Derek and the Psychedelic Renegade: 2

Chapter 2- The Routine

The tile floor is cold on my bare feet as I mentally auto pilot through the first hour of my day. I am practically sleeping still and only come to myself when I get halfway through my first cup of coffee and have got my laptop open in front of me. I look to the small clock in the corner of my computer screen and see that it's almost 3:30 in the afternoon and I still have accomplished nothing. I get up from the small cluttered desk in my room and throw myself into my bed once more. My pillow smells of cigarettes, sweat, and beer drool, sure signs that I didn't do anything different last night. After leaving high school my days in college have consisted of going to school for 4 days a week successfully cutting myself off from any social interaction, to the 3 days of being drug along by the few close friends I have to different parties, "kickbacks", and emotional circle jerks consisting of 4 drunk guys revealing way too much about their lives over a bottle of poor quality whiskey or a case of cheap beer. I look around my bed for my phone knowing that I must have thrown it somewhere last night in my drunken stupor. I find it stuck between the wall and the head side of my bed. Of course it cracked across the front of it, just my luck, which will be fun explaining to my mom and Gary.

Apparently my phones been ringing all morning because I have 8 missed calls from Tony. I clear my notifications and grab a towel to hop in the shower just as it rings again. For fucks sake, I silence it for a moment and turn on the shower. As I run into my room to grab a change of boxers before my shower I hear my phone ring once again. Frustrated, I answer the call. "What Tony?" The sound of his east coast accent ring through my speaker of my phone like nails on a chalkboard. Tony is the best friend I have but his constant positive attitude and excited demeanor get old really quick. Tony likes to live his life at a 10, as for me, I prefer to stay at about a 4 maybe 5 if I'm feeling extra excited.

"Derek! What the fuck man I've been calling you all morning dude. Guess who came back to my house with me!" I fall back onto my bed knowing I'm not going to make it off this phone call without a 30 minute play by play of how he made it to 2^nd base with some broad he just met. I sigh into the phone before answering to hopefully throw him the signal I want this phone call to be a fast one. "What lucky girl was it this time my dude?" Tony clears his throat making it even clearer that he is really satisfied with himself. "Well you know Aurora right?" Just as those words come off his mouth I let a small laugh out that silences him instantly. "What's so fuckin funny Derek?" I respond hesitantly, "Isn't that the bitch with the green hair and the spray tan?" Tony quickly responds defensively, "yeah, so what? She's at least an 8 asshole!"

For the sake of ending this phone call and not making him any more pissed off I decide to agree with him. "Yeah man I suppose your right." Tony is instantly filled with a false sense of confidence and continues his story. He goes into the deepest detail about how close she sat to him when he brought her home to watch a movie, how she told him his glasses are cute, and how by the end of a long night of kissing ass he got the great experience of copping a feel. For the sake of messing with him I ask him the one question we both know I know the answer too. "Well did you use a rubber at least you savage?" Listening to Tony stutter his way to around saying he didn't have sex with her was worth the extra 5 minutes he kept me on the phone.

After listening to him explain himself for a few minutes I realize I've been running the shower this whole time and Gary is standing outside the restroom door with his arms crossed tapping his foot loudly expressing his irritation with me. I look at him and can't help but smirk, I act like I don't see Gary out of the corner of my eye and tell Tony, "Hey man my crybaby stepfather will blow a vein in his head if I waste anymore hot water so I got to go dude." I see Gary turn away and slam the bathroom door behind him. Tony laughs "Okay dude, don't forget that we got invited to Aurora's friends party tonight." Dammit, I forgot that he told these girls we would go to their house party tonight and I am not excited about it. "Of course dude I've got to shower, hit the bank and then I'll roll through your casa after." After I hang up the phone I walk back to the restroom and pull a note off the door. "You don't pay the gas bill, take cold showers if you're going to waste water." I ball up the note and toss it into the bathroom garbage, I undress and climb into the once again steaming hot shower.

After I shower, I throw on some clothes and slide out the front door of my house unnoticed. The hot air almost immediately covers me with a thin layer of sweat before even reaching my car. As I sit in the driver's seat of my 1997 Honda Civic I throw the sunglasses from my cup holder onto my face and turn my A/C onto full power. Looking down to my gas gauge I see that my gas lights on and look down to my phone. After responding to a few text messages, double checking my checking account balance, and sulking in the cool air I drive off quickly out of my neighborhood waving to the small group of kids all riding their bikes and scooters four houses down.

As I pull up to the ATM I see a familiar car in the spot behind me with no one in it. I scan around looking for the soul sucking face of my ex-girlfriend and see no one. I walk up to the ATM and put my debit card into it. As I go on to pull out 250 dollars from my bank account, I can hear the high pitched, attitude filled voice of Hannah ringing out of the doorway of the bank into her cell phone. I lean into the ATM and turn just a little more away from her in hopes she doesn't notice me. Her talking grows louder and closer, then suddenly stops. I hear her grow quieter and then say "Hey I will call you in just a few minutes, I am going into the bank again real quick." Which was an obvious lie as I turn to dart towards my car and am stopped by her tall menacing presence.

"Oh, hey Derek I didn't see you there, I didn't even realize you had Wells Fargo" Once again a very obvious lie because we went together when we got tired of another banks terrible service. I stand there not knowing what to say and I just want to walk to my car without even acknowledging her existence. I am on the spot now and she is staring at me waiting for some response, I look around and then back at her. I just talk back without any thought of what I'm saying. "Yeah I do, what are doing tonight? You should come to this party Tony is dragging me too." Instantly, a huge smile comes over her face. "Is it that girl Aurora's party? I'll be there ill text you later!" She turns back and walks to her car. I stand there in front of the ATM shaming myself for what I just did. I don't want to see that succubus again, what was I thinking? I face palm myself and notice that the ATM is now beeping at me to take my debit card from the slot. I grab it quickly and hop back in my car.

As I pull up to Tony's place I hear him and his dad, Frank, yelling at each other. This is nothing new though. Every day Tony is caught smoking in his room, weighing out his small bags of weed, or leaving roaches in his garage. His parents don't even have a problem with him smoking weed but he likes to blatantly disrespect the few rules they have regarding it. It's like he wants them to fight with him so he has a reason to be rebellious. I step from my car and walk towards the garage already laughing as I see Tony attempting to act tough towards his dad. As I walk up to them I pull the pack of cigarettes from my back pocket and put one in my mouth.

Frank sees me first and instantly points to me, "See that tony, smoking OUTSIDE, is it that hard to grasp you hard headed bastard?!" I light the cigarette and laugh at them, I quietly greet them both. "Hey Frank, how you been?" He instantly stops yelling and turns to me with an embarrassed smile. "I've been alright Derek, just working and dealing with this shithead. How about yourself?" Tony begins to speak and his dad turns and throws the ashtray from the workbench in the garage at Tony hitting him square in the four head. "What the fuck dad?" Tony exclaims. Frank shoots his son a stern look and says "I was talking to Derek and you were trying to cut him off, why don't you shut up and put the ashtray where it belongs?" I can't help but laugh again, I finally acknowledge Tony myself and reach my hand out to him. "Here man, I'll take the ashtray I'm going to need it for the ashes anyways." Tony instantly gives me an irritated look just as I hear Frank speak up again. "See look at that Tony, and he uses the god damn ash tray, shit I think I might just take him in and kick your ass out boy." I laugh even harder this time but finally come to Tony's defense. "Ah, come on Frank you know you'll miss that smiling face over there." Tony flips me the bird and walks the ashtray over to me. Frank sits back into his chair and laughs.

After a few minutes of small talk with Tony's dad I hear the familiar tone of "The Thrill" by Wiz Khalifa play from Tony's phone. This was his special ringtone for our pot dealers, people who hit him up for weed, or anybody he wouldn't answer the phone for around his grandmother. Tony walks from the garage for a moment and then returns with a serious face, "Alright you ready to go?" I look over to him and then back to his dad, "You know I was born ready." Frank laughs and stands up. "You be safe tonight you guys, no cops, no bullshit. I'm not picking your drunk assess up more than once in a week." I leave the pack of cigarettes from my shirt pocket on the coffee table and point down to them as I walk away from the garage. "My boy! You know you have always been my favorite." Tony turns back towards the garage with a smile on his face. "Thanks dad, Love you too." Instantly Frank barks at Tony, "I wasn't talking to you ass hat!" Tony turns back around and throws his middle finger over his shoulder to his dad. "Save it for a lonely night son!" Frank exclaims as he grabs the cigarettes and slips inside the house.

         Tony gets in the passenger seat of my car and slams the door behind him, "I don't get why my dad's such a douche to me but so cool to you." I scroll through my phone searching for music to put on and answer. "I don't know man, maybe because you're an asshole?" tony looks at me seriously for a moment then laughs, " Well he can kiss my ass until he finally gets me the car I was promised like 3 months ago!" Tony takes my phone and puts an address into the direction app. I look down at it confused, "This isn't the normal place?" Tony answers, "I know dude, he is at his homies house hanging out I think, and he told me to just meet him there." I nod to Tony and start the car we speed off out of the neighborhood almost hitting a neighbor's cat. "You barely missed pussy!" Tony mocks me. I turn to him with a straight face "Hey that's not cool I love cat's!" Tony laughs at the seriousness in my voice, "And that's why you don't get ass Derek."

         As we pull up to the house I hand Tony the money. "Damn dude, 250?" I roll my eyes at him and reply annoyed, "Yeah Tony, 250, you smoke for free don't you?" Tony puts the money in his front pocket and opens the door. "You don't have to be an asshole dude, I'm just saying you are coming extra prepared for tonight!" I lean over and grab the door to shut it, he looks back and says "You know you can come in and get it yourself, you give the homie a couple hundred every week, and he'd probably like to meet you." I shut the door without an answer and turn my music up just a touch. I don't really know why I don't get weed myself, I've always just had Tony get it for me since the day I moved here. I sometimes say that I prefer to not have to contact drug dealers directly but I know plenty of pot dealers that are perfectly fine people. I just like the security of knowing that my best friend I have out here can take a couple hundreds of my dollars and consistently not rip me off or do anything sketchy to me.

         After a few songs go by and I finish my second cigarette I look around to see any signs of Tony being back. He usually takes a little bit, but I'm wearing a jacket and its getting kind of hot and humid in the car. I look over to the house and see the front door open, as I lean over to unlock the passenger door I realize it's not Tony.

         I've never seen the guy before, he looks about the same age as I am, maybe even a little older than me. He has a completely shaved head and a tattoo that runs down his hairline. He pulls a joint out of his fitted khaki pants and the lighter from his shirt pocket. Up to this point I have not met another person who wears plain black t-shirts with a pocket in the front that wasn't my grandpa or a cholo, it intrigued me. I watch as he lights the large perfectly rolled doobie and puffs on it for a few minutes. Finally Tony emerges from the door behind him and says something to the guy. The guy gives tony a piercing look that I could feel burning through his skull from my seat in the car. Tony just quickly turns away from the guy and speed walks back to my car. He hops in the passenger seat alarmed and tells me to drive away quickly. I speed from in front of the house and turn around the corner quickly. "What's wrong dude? What the hell happened?" Tony looks back through the window quickly and then turns towards me more calmly. "Well he only had 13 grams to sell you so he gave it to you for 90." I look over at him and stick my palm out, he digs into his pocket and gets out the 160 dollars and then pulls out a zip-lock bag full of sticky purple buds. "So that's why you were in a hurry to leave? Because he didn't have enough weed for me, it's really not a big deal." Tony looks over at me confused and then punches me in the arm. "No you idiot, you didn't see the scary looking fucker out in front of the house?" I pull into a parking lot in front of the convenience store and the pawn shop and put the money in my wallet leaving the 10 on my dashboard. "Yeah I saw him, looks like you pissed him off." Yeah well that asshole grabbed a gram off the sack we were buying to roll a joint and when I asked him for the 10 bucks, he just stared at me like he was going to kill me." I look at the bag of pot and look back up at Tony, "So you gave away a joint of my shit for free?" Tony grabs the 10 from the dashboard and gets out of the car. "You can go ask for it if you want! I'm sure he would be glad to give it to you." I throw my shit in the glove box and shake my head, "I'm not a drug dealer, and I enjoy sharing." Tony turns towards me and throws a hand signal at me to call me a vagina, I am not offended because I swear I smell the shit from his shorts still.

         It's night time finally and we are sitting in my car at the park with the car hot boxed watching the rain fall onto my windshield. Tony tosses a hot fry in my general direction and misses terribly. "Hey man, you ready to hit this party?" I sit there and stare out the window pretending I don't hear him. This time the hot fry ricochets off my side window and explodes onto my lap. I quickly turn to him and exclaim "you're going to vacuum my car if you don't stop that shit pussy boy!" Tony throws a couple hot fries in his mouth and laughs "Let's get moving then asshole." I sigh and start the car pulling my hair back from my face and into a bandana I keep hanging on my mirror. Tony looks over at me and says half-jokingly "Go get a haircut man, you're never going to meet any cute girls with all that hair going everywhere." I turn up the music and light a cigarette as we pull from the parking lot.

         There are at least forty to fifty cars lining the roads approaching the house. There are groups of teenagers some still in high school, some the same age as us, and even some people that I remember being older than us walking up to a large house with a gate separating the grand driveway and the street. As I continue to the house Tony signals for me to slow down, I come to a stop in front of the house and he makes a phone call. After a quick exchange with who I'm assuming is the homeowner tony gets off the phone and has me pull up to the garage. "You want me to park my car in her garage?" I say hesitantly. Tony looks at me as if I'm dumb and tells me to just pull into it. I pull my car into the girl's garage and watch in my rearview mirror as it shut behind me. This was inconvenient for me if I wanted to leave early without letting Tony or anyone know, but who am I kidding? I will probably be here all night anyways. 

         Before we walk into the actual house we sit on the front of my car and begin to roll up. I watch as Tony instantly climbs all over Aurora and I introduce to myself to the other girl with her in the garage, Jessica, she looks young and scared of all the commotion but seems nice enough. We smoke a couple joints in the garage and get up to head inside. As I walk from the garage through the pitch black laundry room I start to hear the loud music of the party, it gets louder and louder till I turn the corner and see the mass of people all shoulder to shoulder drinking, smoking, and acting like they are genuinely enjoying the company of one another. There are so many people that it becomes stressful immediately. I look around for any other person I might know and don't see anybody immediately. I know I'm too high to function in normal society right now. Then I come to the most real clear thought I have had all day. I liked the cold, empty, silent room more than I like all these people right now.