteria.
******************
The next morning found Rocko's mysterious shadow once more sitting in his Chevette down the street from Alpha Alpha. He stifled a yawn and reached for a large paper cup of coffee sitting on the dash. He'd followed Rocko until 1 A.M. when the junior college student had staggered back to the frathouse after a night of heavy drinking. Looking at his watch he saw that it was pushing 11 and the kid still hadn't left for his morning classes, or whatever the hell it was he was going to do that day.
He hoped something happened today. So far all his surveillance had resulted in was a sore back, boredom, and a drain on his bank account. Despite the possible payoff he couldn't wait forever. Still, the money was too tempting not to give it just a little more time.
*******
Nitz drummed his fingers on his desk as he listened to the dial tone. He'd been trying to get in touch with Kimmy all day to ask her out to the party tonight, but so far hadn't had any luck. He knew he should have phoned her yesterday, but things just hadn't worked out that way. "Finally," he muttered as he heard her pick up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Kimmy, its me. Listen, I got invited to Melinda Cane's lastest party and I was wondering if you were interested in going tonight?"
"Oh Nitz, I'm sorry," said Kimmy apologetically. "If you'd phoned me earlier...."
Nitz grimaced. It sounded like she was going to be unavailable yet again. "Actually I did phone you earlier. But I kept getting a message that your cell phone was out of service, and I didn't get an answer when I phoned your room."
"Just a second," she said, and Nitz heard her rummaging through her purse. "Oopsie. I forgot to charge it last night, so it went dead on me. I've been out all day, so that's how come you couldn't get me here."
Nitz shook his head. It wasn't the first time she'd forgotten to charge her phone. "So you're busy tonight?"
"Yes. The Africa support group I'm involved with is protesting at a speech by the Zimbabwean ambassador. We only just found out he was coming to town or I would have mentioned it before."
"That's okay. I know this kind of stuff is important to you," Nitz replied, not letting disappointment creep into his voice.
"Thanks for being so understanding. I really, really appreciate it. Look, you should go to that party. Don't worry about me not coming along, I'm sure you'll have a good time. All my friends say those parties are lots of fun, and you never know if you'll get invited to more than one so you don't want to miss it if you do get the chance."
"I'll think about it," he said.
"Good. Look Nitz, I have to run. I'll try phoning you tomorrow, I think I'm free tomorrow night. Bye!"
"What the hell," muttered Nitz as he hung up. Kimmy was right, he should go to the party. He slipped on his jacket, grabbed his hat, and walked out the door. As he walked down the corridor he ran into Jesse and Kruger. "Hi guys, what are you up to tonight?"
"Hey man," replied Kruger. "Goin' to the Cane place."
"Ah, so you guys got invited too."
"That's right," added Jesse. "So, I suppose it's off to go pick up Kimmy?"
"No, she's got something else to do tonight," Nitz said with a shake of his head. "But she said to go anyways, so I am. No point in spending Friday night sitting around in my room doing nothing."
"That's the spirit," said Jesse approvingly. "So c'mon guys, lets go!"
*******************
"Damn that's good," said Rocko after he finished swallowing the last of his hamburger. He smiled contentedly and rubbed his stomach.
As he looked out the window of the restaurant something caught his eye. It was a beat up green Chevette, parked across the street. Normally a Chevette wasn't something that Rocko would have paid much attention to. They were hardly the most rare or interesting vehicles on the road. But this one had a rather distinctive looking patch of rust on its left front fender. It sort of reminded Rocko of Australia. It was a rust spot Rocko realised he'd seen several times lately. That same car had been turning up a lot at places Rocko went to, including being parked near Alpha Alpha several times over the past week or so.
Rocko's eyes narrowed. He'd thought it was simply his imagination that someone was following him. Nitz had thought the idea was silly. But the car had shown up one time too many for Rocko's taste. He was now pretty much certain he was being followed. Thinking for a moment he decided he was going to find out for sure. It wasn't like he had anything better to do that evening.
******************
Nitz whistled as he walked into the Cane house with Jesse and Kruger. "This is quite the place," he said appreciatively. The elegant, wood panelled interior was the kind of thing Nitz had expected to find in a mansion like this, as were the tasteful and expensive furnishings. The throng of college-aged partygoers and the rap music booming out of the stereo system seemed entirely out of place, as if they'd been dropped in randomly for no apparently reason.
"So, where is this chick anyways?" asked Kruger as the trio walked around.
"That's her over there," said Jesse, pointing at a tall woman in a loose white blouse, leather vest, and leather miniskirt.
Kruger stared. "Yer telling me that's her? Geez, I figured she'd look like a $&% debutant, not some punk rock chick with magenta hair and a $^%% nose ring."
"Yeah, she's a real surprise when you actually meet her," said Jesse with a smile. "You wouldn't know she's from money by talking to her, she's really down to earth."
"You know her?" asked Nitz.
"Yeah, we take the same karate class, and I run into her here and there occasionally."
"I'm surprised Evans ain't here," Kruger mused as he scanned the crowd. "I wonder if he's ever been invited to one of these?"
Nitz smirked. "Actually Cal's got an open invitation. He's welcome at any party Melinda Cane holds."
"#^$& figures," groused Kruger.
Nitz chuckled. "Don't worry, tonight he's got some of his RA time scheduled."
"Thank ^$^$&*# heaven for small favours," sneered Kruger. "Hey look, its Dan and that new girlfriend of his. Guess he likes 'em tall," he mused, as the slim blonde was somewhat taller than Dan.
"Either of you met her yet?" asked Jesse. Nitz and Kruger shook their heads. "Well, I guess we'd better go and see if she's as talkative as Dan is."
"I'll be with you in a couple of minutes," said Nitz. He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "They've got quite the spread over there, so I'm gonna get some food first."
"Better be careful Nitz, you don't want to put on too much weight," teased Jesse as she and Kruger started walking towards Dan.
Nitz quickly walked over to the large buffet. He decided to get something to drink before he took a look at what was available to eat. He grabbed one of the large plastic glasses of punch sitting on one of the tables. He took a sip, finding that whatever the mixture was it had a bit of a bite to it, and that he quite enjoyed the taste. He quickly piled a plate with food and went to join his friends.
Nitz made a couple more trips to refill his plate and grab a drink before everyone decided it was time to go mingle with the other guests. Jesse teased him a bit about his bottomless stomach, but she and the others didn't pay any attention to what Nitz was drinking or how much he was drinking. With no one warning him the punch was spiked, and no actual experience with what effect alcohol had on him Nitz was quickly becoming drunk by the time they split up.
****************
Cal walked purposefully down the hall, wearing his RA bathrobe and carrying a clipboard. "An RA's work is never done," he muttered. "Except when its ladytime!" Even before he reached his destination he knew why he'd been summoned, the roar of heavy metal pumped out of a stereo system cranked to an ungodly level assaulting his ears. He wasn't surprised to see where the high decibel racket was coming from. Once more the occupants of Room 506 were rattling the walls of Chilton Hall.
Cal stopped in front of the door to 506 and slipped his clipboard under one arm. From past experience he knew he'd need both hands free. Balling his hands into fists he slammed them as hard as he could into the door, hitting it a half dozen times. He then stuck a finger in each ear, knowing that the volume would increase greatly when the door opened. A few moments later the door opened, and a young man with long hair wearing a Slayer t-shirt stepped halfways out of the room. "Heya, it's the Calster dude!" he screamed. "Just let me turn things down!" He disappeared back into his room, and the volume soon dropped to merely loud instead of standing directly under a 747 at full throttle loud. He reappeared with another young man, this one with a shaved head and goatee, wearing an identical Slayer t-shirt. "What can we do for you dude?"
Cal shook his head. "Guy, people are complaining you're playing your music too loud again." Cal looked down at his clipboard. "That's the fifth time in a week guy, and people have made lots more complaints before that."
The duo looked at each other and grinned sheepishly. "Dude, we just love our music so much, and when we rock out its gotta be loud!" explained the bald one.
Cal looked at them sternly. "I'm sorry guy, but we've had too many complaints. If me or another RA writes you up again you'll have to leave Chilton Hall."
The metalheads looked at each other in dismay. "Bummer," they moaned in unison.
"So, try to be quiet, okay guy? And maybe you better turn your music off for tonight, okay?"
"Okay dude," said the bald one contritely. "We know when we have to listen to the Calster." Together he and his roommate walked back into their room and shut the door, the music coming to an abrupt halt soon after.
Cal shook his head as he made a notation that they'd been warned their behaviour was unacceptable. The sound of a door opening made him look up, and he saw a redhead stick her head out of her room. She gave him a thumbs up as she pulled off a pair of ear protectors. "Thanks for coming so quickly," she said. "I thought I was going to lose a filling if they didn't stop!"
"That's not good lady, so I'm glad I could help. Pretty ladies should have really nice teeth."
The girl blinked. "Ummm, thanks, I think."
*************************
There were few things Melinda Cane liked better than a good party, which is why she held them frequently. Of course being given a ridiculous sum of money and free reign to do what you wanted with the family mansion on your eighteenth birthday by your very wealthy parents helped. Tonight's party was going very well. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and more importantly behaving themselves. She hated having the State U. football players she hired as bouncers throw people out, and for once they hadn't had to.
She grinned as she spotted Nitz sitting on a couch. He was just the guy she was looking for. "Hey Walsh, howya doing?" she asked as she sat down beside him.
"I'm doin' pretty good," he drawled.
"Well good. So, where's that girlfriend of yours?"
"She couldn't come tonight," he replied, a melancholy frown crossing his face.
"Rats! I wanted to talk to her about a couple of charities I'm interested in. She's not sick or something?"
Nitz shook his head. "Naaah, she's out savin' the world." He crossed his arms, and his expression changed to one of annoyance. "Guess that's more important than spending time with me, cuz that always seems ta come first."
"Yeah, she certainly spends lots of time with that kind of stuff." At least he's enjoying the punch, she thought, noticing Nitz's slightly slurred speech and several empty plastic glasses sitting at his feet. "But hey, you can still have fun tonight, right?"
"Uhuh," he said with an exaggerated nod. "I don' even need her get up and dance, see?" he said as he rose to his feet and started moving towards the stereo system. Melinda laughed as he waved his arms in the air and swayed back and forth as he crossed the floor. She guessed he was probably "the drunk in the blue hat" she'd just heard someone laughing about.
"Be careful man, that's a 6 grand speaker cab you're tangoing with!" she shouted good naturedly as Nitz grabbed onto one of the large speaker enclosures while continuing to dance. "That's funny," she said softly as she watched Nitz's erratic solo performance, "I thought Kimmy told me the guy doesn't drink."
*********************
"Ah man!"
Jesse grinned at her opponent, a goateed young man wearing a beat up Yankees cap. "Good think we're not playing for money," she said as she lined up her shot and sank the 8 ball.
"Yeah, you're hot tonight," he replied.
"Well, its probably time for me to let someone else win," she said as she put the pool cue she had been using back on a rack in a corner of the room. She'd come across the game room while going for a bathroom break, and had played several games of pool against different players. She'd surprised even herself by winning all of them.
Jesse leaned back against the wall to watch the guy in the old cap take on a weedy boy she was sure she'd seen at Tekerson. She had been watching for several minutes when a familiar voice called out "Hey Jesse!" It was Miyuki, a girl Jesse shared a couple of classes with. "You know Nitz Walsh right?" she asked.
"Sure," Jesse replied with a nod. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, he seems to be good and drunk, and he's acting kind of goofy."
Jesse frowned. "Are you sure? Nitz doesn't drink."
Miyuki nodded. "That may be true normally, but he's had a bunch of glasses of that punch they're serving, and its got something more than fruit juice in it."
"Damn! God knows how Nitz will react to getting plastered for the first time!" said Jesse with concern. "I better go find him. Thanks Miyuki."
"No problem," the longhaired girl said with a smile. "I like Nitz. If he wasn't spoken for I might go after him myself."
Jesse laughed. "You've got good taste," she said as she walked off to find Nitz. It didn't take her long to hunt him down. He was out in the backyard, sitting on a bench near the large swimming pool that took up much of the yard. He was bent over, holding his head. "Hey Nitz, you all right?" she asked as she walked over and sat beside him.
"I don' feel so good," he moaned. "My head feels all funny."
Jesse got a strong whiff of something as he spoke. Yep, he's been drinking all right, she thought. "So, how many glasses of that punch did you have tonight?"
"Ummm, this many," he said, holding up a hand with all five figures raised. He frowned. "Or maybe it was this many," he added, bringing up his other hand, again with all five fingers raised, to join the first one. "I can't remember."
Jesse grimaced. She suspected it was closer to ten than five. She slipped an arm around Nitz's shoulder. "Well then, I hate to break it to you buddy, but you're drunk."
He pushed her arm away, an annoyed look on his face. "I am not!" he said in a near shout. "Why do people keep sayin' that?"
"Nitz, there was alcohol in the punch."
"Wuz not! Idda know if there was!" he said belligerently.
"Fine, whatever," she replied in annoyance. "Anyways, you're not feeling well. Maybe you should go home, and maybe I should go along, just in case you have problems."
"Awww, that's nice, but ya don' haveta do that," he said softly. He stood up slowly. "I can walk okay, see?" He walked a few feet before stumbling into another bench. "Ooops, maybe I ain't so good at walking right now," he said as he sat on the bench.
"Nitz, I am definitely going to go along with you back to campus. No ifs, ands, or buts."
"Thash an order, just like when I patted yer bunny, right?"
"You got it." Jesse grabbed Nitz's hand and pulled to his feet. "Okay, we'll go inside and phone a cab."
"Jesshy, ya don'...."
Jesse crossed her arms and looked at him sternly. "What did I just say? No arguments. Now come on dude, I want to tell Kruger we're splitting."
Jesse led Nitz inside. It took a few minutes before they finally found Kruger. "Whats up with Nitz?" he asked. "Guy looks $^%$ awful."
"He's had way too much to drink," she replied. "And he doesn't drink, so he really can't hold his liquor too well."
Kruger looked surprised. "He doesn't drink? I didn't know that."
Hands on her hips, Jesse raised an eyebrow at Kruger's response. "Geez, Kruger, you've known Nitz for something like a year now, hung out with the guy a bunch, and you didn't catch on that Nitz doesn't drink?"
"What, I'm supposed to know the guy's the #%#^ poster boy for the $&%%^ Temperance Society?" he retorted. "I got better things to worry about." He grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of a jacket pocket. "So, you need any help getting him back to Chilton?"
Jesse shook her head. "Nah, I'm gonna call a cab right away. No reason you should miss the rest of the party."
"Well, good," he said happily. "'Cuz I've been sweet talking this cutie from Central State, and I might get some tonight."
"Hmmm, maybe you should come with us. It would probably be doing that girl a favour," she said deadpan.
"Ah, yer just $^$& jealous because you're not gonna be getting any of this," he said, pointing at himself.
"In your dreams buddy," she said with a smile.
Kruger just smiled back, wondering if she had any idea of what kind of dreams he had about her.
*********************
Rocko grinned as he slipped into a darkened alley. It was finally time to confront his mysterious pursuer.
It hadn't been a problem to figure out he was being followed once he left the restaurant. He'd gone to a couple of different places and sure enough when he came out he found the green Chevette parked somewhere nearby. Then inspiration struck. It was kind of a silly idea, but he decided to lead whomever it was on a wild goose chase around town, hoping to sucker the guy into getting out of his car.
After walking the streets for a couple of hours he'd finally gone into a small shopping mall and spent a while walking in and out of the various shops. He had spotted what he assumed was the stalker or whatever he was, a guy wearing a New York Mets cap and dark glasses, reflected in the window of one of the stores. Confident the stranger could see him he ran out of the mall, knowing the guy wouldn't have the time to go back to his car if he wanted to keep up with him. He ran for several blocks, the mystery man close behind, before turning a corner and spotting the convenient alley to hide in.
He stood in the dark, waiting for the man to appear. Rocko soon saw him walk by, the alley apparently being more than dark enough for him not to notice Rocko. Rocko then quietly crept out of the alley.
With a snarl he charged after the man. "Aha! Gotcha!" Rocko shouted as tried to grab his pursuer. He was shocked however when he found himself tossed over the man's shoulder. Rolling with the fall he jumped back to his feet and balled his hands into fists. "Alright pal, I don't know who the hell you are, but I want some answers, now!"
Rocko tensed when the man reached into his jacket, but instantly relaxed when he saw a billfold in his hand and not a weapon. He flipped it open and shoved it in Rocko's direction. "Name's Frank Hall. I'm a bounty hunter licensed with the State of New York.
"Bounty hunter?" said Rocko in confusion as he took the billfold. Rocko had no idea if it was legitimate or not, but the photo ID card inside stated that this guy was indeed one Frank Hall, licensed by the State of New York as a bounty hunter. "What the hell are you following me for?'
"I was hoping you'd lead me to your uncle, Pianos Pete."
"Who?" asked Rocko, still confused. After a moment however the name rang a bell. "Waitaminute, you mean Pete Gambiani, the Mafia guy from Cleveland?"
Hall nodded. "That's right. There's a 250 grand reward for bringing him in."
Rocko started to laugh. "Oh boy, have you screwed up. Yeah, we've got the same last name, but my family has zero connection with him or any other Mafia people. Hell, my family ain't even Sicilians."
A furious expression appeared on Hall's face. "That goddamn little son of a bitch! He screwed me over!"
"What, you got a bad snitch or something?" asked a smiling Rocko.
"Yeah, the little bastard claimed you were Pianos Pete's nephew. 'Oh, they're really close, all you have to do is follow him around and you'll catch Pete,'" he said in a whiney voice Rocko assumed was an imitation of the snitch's. "Two weeks down the drain!" The bounty hunter suddenly looked nervous. "Look pally, do you think we can keep the cops outta this? I know you got a legit reason to call 'em...."
Rocko smiled. "No problem. Last thing I wanna do is waste time filling out forms and crap with the fuzz just because you got some bad info. Just do me a favour and give your snitch a shot for me."
A nasty grin appeared on Hall's face. "Oh yeah, me and the little SOB will be having...words when I see him again. Anyways, thanks kid. I'm outta here." Spinning around he headed down the street.
Rocko grinned as he watched the bounty hunter walk away muttering a stream of curses. The idea that someone could think his family had Mob connections amused him to no end. Looking around, he found his weird ramble around town had led him to the edge of the State U. campus. As he considered what to do next a cab pulled to a stop further down the block, and a familiar pair climbed out. Rocko watched with interest as Nitz leaned heavily against Jesse for a bit, and then started walking down the sidewalk with a stumbling gait, Jesse guiding him along. "Yo!" Rocko called out. "Something wrong with Nitz?" he asked as Jesse led Nitz over.
"Yeah, he's drunk," Jesse replied.
"What the hell are you talking about? Nitz doesn't drink."
"Thas what I keep tryin' to tell people!" Nitz said loudly.
"Hush you!" Jesse ordered him sternly. "He drank a bunch of some punch they had there tonight, and he didn't realise it was alcoholic."
"Now I get it," said Rocko with a nod. "Kinda funny that would happen, cuz I haven't touched a drop today. Maybe its some sort of cosmic balance thing that I can't be boozed up if Nitz is."
Jesse chuckled. "Wow, that's deep, especially for you! Maybe you should stay sober more often."
"Maybe," said Rocko, nodding in agreement. "Anyways, you need some help hauling him back? I do owe the guy for that time me and Kruger got clipped by the cops."
"Nah, I think we're alright, but thanks for asking," said Jesse. "We would have gone directly to Chilton Hall, but I couldn't take it anymore. The cab we caught smelled horrible. I figured if I stayed in there much longer I was gonna hurl, and I hate to think what Nitz might have done. Besides, walking a few blocks in the fresh air can't hurt him."
"You're probably right." Rocko turned to Nitz and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Look buddy, you take it easy, okay? That first hangover can be really nasty."
"I'm not drunk," Nitz said petulantly.
"You'll be wishing that tomorrow," Rocko replied.
******************
Jesse sighed in relief as she led Nitz out of the elevator. She was starting to think that maybe they should have stayed in the cab, gross as it had smelled. Nitz was looking sicker and sicker, and she half expected him to throw up at any minute. As they approached Nitz's room his roommate Chris was starting to unlock the door. He looked up with surprise when Nitz let out a moan.
"Hey Jesse, what's wrong with Nitz?" he asked.
"He's had way too much to drink tonight."
Chris smiled sympathetically as he finished unlocking the door. "Yeah, he's definitely looking kind of green." He walked into the room and quickly moved out of the way to give Jesse and Nitz as much room as possible.
"Thank God we made it," Jesse said, obviously relieved. "I wasn't sure we were gonna...." A loud choking sound interrupted her, and she spun around to look at Nitz. "Definitely not a moment too soon!"
Nitz's face contorted, his eyes bulged, and he brought his hands up to his mouth. Spinning around he stumbled into the bathroom, and to no one's surprise the sound of Nitz puking his guts out soon followed. He stumbled out of the bathroom a few minutes later and flopped face down on his bed. "I don't feel so good," he groaned.
"You'll feel better once you get some sleep," Jesse said, covering Nitz with his blanket.
"Zmuh," he mumbled.
Jesse looked over at Chris. "I guess I'd better split. You gonna be here tonight?"
"Yeah, I will. Don't worry, he'll be alright," Chris said with a nod. "Given how much he just puked up I doubt he'll throw up anymore tonight."
"Thanks Chris," she said as she walked out the door and closed it behind her.
Chris grinned as he turned to look at Nitz, who had already fallen asleep. He knew Nitz didn't drink, so there must be an interesting story behind how he got drunk. And from the look of things Nitz was in line for a hell of a hangover in the morning.
***************
Nitz popped a couple of Tylenol into his mouth and followed them down with a large glass of water. He rubbed his head a bit as he walked back to his bed to lie down. A few minutes later he heard a soft knocking on his door, and called out, "Come in."
The door swung open slowly and Jesse walked in. "Hey dude. Figured I'd come and see how you're feeling this morning," she said softly as she sat down in his desk chair.
"It feels like someone kicked me in the head, over and over again," he groaned. "So this is what a hangover feels like."
"Uhum," said Jesse with a nod. "Well, at least when you drank as much as you did last night. It doesn't help you've never done that before. That's the reason you did some praying at the altar of the Porcelain God as well."
"Well, never again," he said sternly, a determined expression on his face. "I'm going to make sure I keep away from alcohol, period."
She looked at him skeptically. "C'mon, aren't you overreacting? It's not like you did anything particularly stupid or dangerous. And you seemed to like the taste of that punch well enough, or you wouldn't have guzzled down so much."
"Look Jess, there's more to me not drinking than generally not liking the taste of booze. Just look at who I've seen drunk the most."
"Rocko, right?"
Nitz nodded. "Yeah. I've seen him do so much stupid shit, and he's not even legal yet. Like our high school graduation ceremony. He was drinking beforehand, and he got so drunk he fell off the stage!"
"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that from your picture," Jesse said with surprise, pointing to the picture on Nitz's desk of Nitz and friends in their high school graduation robes.
A smirk appeared on Nitz's face. "You can thank Gimpy for that. He Photoshopped that picture up a bit to make Rocko look presentable." His expression shifted back to a frown. "Frankly I sometimes kinda wonder if he isn't an alcoholic. Anyways, seeing Rocko make a complete buffoon of himself over and over again has really turned me off the idea of drinking."
Jesse nodded. "I can understand that. I do think you're overreacting, but hey, there's nothing wrong with not drinking. Besides," she said with a mischievious tone in her voice, "that means the rest of us have a permanent designated driver handy if we ever need one."
"I suppose." Nitz smiled at her. "Thanks for last night. I owe you one, again, especially since you left the party to help me."
"It was no problem at all," she replied with a shrug. "I would have spent the rest of the party worrying about you anyways."
Nitz sighed. "Now I really have something to feel guilty about, making you worry."
"Forget about it, I know you'd do the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot. Besides, it's been a while since I've pulled your ass out of some mess, so I needed the practice. Anyways, I suppose I should get out of here and let get over your hangover."
Nitz frowned. "So, I guess you don't have a hangover cure recipe handy."
Jesse gave Nitz a sympathetic smile. "'Fraid not. You'll just have to wait for it to go away by itself."
"Somehow I figured you'd say that."
**********************
Finally, almost a month after I figured it would be done this finally appears. It seemed like the chapter than would never been done, so I'm really glad to get it out at last.