3
I'm with Julian again at one of his hustling friends' house parties. We're in the kitchen mingling with a large group of male and female models-turned-prostitutes/coke dealers. Nothing new. I've been asked by five different guys if I want to score any heroin or coke, and I wound up purchasing an envelope of supposedly "pure" coke for a hundred dollars. I have it pocketed and Julian talks with the guys, specifically the number of customers they've "serviced".
I wander out to the pool in the back of the house without Julian, the blue glow from the pool lights quivering in the water, looking all too familiar. There's a glass table on the other side of the pool and a blond guy sitting at it smiles at me flirtatiously and I wind up snorting my coke with him. He asks me how I know Julian and I tell him we're high school friends, and he asks me if I've screwed anyone since I've been back from Camden. He's coming on to me pretty strong, and once we're both coked out he caresses my thigh. Just then this girl comes by, kissing the guy on the mouth, and then she looks at me and grins. She then snorts a line of some of the guy's coke and whispers something in his ear. The guy nods.
"You want to have a three-way?" he asks.
I don't say anything, and the girl just stares at me eagerly.
"Come on, man," the guy urges. "It'll be fun."
I consider it, but in the end I wind up shaking my head. "Sorry. Not really up for it."
"We'll be upstairs if you change your mind," the girl says.
The two walk off and I go back inside to try to find Julian. I find him sitting in the kitchen, shooting up, the vein in his arm looking as though it's about to pop. I notice both of his arms are full of needle marks.
"Hey, Julian," I say.
He looks up at me with these droopy eyes, his mouth slightly open and he smiles, stoned.
"You should try this shit," he says, struggling to keep his eyes on me.
"I'm sure I should, but I think I'm gonna leave."
"I'll go with you. Wait." He pulls the empty needle out of his arm and walks over to me. "See ya, Terry." He waves to a guy pocketing an envelope.
"Later, Jules," the guy says, waving back.
"Jules?" I whisper to Julian as we exit the house to the driveway.
"Yeah? What?"
"He calls you Jules?"
"Oh... yeah," he mumbles.
We get in his new Porsche and I volunteer to drive.
"Where do you wanna go?" he asks.
"I don't know. Anywhere but here."
"What the fuck is wrong with you, Clay?" he demands, looking at me with a dazed frown.
I stay silent and pull out onto the road and start heading to one of the night clubs in the area with a song from the Thriller album, I think Human Nature, playing on the radio. I manage to keep Julian away from heroin for the rest of the night at the club, but of course I meet someone I knew from high school and he winds up offering us some blow, and we wind up snorting the whole envelope of it in less than an hour.