Chapter 21: Crystal Clear

The store lights turned off, making the parking lot dark.

"Joss should be off any minute now."

Me and Kiera made our way to the front of the store. We both faced away from the store toward the road, watching the thin fleet of cars pass by. The jib glow was still alive and bright, but I was feening for another hit. I should have brought my pipe… Kiera seemed to be slowing down too. We needed another peak to climb…

"Woo! Fucking finally!" Jocelyn came out the front door as the manager locked it behind. She opened her trunk with her key remote and sat on her trunk.

"You've been keeping my man busy, Kiera?" Jocelyn said with an accusatory tone… I felt my butthole clench.

"What do you mean?" Kiera said.

Jocelyn slipped off her skates, changing out her socks to put on her sneakers. "You two just fucking disappeared. Together. You two have been together a lot these days, huh Kashi?"

I was so confused. Maybe Ariel said something to her? "Jocelyn… It's not like that…"

"How the fuck is it, then? Enlighten me."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Kiera stopped me. "All we did was talk. We haven't done anything. I promise. We were waiting for you behind the dumpster."

Jocelyn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's fucking go. Am I following you guys? Alright. Kashi can ride with you, yeah? Since you've been riding together already… Fucking shit." Jocelyn slammed her car door shut.

I felt my heart break a little as I sat passenger in Kiera's car… We silently drove to the pickup point. Kiera seemed heated like she wanted to say something, but respectfully bit her tongue as I collected my thoughts, routinely trying to catch a glimpse of Jocelyn in the mirrors as we drove.

We parked outside of a gated trailer park. Kiera pushed in the key code. I was surprised that the gate opened. We drove slowly, ignoring the porch-sitters eyeballing us. We approached a building vibrating with techno music. Three shirtless black dudes—one fat, one buff and the other skinny, were posted up on the stairs. We got out of the car. They recognized Kiera and allowed us entry.

The inside of the building was dimly lit and the wallpaper was worn and torn at the ceilings and stained yellow from cigarette smoke. The carpet had several red stains all over. The deeper we went into the house, the louder the music got and the weirder it became… The living room had a mass of people that didn't look in our direction. They were circled around a table cutting up something.

Kiera seemed to know where she was going. We turned down a hallway that was way too thin. We passed a room that was full of women moaning. Another room had two men moaning… Another with babies crying.

We stopped in front of a door. Kiera knocked loud enough to wake up the whole building. A lanky white boy with acne scars and a skull tattooed on his neck opened the door and let us in.

"Hey, Jeff," Kiera said. Jeff was a guy that rocked DC shoes and claimed to be a DJ, despite never actually getting paid for it. You could see the drain of life in his face; he looked worn down, only alive because of whatever drugs were in his body. The room was filthy. Hundreds of beer bottles and trash covered the carpet. A topless woman sat on the couch, staring at us from afar… She looked twice the age as Jeff.

I internally scoffed at these druggies. This place was depressing, and even more so, how could one let themselves go this far deep into the abyss? How could one live without goals? Even I who did drugs had a purpose, a destination I was moving toward. But this? This was sickening.

We stood while Jeff left and returned with a shoebox. I pulled out the cash from my wallet. The topless woman's eyes got bright. Jocelyn was bumping her head to the techno music. I was too nervous to be paying attention to the beat.

"How much we talking, Kiera?" Jeff asked.

"Three."

"Four, actually. For you, Kiera."

"What the fuck…" Jocelyn muttered under her breath. She wouldn't look me in the eye. Kiera passed me a thankful expression.

Jeff pulled out four fat baggies of dope.

"How much?" Kiera asked.

"Normally five, but for you Kiera, four."

I handed him the folded $400. He counted each bill and held them up to the ceiling as if to check the authenticity. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead glancing at Kiera as she subtly twitched her eyebrow at me in a mutual annoyance.

He handed Kiera the baggies and she stuffed them in her pocket.

"Thanks," she said and we turned around to leave. I was beginning to feel sketched out, especially by the naked woman. She reminded me of that woman in the Scarface hotel room. I figured any moment now she'd blast us, or a group of dudes would come around the corner and stab us to death, making us turn into another one of those red stains…

"Hold on. You ain't gonna try it out?" Jeff said. We all stopped…

Kiera turned around. "I know it's good. And if it's not, I'll fuck you up."

I was impressed with her courage. Jeff made an upside-down smile and nodded his head.

"Just let me smoke you out, aight?"

Kiera sighed. "Fine."

Jeff opened a kitchen cupboard and pulled out a pipe with a blue dot on the end of the bowl.

"Got this blue dot, a brand new piece."

"Blue dot?" I opened my mouth for the first time.

"Yeah, you see the blue dot on the end?" Kiera pointed and laughed. I wanted to laugh too, but instead looked to Jocelyn for approval. She seemed in another world… I could see the fibers on her cheeks twitching as she clenched her jaw.

Jeff filled the pipe with some shards. "Blue dots are the shit cuz the qual-i-tee of the glass is like, thicker and more denser…"

"We got us a fucking meth scientist here," Kiera said. We all laughed, but I was beginning to dislike the term 'meth'. I much preferred jib, dope, speed, go fast… The truth that I was smoking meth was something I liked to avoid.

One by one we all took a hit, including the topless lady. Kiera blew out the most smoke. When it was my turn, Jeff told me to clear it.

"It's clear… Crystal clear," I said.

The room burst into laughter, most noticeably, Kiera… Jocelyn flashed her a stink-eye.

"It wasn't that funny," Jocelyn said.

Kiera wiped fake tears from her eyes. "Nah, it was. Oh, Kashi, you're hilarious…"

"Tch. He's an idiot. Can we fucking leave now?"

Jeff looked at Kiera, sensing the hostility in the air. Kiera shrugged.

"Thanks, Jeff," Kiera said.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, text me later Kiera!"

Kiera nodded her head, concealing a face of disgust… "Okay, I will."

The moment we were outside of the trailer park gate, I felt the urge to release this pent up emotion within me. Jocelyn seemed so different, so distant, so displeased with me… I didn't understand. I knew better than to even ask; I sat in Kiera's passenger seat as we followed Jocelyn back to Gordo's. She sped up and we lost sight of her… My heart was being cut into pieces.