It wasn’t weed and they were smoking it out of an empty 2L of Coke, which meant it was probably crack. We had been invited to the birthday party of a mutual friend of ours. Rajeev, one of the stock boys from the local grocery where we had all worked, was finally turning nineteen. Naturally, it being a small town, everyone we knew from high school had also been invited.
Rajeev was the only brown kid I knew that prayed to Allah five times a day and crushed pills all night. He was normally a real straight shooter, with a 90 average and a shy but pleasant demeanour. But tonight he was a high, sweaty animal running around his living room grinding girls he would regret grinding tomorrow.
I sat there and watched him run laps around the bottom floor of his house like a horny hamster. My hands felt cold and sweaty as I sat on the ceramic tile, glancing to my left as I reached for my beer. Zeke slowly exhaled into Ally’s face as he leaned in to kiss her. I gulped down the rest of my beer and got up to walk around the house.
As I bounced up in my haste, I smacked my head hard on the counter top above me. My greasy scalp digging into the corner hard... It would bleed for sure.
“You alright dude?” Zeke asked after surfacing.
“Yeah man,” I lied, “I’m just gonna go take a walk.”
I recognized a lot of the faces from high school; these were the same people that made a point out of not being friends with me back then and were now clapping me on the back, asking me how college was going. After entertaining a few drunken queries, I circled back into the kitchen to get another drink, gripping my head as I went. The only light was the dull faded orange of the streetlights, peeking in through a chink in the metal window shades. Zeke was now on top of Ally with his right hand up her skirt, kissing her passionately, his left gripping onto the kitchen counter like it was the side of a sinking ship. I filled up my cup and waddled back into the living room, finding a nice comfy corner of a couch to sit down and watch people from.
It was kind of weird to be back with all these people I knew from back home. It’s so easy to get sucked into the social nightmare known as high school. Growing up, it’s one of the only social spheres you’re a part of, and after going away to school or living somewhere else for a while, you realize how much of a micro chasm of your life in high school really was. As I sipped my drink, I saw the Prom King bobbing his head as he guzzled some Fireball from a 40. His hair was thinning and I absolutely loved the thought that his life might have peaked at 17. Ally came bouncing up to me and grabbed the side of my arm, almost slipping right into the subwoofer.
“I’m gonna head back” she said as Rajeev went to do a lap while shirtless. “I have to help my mom with the store tomorrow. Take care of Zeke huh? You know, none of the hard stuff.” I nodded; Ally gave me a sloppy peck on the check, did the same with Rajeev after she caught him, and headed out the door. After letting half of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy play through, I finished my drink and proceeded to go check on Zeke. He was no where to be found on the main floor. I doubled back into the living room to make sure he hadn’t came in while I went out; he wasn’t there.
“Hey man you seen Zeke? Ally told me to keep an eye on him, you know how he gets,” I asked Rajeev.
“Naw man, maybe check my room, yeah?” Rajeev’s pupils were as big as apples; he was sweating buckets and had now stripped down to his underwear. If only Allah could see him now. I went down to the basement to see if Zeke had retreated to the place where we discovered the combination of weed and Super Smash Bros. All that was down there was a years worth of old clothing, a lamp without a shade, a couple of mattresses and five kids shooting heroin. I jogged all the way to the top floor, hearing noises from one of the bedrooms. Drunk and on a mission, I flung open the door without thinking. There was Zeke with his pants down bent over a boy who had his face dug into the carpet so hard that he could probably hear the termites fucking.
I was infuriated. I knew he was a jerk and I knew he was probably fooling around with other people. But I had no idea that ‘fooling around with other people’ was actually ‘fucking boys that made fun of me in high school in the ass.’ I stormed out just as quickly as I had entered, asking myself if I should go tell Ally. Would she be pissed off enough to break up with him, but still hurt and emotionally grounded enough to be with me instead? Before I could rationalize an answer, Zeke opened the door, zipping up his jeans as he opened his big fucking mouth.
“Hey dude, you won’t tell Ally or anything, eh? Bros before hoes, man.”
“I guess,” I replied, still furious and thinking about how I should handle this interesting new addition to my already complicated situation.
“Tell you what, there are some kids downstairs shooting up, but I promised Ally I wouldn’t by myself, you wanna do it?” It was brilliant, before the words even slipped out of my mouth I knew how this night would end; manipulation was my forte, this is where I thrived, all I needed was one good shot.
“Sure, anything for you buddy.” He smiled. As we made our way down to the basement I caught a glimpse of Rajeev from the foyer. He was on the couch entangled with what appeared to be a reasonably attractive girl. After Zeke and I plunked ourselves down onto one of the mattresses, he grabbed one of the spoons, I grabbed enough drugs to kill Charlie Sheen, and we got to work. I could hear the dull thud of the bass from upstairs, everything that was about to happen was so fucking sick that it was almost beautiful.
“You go first,” nodding to him as a record scratched somewhere upstairs, and he did. I smiled; the high was so inviting, so intoxicating. I went upstairs smiling, leaving that roach to burn. I smiled my way into the living room and made a huge scene out of asking Rajeev to DJ. Zeke would soon OD. No one was sober enough to say otherwise. It would be ruled a routine overdose and I smiled my way home. The pain in my head felt cool and awesome. There would be a funeral soon; I’d have to use my best poker face.
