Chapter five
Bam stood right outside Fairman's waiting for Luke. He checked his watch and saw that he was a few minutes early. He would have gone inside to wait but he would have just wound up standing around doing nothing like he was doing then. The only difference was, he would be standing around and doing nothing inside. Luke came out of the store with a skateboard in his hand and greeted Bam.
"Sorry I don't have a car. I ride this to work." He said while holding his skateboard up
"That's ok. I'm used to walking everywhere any way."
"Ok well let's go then."
Luke's apartment wasn't too far of a walk away from the store. Bam had been walking around all day, for the second day in a row, so he was getting used to walking around a lot like he had told Luke. When they got inside the apartment they were greeted by a very easily recognizable herbal smell. Luke snickered and softly said something about his roommate hitting the bong.
"Ok so here's the kitchen area. There's a bedroom and half bath down that way. Which you'll probably use. Down that way is the other two bedrooms and the full bathroom, there's the living room area and there's the Q on the couch."
"Q on the couch?"
"Yeah. My roommate," He pointed to the grungy looking hippie dude who was lying in the couch strumming an acoustic guitar "Quentin. Something no apartment can do without."
"A filthy guitar playing hippie?" Bam asked with a grin
"Exactly. Hey Q! Get your ass up and come over here."
Quentin, or Q as Luke called him, had long dark brown hair that was in various sizes of dreadlocks. (Bam thought to himself that if Dico was there he would have said something about Quentin's hair being filthier than all of Rake put together.) He wore a plain light brown t-shirt that was wrinkled, had a few small holes in it and some sort of stain on the front. His jeans were no better, being faded, ripped and dirty. The bottoms of the pants were once belled nicely but it looked as though they had been stepped on and ripped and was dirty from walking through grass and lots of dirt. He had broad sideburns that attached to a shaggy, yet somewhat short beard. He looked up at Luke and Bam and then sat his guitar on the floor. (Bam noticed that upon a second look, the guitar had three of its strings.) Quentin stood up and shook what looked to be seeds and sterns from pot, off of his shirt before going over to Bam and Luke.
"I see you brought some company with ya. And I didn't get a chance to tidy up first." He laughed and then took off his shirt and shook it out before putting it back on "There that's better." He shook Bam's hand "Quentin Marks, But everyone calls me Q and I hope you do the same. Nice to meet ya buddy."
"Uh, yeah. I'm Aaron Lewis."
"Let me ask you a question Aaron Lewis. Do you blaze?"
"Blaze?"
"Get high."
"Um… no not really."
"Oh alrighty. Would be cool if you did. But would it bother you if I got high?"
"I guess not. Whatever you do is your business."
"Heh great. That's a good thing because I'm already high." He laughed
"Yeah no shit." Bam snickered
"Oh well make yourself comfortable, Aaron." Luke said
Bam sat his backpack down on the floor and walked over to the couch. Luke sat down in the chair next to the couch and turned on the TV. Q walked over to where Bam sat and pointed at him with a grin.
"You're alright, dude." He sat down next to Bam and picked up the bong and lighter that sat on the small coffee table. He turned his head toward the hallway closet to them "Hey sweetheart! Come out here and meet my new buddy!"
"She's here?" Luke quietly asked
A girl with long red hair and a flowing purple tie-died hippie skirt came spinning slowly out of a bedroom. She stopped and sat on the floor near Bam's feet and looked at him with a smile. Bam had to do a double take when he first saw her, to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The only thing, as she sat there, that covered her breasts was her hair. She laughed and placed a hand on Bam's knee.
"Hey babydoll. I'm Domi. Domi Cooper."
"Uh yeah hi."
Q reached his head out for her to take, pulling her up onto his lap.
"Sweetheart," He said while pointing at Bam "That's my new buddy, Aaron. Actually he's Luke's new buddy. But of course you know once some one meets me, they become my buddy."
She nodded and looked at Bam, leaning in closer towards him; she placed a hand on his shoulder "Everybody loves Q. He's the man. He knows what goes down in this town."
"Oh really?" Bam asked trying to sound intrigued despite the fact that he felt a little uncomfortable by having some strange topless girl's hand on his shoulder
"Yeah that's what they say." Q answered before taking a hit off the bong
"So, uh, Q… what do you do for a living? Anything?"
"I'm a highpricedlawyer." He said quickly while holding smoke in his mouth. He coughed and let the smoke out slowly
Bam laughed, which caused a chain reaction. It wasn't long at all before Bam relaxed and felt really comfortable around them. He even forgot about the fact that Domi chose to go without a shirt the whole time she was there. She did, however, put a shirt on finally once she was about to leave. As she was leaving she went over to Bam and told him how nice it was to meet him and how she wanted to give him dreadlocks the next time she saw him. She then blew them all kisses and walked out the door. After she left Bam leaned closer to Luke and whispered.
"So uh, Domi… Is she Q's girlfriend?"
"Uh… well actually I'm not sure. No one is. I don't think even Q and Domi are sure. But if Q was to have a steady girlfriend, it would be Domi."
"I see."
"Why'd you ask?"
"No reason. Just curious." And that was one of the very few things he said since he met Luke and his friends that wasn't a lie
A little later when the three of them were turning in for the night, Bam picked up his backpack and went into the empty bedroom. The room was empty except for two mattresses stacked up in the corner for a bed. There was no blanket or pillow, which at that point didn't bother Bam much. He was tired and just glad to have something to sleep on for the night. He sat on the "bed" and slipped his shoes off. He took his pants and jacket off, leaving them in a pile on the floor, and then removed his sunglasses. As he lay back, he placed a hand behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. Everything in his new life seemed to be going rather well. He felt like he could enjoy his new life and for once in a long time, he was actually happy. He closed his eyes, thinking about his day and the new friends he had made, and awaited the new day as he fell asleep.